November 2022 in the Northern Hemisphere

[MarcR]

Robert wrote "I finally found a way to use Moraea polystachya effectively in our garden. This group has been blooming for over a month now and looks great. No more flopping – nice straight upright stems. For us, a great plant when grown well."

Robert,

Moraeas, like most of the Iridaceae, generally prefer acid soil. I'm surprised that they do well in cement blocks.

[Jeffnz]

The pH of the block will reduce over time as the blocks weather/age, this may be the reason.

[MarcR]

Thank You, Jeff

[Mariette]

Thank You, fermi and Robert, for Your comments!

There are some more autumnal scenes in my garden, too. For instance, the firebugs assembling and warming in the November sun.



Hydrangea quercifolia, Rosa rugosa and Osmanthus heterophyllus ´Aureomarginatus´.



The chilis in the greenhouse are still in full swing and produced odd hybrids.

[ArnoldT]

Mariette

Looks like sorrel (Rumex sanguineus) in your first image.  I had one in a post and now pops up everywhere.

[Mariette]

You´re perfectly right, Arnold! This plant may be a weed, but it´s a rather showy one. So I tend to tolerate it in places where it´s no nuisance.

[Akke]

A lot of variety in the seasons are showing up in the lovely pictures.

Mariëtte
While your chilis look pretty and colourful in the greenhouse, I love the composition of colour and texture in your first two pics.
Enjoy your Rumex sanguineus, some weeds are lovable.

Robert
Your garden seems to be  attractive independent of the season. Personally I like the combination of flowers and vegetables. Very different conditions here, winter purslane/miners lettuce is doing well at the moment, even if for now a real vegetable garden might not be possible, I’m  still playing around a bit.
Btw, I really do hope that you haven’t been ‘busy’ (I’m not sure how I put it) in the same way I was.

Probably due to a mild October (almost 2C above average in most of Europe), and some more warm (10-15C max) November days, we can enjoy a long beautiful autumn.
One weekend of winter, daytime temperatures hardly above freezing, didn’t spoll the fun.


In the containers Crocus melantherus needed a bit higher temperatures to open up, so it was taken inside.  Trying a bit of hand pollination as well.


Colchicum atticum/ Merendera attica is a bit earlier then last year. Accompanied by the last flowers of Allium virgunculae.


Over here the new season has started, already looking for early Eranthis, Galanthus and Scilla in public green (easy to combine with walking Spot), as first showed up early december last year.

[ArnoldT]

Mariette

It's edible as a salad green or cooked.  I believe in the West Indies they make a soft drink out of the red seeds.

It's very invasive.

[Mariette]

As I like to potter around in my rather small garden quite a lot, I think I managed its invasive nature for several years. From a culinary point of view, I prefer our native sorrel, Rumex acetosa, due to its more tender and succulent leaves.

Akke, thank You for Your comment and lovely pics - obviously You enjoy an equally colourful autumn so late in the season. And I really hope You´re doing well now!

Like You, I marvel at the vast range of plants Robert shows and the amount of work he and his wife manage to cope with!

Spending the last week-end in the north of Germany, I noticed that the leaves of the hydrangeas were blackened by frost, in our area they are still a joy.



Some varieties and seedlings of Primula vulgaris add a few flowers, as well.



The Monthly Rose is accompanied by flowers of Viburnum plicatum ´Watanabe´.

[Robert]

Mariette,

I seem to always enjoy the virtual photographic tours of your garden. Frequently, the combinations of foliage/flower colors, textures of foliage and bark and the general ambience of your garden captivate me.



Jasmin and I are currently revamping the ornamentals in our front yard. Combinations of color and texture are always on our minds as we plan, plant and place rocks or other garden items. Generally, these are spontaneous actions. I think I remember a remark that frequently your plant combinations are not planned, but occur spontaneously too. I do think that the virtual tours of your garden contribute to the initiation of our creative process. So, it is we that thank you for sharing garden photographs and comments.

Akke,

Yes, Akke, I hope that you are okay and not involved with the “busyness”. My busyness is bliss – see the end of my comments.

I enjoyed the photograph of the autumn colors in your nearby public garden. And, your photographs of your many Crocus species always inspire me. I think that I finally found a satisfying way to manage our Crocus plants in our garden. For the most part I like to grow them in the ground (vs. container), however finding appropriate companions that do not interfere with my cultivation practices has been challenging.

I have always had a passion for farming and growing edible plants. Growing ornamentals plants came a little later when I was a teenager. With rampant inflation in the U.S.A. sustainably growing most of our own food with minimal outside inputs is, more or less, inflation free. When I was a teenage I became acquainted with the economic philosophies of Scott Nearing. I have always been intrigued and found useful his concept of a “Use Economy”. If one wants to eat, grow your own food, want to enrich the soil, make your own compost,



Want to heat the home, cut your own firewood from your own land, want to cook food, cook the food using wood that you cut yourself from your own land.

I do all my gardening with hand tools, I like cutting wood with hand tools. This keeps my body fit, frees me from the noise and fumes of machines. Unless the air pollution is bad, gardening and working out in the fresh air surrounded by nature is not work, but pure pleasure for me.

[Jasmin]:  The colors and textures in everyone’s photos, Ian McDonald’s Local Patch, and the Bulb Log do inspire us.  The front strip is evolving so well, I am enthusiastic and inspired to revamp the larger front piece, and ornamental sections of the back.
   
This is a good channel for my thoughts and energies, which have not been so lovely.  The people next door to our east have a poor history of disregard and neglect, etc.  The first dog was dearly loved, but ever since has been a “filler” dog that has behavioral problems.  They have persistently been disregardful of our experience, requests and complaints.  The last dog would bark from 6 am to 11 pm.  The current dog enjoys tracking, surprise lunges at us, and barking at everything from the wind and wild birds to us and our birds.  On 8 Sept it had its latest attack, terrorizing our birds enough that there was harm.  I have been running a “avian hospital” here since then.  While all of this, such as the knowledge of how to inject medicine into a bird will form part of my bird care guide, it has been an emotional time.  Some birds are still on medication, and may need to remain so. 
     
On one hand, each day is a miracle.  Friede had a minor concussion and has completely recovered.  Tovi’s wings droop at times still, but he is happy and does not seem adversely impacted.  Dariya we thought would be dead, but the current suite of medications keeps her comfortable.  A better view and diagnosis of her internal digestive tract can only be viewed by a specialist with more capacity than our avian veterinarian, and, as she put it, nothing could be done about it anyway.  So what purpose to torture the dear?

In this country there was a day Thanksgiving; however, I much prefer this saying that Thanksgiving is not so much a time of year as an attitude of the heart.  I spent the day more in mindfulness of all there is to be grateful for:  the senses, the toilet, potable running water, a whole meal provided by the garden, each other.  Yet, I weep a lot, and feel terribly vulnerable with feelings I cannot place or name.  So, daily I am a tumult of these oxymorons:  joys and gratitudes, and these other realities from some unseen Pandora’s Box.

It is a time of deep spiritual introspection, prayers that are voiced by the heart with and without words. 

Thank you everyone, for your contributions bring us light and loveliness.