Full Bloom

 My garden is moving into its autumnal phase (I love using that word as its mouth feel is so good when you say it - autumnal!) I weirdly enjoy this time of the year in the garden as I like tidying up and dead heading and putting my plants "to bed" for the winter. I can get hours of entertainment in my garden doing this and mostly all it costs me is time.

I started gardening at aged 13 when I got a Saturday morning job for an elderly lady and her husband who was unwell. I worked most Saturdays for all of my high schooling for her for 3 hours and she taught me many things about gardening including how to prune roses, how plants grew and how to keep things looked after. Looking back I had favourite parts of her garden which I came to know very well over the years. Tidying and keeping things looking nice was a big part of what I did for her and I guess that is what I still enjoy. Sadly I never got to say goodbye to her as the last day I was due to work before leaving for university we found she had died in the night. A sad way to end but she had given me the gift of an enduring love of gardening.

These flowers are Winter Roses (Hellebores) that I picked from my garden last winter and i do love their form and colour. This photo I took as they were starting to turn but even as they were dying they have a beauty about them. Many of them I got from my mother who has about 16 different Hellebores spread throughout her garden. Some of the seedling she gave me are now getting big enough that I may see them bloom this year. I am excited to see them appear in the next few months to provide me with beautiful flower arrangements like this one that I can enjoy for no cost year after year!