The weather here on the south coast has been unseasonably warm with quite a few days in the high 20sC and even the low 30sC in recent weeks. However, some of the nights have been cool enough to give autumn colour to various plants in our garden.
This is the Boston Ivy Parthenocissus tricuspidata, that grows on a wall near our front entrance. It is a very satisfactory replacement for a climbing ficus that had started to damage the brick work.
Being deciduous it also rewards us with seasonal colour change and a scattering of leaves on the path at this time of year.
This photo shows the ornamental grape on a frame. It has some well coloured leaves. However since I planted it into the ground last winter it has suffered with the very hot weather over the summer. In the foreground of the photo is a flourishing Miscanthus sinensus 'Zebrinus'. It was given to me by an ikebana colleague Margaret L. and is only surviving because it is in a pot that I can manage to keep moist.
The prize-winner for colour is this hydrangea that was given to me by Rosemary and David. Again, only surviving in our garden by being kept moist in a pot and sheltered against a south-facing wall.
What amazes me is that the photo above shows the same plant in the first week of January. As you can see the flowers initially are quite a pale pink.
With these latter two treasures in the garden what else did I need for the 'Autumn in a basket' theme at the April meeting of Ikebana International. The unusual Japanese basket is quite dark and almost spherical in for. It seemed to have sufficient mass to take such large and strongly coloured flowers.
Greetings from Christopher
21st April 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment