Oh, to be in England..., the Mitcheldean Garden 2017
Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

This page is part of a series of garden blogs from 2017. Click here for the index.

It's November again and at first sight the front garden looks 'summer normal'. However, the roses here have been cut back and there is less warmth to the colour. There's no time to waste, Penang beckons.

I think we work harder in October and early November than at any other time of year, if one picture could tell the story this would be it, the bonfire heap is at least 1.5m high and more than 2m across. These are just the bits than can't be composted! I've added the end result at the end of this page.

The dwarf dahlias are packed away, the dark dahlias are being conditioned for storage and around the front lawn are piles of dahlias which have been dug up and await their turn. Their former home has been manured and dug over and is now planted with a mass of tulip bulbs. The small begonias and the red salvia will have to go soon as the hyacinths are waiting not to mention even more tulips.

Back at the top this is the view, the shed is covered by the honeysuckle ejected when the greenhouse was built, the leaves on the lawn were soon swept up for recycling. The ugly Leylandii is a reminder that we are due to get new neighbours. The little old lady has agreed to sell but completion seems to be taking forever. Meanwhile, she has had the grass cut in half the garden once this year and in the other half not at all. I have a picture as a souvenir but I'm not going to spoil this page with it ...

We bought a set of Autumn chrysanthemums for just a pound, unwanted by B&Q and now finally they are in flower. The baby standard roses have since been pruned, the bed behind had already been given the full 'tulip treatment'. The small azaleas will move out when they have flowered in the Spring and the whole bed will be filled with dahlias, potentially an amazing blaze of colour come next August.

The patio is still not completely clear, the begonias and anemones have to come out. The geraniums and tender fuchsias tell us they are very cozy but they'll have to squeeze up as there are a few more tubs yet to come.

However, late autumn really belongs to the hardy fuchsias, we haven't had a hard winter to knock them back for many years. These two were booted out of the flowerbed in front of the house because they were too big. Two years on and they are well established and bigger than ever. Worse, I must have left some of the roots behind and they are taking over again.

Some time ago we acquired some blue and white fuchsias which until this year have been a waste of space. They have been our star performers while most of the other fancy fuchsias have been nothing special. I hope they start slowly again next Spring because otherwise they will have to be severely pruned so the world can see the tulips!

Two days later as elsewhere in the village people prepared to set off their fireworks, a gentle breeze wafted the initial smoke up the hillside and out of harm's way. Two days after that the remains are smoldering gently, the ash will be scattered on the vegetable patch where it will be most appreciated.