End of Month View: Winter Beckons

Winter is definitely beckoning with the garden looking increasingly stark in green and brown monochrome. It is nevertheless an exciting time, with the thrill (yes, indeed) of  cutting back and generally tidying up the year’s efforts with the promise of witch hazels and snowdrops not that far away. Above is the usual first view, from directly behind the house (the ladder was needed for pruning some of the climbing roses) and below is the shrub border and streamside area from both ends; here, the three cornus are looking increasingly magnificent as they lose the last of their leaves:

The woodland, thick with fallen leaves:

The view from the bothy at the end of the woodland, looking out over the main borders, and the main borders from ground level:

The bronze heuchera bed and the clematis colonnade:

The woodland edge borders from both directions, the areas to the left and front right having been refreshed and replanted:

Bold borders numbers one two and three, number two gradually being emptied of plants, temporarily potted up (my goodness, the Clematis heracleifolia in number one does not age gracefully!):

Equally scruffy blue & white borders:

A stark rose garden:

Snowdrop border nicely mulched in homemade compost and leaf mould, with a handful of snowdrop spikes beginning to show themselves (whoohoo!):

Partially shady border behind the Coop, backed by gloriously leafy Clematis armandii:

And finally the new Fig border, hopefully providing year round interest with foliage and fragrance as well as blooms:

That’s the garden at the end of November, a record for me as much as anything else. There is an out-of-date map of the garden under The Garden tab above if you would like to see how the different bits fit together.