Here comes Frank!

My last post was just before storm 'Abigale' and here we are just over six weeks later and storm Frank is upon us! So that is 6 storms in 6 weeks!  We have had lots and lots of rain, the weather is really mild 12C but fortunately where I live, no flooding. Northern England especially York, and Cumbria and even Manchester have been flooded more than once.
Everybody, says rivers must be dredged etc. etc. but I'm not sure much can be done when you have a months rain in just one day. We should be doing lots more to fight global warming. But yes in the meantime, ways to waterproof houses, or even raise them on stilts should be thought of.

The poor plants in the garden have no idea what season we are in!

The Musa Basjoo have started growing again.

I have had these a number of years and this is the first year this has ever happened!

I expect the February cold weather will put paid to these continuing to grow!

The tree fern is showing new growth.

The Passionflowers are doing just that... flowering. New buds appearing daily.
The fence down by the pond has about had it. The neighbours have said they will replace it ( as its theirs) we have said we will buy concrete base panels to help the fence stay out of the damp and dirt.

The Hellabores also flowering away!

 I had planned to cut this clematis back in the spring, it obviously has other plans!!

The fish are still really active and we are still feeding them, they go nuts when the food goes in, that tells you just how warm it is!

The arid bed is looking good from either end, I'm looking forward to when we might have a few dry days and I can take the cover of to have a look and make sure if anything needs water it gets it well before any possible colder weather.

Happy New Year to you x

Storm Abigail, Friday 13th!

Since all of the winds earlier this week and now 'Storm Abigail' which mainly hit Scotland but we got a lot of rain and wind, the temperatures have definitely dropped. Hubby had a half day yesterday so having been told no rain PM we decided to go for the big dig!!!

Weather forecasters can and do get it wrong and they certainly did for Friday afternoon, it was wet, cold and windy, we had sleet and hail to contend with whilst getting the 'Jungle' in!

This is what it looks like now!

I hate this, leaves and mud everywhere. I couldn't get my garden waste bin through as it was so wet and has to come through the house. So this will stay like this until it dries a bit.

So five 'nanas' where cut back dug up and brought in, numerous Cannas and lots of Colocasia and Xanthasoma (Elephants Ears). This only took an hour to do, so I have reduced how much is dug up but I would like to reduce it further.

Bye bye Jungle for now.

Neglected Blog!

My poor neglected blog!

So much has happened since September......

Mum had a fall and needed an emergency op for a replacement hip....

I got flu.....  again!!!

My back has been giving me serious problems...

So for a catch up in September..

lots of beautiful flowering dahlias, I started getting the greenhouse ready

and the arid bed was still enjoying lovely mild weather

October....

was spent 'oop north' with my mum and I didn't get back until the end of the month.
When I got back it became obvious that Tango had deteriorated and sadly the decision was made and he was put to sleep.
Such a fabulous cat, with such personality, sadly missed.

I took this photo at the end of October and as you can see the garden is still looking good.

The Arid bed was covered,

 
since this photo, we have altered how it is attached to the fence. I'm using elastic woggles so there is give when the wind blows

it is working really well.

Lots of colour in the garden, I love this Acer such a stunning red.

My neighbours Pyracantha.

The passion flower went nuts this year and we had lots of these fruits.

So here we are November 10th and my 'nanas' are still out.  This is the latest I have ever left them out. It has been so mild that I felt they where better left out than in a humid greenhouse.

We have had a lot of rain and wind just recently and you can see that this Hiniba has started to 'yellow' around the edge of the leaves.
I have found when we have strong winds at this time of year this usually warrants a change in weather.

So this Friday is the day, when we do the big dig and get the plants into the greenhouse. We could probably last a bit longer, but I have to have help to get these in and hubby has a half day.