A Very Brisk Walk Round a Very Chilly Garden at the End of November

30.11.2023 - 21:19 / ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com / Cathy

Consecutive days of frost have certainly put paid to most herbaceous plants in the garden, and with time and less chilly weather I could now begin cutting back some of the top growth and improving the general scruffiness of some of the borders. Meanwhile, I have  finally been giving some thought to  a certain event that seems to have taken many people by surprise this year, and have at least ordered some seeds from Chiltern Seeds and bedding plants from Brookside Nursery Nursery so have achieved something garden-related in the last week. I still have a ramble at least once a day, albeit more of a sprint than a ramble – if you need to take it at a more leisurely place, then please do.

Starting with the view from the back of the house, you can see from the ‘portrait view’ just how bare the deciduous trees are, with our neighbour’s large beech tree now virtually naked. The greenery in front of it is a mass of ivy which has clambered through a dead tree; to the top left is the evergreen variegated holly. Looking across the adjacent streamside grass and the shrub border, the presence of the lingering frost is clearly evident.

The fallen leaves have covered the bark path in the woodland, with those from the field maple still a lovely buttery yellow. From the bothy at the end you have a wider view of parts of the garden, and from the back of the shed you can see that the clematis on the colonnade have been partially cut back. I seem to have forgotten to include a picture across the main borders this month.

Walking briskly through the woodland edge borders, green with hellebore and epimedium foliage and leathery rhododendrons, we reach the grass border and ‘bold borders’ before getting to the bottom of the garden with the