We who choose to live in cold climates sometimes despair and wonder if its worth the trouble – keeping our houses, loved ones and selves warm as the temperatures drop, protecting the plants that we *needed* to buy but don’t really appreciate the chill, trying to get out of bed on a morning where your breath solidifies in the air, etc. Then there are times where it all becomes clear and we wouldn’t change it for the world.
Flowering Crabapples "Golden Raindrops"
Flowering Crabapple - Malus transitoria Golden Raindrops
My favourite Autumn show generally comes from the Chinese Tallow Tree (Sapium sebiferum) which turns every warm colour of the rainbow before the leaves fall.
Chinese Tallow Tree (Sapium sebiferum)
Leaves of my Chinese Tallow
My neighbours have the most glorious Claret Ash that is just starting to colour up and over the next few weeks will shed their entire load all over my driveway. I’m not unhappy about this as I have a mostly-empty leaf bin in the back garden ready and waiting for them – add a little fertiliser and this will be a wonderful addition to my garden beds in Spring!
Claret Ash .. just starting to turn
The last of my Autumn roses now rain down on my daisy, who also revel in the last of the warmth before winter sets in.
David Austin Roses and daisies
Most of my cuttings are coming along nicely – the Climbing Gold Bunny Rose has taken off particularly well – but they would have benefited from my using real propagation mix as opposed to the potting mix I used in some in my laziness. My semi-hardwood cuttings from class had developed so many roots that I need to trim them in order to pot them on and I think this is largely to do with the air-rich propagating mix we used (plus the cosy and humid location in the greenhouse). I hope I may say the same for my roses come spring. Oh well, I’ll just try again next year, perhaps a few weeks earlier. I am quite determined to master this!
My cuttings, enjoying some afternoon sun
My project from last weekend is a coldframe to protect my little ones from the frost and allow me to get off to a flying start come Spring. After the marvellous find of an unwanted kids sandpit, I got to work attaching part of it to the front of my vegie patches and recycled an old window for the lid. Ok, it may not the finest piece of workmanship the world has ever seen but it should do the job nicely. The rest of the sandpit has been moved into an unused back corner to become my potato patch come spring. I have had so many recommendations to grow potatoes that I feel I must try it out this year and the sandpit frame will be lift enough to lift off when it comes to harvest time for easy digging.
My new coldframe
Now its time to have a cup of tea and enjoy the show from indoors!
Our Autumn Show
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Fabulous autumn colours … something we don’t get to see up here. I so loved that Claret Ash … beautiful sight … and those gorgeous leaves of your Chinese Tallow.
Your coldframe looks good … I’m sure it will do the job perfectly. Your cuttings do seem to be doing quite well … practise makes perfect, I guess!
Make sure you keep on posting more photos of the great autumn colours down there … it’s a sight I’ve always wanted to see in person.
Beautiful autumn colour Karly! We have few pretty trees around here, but not the lovely displays you see in other parts of Victoria – or the A.C.T! I was admiring Chinese Tallow in a gardening magazine just recently and your photo really shows off it’s lovely colour.
That idea for a cold frame looks good – and I like to recycle too, so I might just start hunting around for something to experiment with myself!
You need a Q&A section!
I found a bright red bottlebrush here in Belgium for sale at the market, so of course I had to pick it up to remind me of home… but I’m wondering if it will be able to survive in a pot on my rain-sheltered balcony which gets full sun most of the day (though it’s pissy European sun…). It’s in a pretty small pot right now but the plan is to get a bigger one, do you think it’ll be okay? I can keep the pot out of the direct sun but it gets generally pretty warm if the sun is out there all day. I have found that other pots dry up pretty quickly if I’m not slurping water into them most days.
Love the photos of autumn coming through! Spring here is so amazingly beautiful… I’ll be putting some photos from St James Park in London up soon, which was where I was on the weekend!
Gosh I suck, I just realised you *do* have a Q&A section!
*feels silly*
Lovely autumn scenes… we are in the late chill while trying to wake up from winter…still!
Love your photos, and the roses, especially.
Autumn is a wonderful time in the cool climate when the leaves turn golden yellow and all shades of red.
Like a gift before they fall and the cold weather sets in.
I love to make cuttings. At the moment I have different Salvias trying to make roots. Soon I will pot up some rose cuttings. I am not always successful, but when I am I am very pleased!
Hey thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I don’t know what must be the problem with your jasmine, as aside from ridding it of bug infestation, mine doesn’t get special treatment. And the new one has grown 10 fold since I got it. He an the banksia rose are going to have to have it out on that fenceline probably by next year. It is very humid here, like ALL the time, maybe that’s it?
Enjoy your fabulous weather down there. Spring is great for the garden, but for just sheer weather, I’m a Autumn girl.
HI Jess – thanks! I love it too
Maybe thats it, it might be a little cool and dry down here for my chinese star jasmine – though some of my friends grow it but they might have the right microclimate . Its so lovely that I keep persisting, but mine is *very* slow growing.
Your fence will look lovely with the banksia rose as well – can’t wait to see the photos
Titania – me too! Maybe I’m just cheap, but there is something very satisfying about cuttings. I’m growing a bunch of salvias too, but I had great clumps and just divided them – they’ve been really successful
Good luck with your cuttings
Thanks Ilona – don’t worry, summer will be there in force before you know it
Hi Liedra – that’s a great find in a Beligian market! I don’t blame you for having to have it. My advice is to see if you can get a pot with a waterwell in the bottom of it – they’re much less tiresome to water and bottlebrushes like a bit of a drink from time to time (so it probably won’t like the small, dry pot for long). Then I say put it in as much sun as you can get! A mostly sunny balcony sounds like a great location – it should love it
Put up some photos when you’ve got it all potted up!
Thanks Heidi! Its not the prettiest, but it should work well and recycling definitely makes you feel better. I’d like to start taking photos of my chinese tallow every few days as it changes so much so quickly here, but I’m going overseas and will run out of time. Still, I might try and get my other half out there and sending me pictures
Thanks Bernie – I swear, every now and again when we make it to the Blue Mountains, I decide I’m giving it all up and moving up there with the incredible show they have. Your blog and the bushland make me feel the same way. Then you look around and realise that home isn’t half bad either
I love the colors of autumn, my favorite season! The Golden Raindrops Crabapple is lovely, is the fruit edible? Your cold-frame looks great, and its an excellent use of an unwanted sandpit, and your cuttings look like they’re off to a roaring start!
Karly – I was going through my posts and found your comment from May 4th – on my April 11th post; what a wonderful surprise! So I’ve come to visit and say ‘hi’.
The idea of doing cuttings is fantastic – last fall I meant to get cuttings from a variety of Coleus that grew through the summer. Unfortunately, after dragging my heels, a hard frost took them all out! (I won’t make that mistake this fall!) THANKS for stopping by my blog!! -Shyrlene