Hello Everyone
Jennifer took this photo of my Papaver 'Patty's Plum' during one of my recent hospital stays as she knew that it would all be finished before I got out. I thought it looked great with the bark of the tibetian cherry.

It worked ! I got it moved to the right place!
Not that that remark makes any sense now, since I successfully removed the original post as well.

Good-O for Jennifer to do that for you. If I was laid up in hospital, I think that would be the nicest thing anyone could do for me too... to bring my garden to me. oxxoxox to Jen from me xoxoxox

It is a beautiful scene Nicola. Did you polish that bark before leaving home ? ;-)

You see folks,,, Nicola scrubs her white-barked birch with bleach. Trust me - I've seen it. So, you imagine how well kept the rest of her beautiful garden is !

We are all so glad you are up and at um again Nicola and hopefully enjoying your garden in real time this autumn. There's something to be said for us tough ol boots, after all ;-)
Take care not to over do it.

I don’t actually polish the bark on the Prunus but I do rub over the trunk and branches wearing suede pruning gloves. That removes the peeling bark and exposes the multi coloured shiny stems beneath.

I do wash our white stemmed birch with warm soapy water but not with bleach. Jeffrey says that I am a nut case but I can’t see the point of growing a tree with such wonderful white stems and then letting algae grow all over them. I have to admit that I do not have quite the same approach to housework!

I was dying to tell on you for washing your tree bark , it is just so novel. But sorry I got the bleach part wrong. Guess I was thinking you had used it to get that green algae off the birch.
If I had that Prunus, I would rub the old bark by hand too, to see that awesome shiny color. In fact, you are making me want to rip out some trees in this garden to replace them with more interesting ones such as yours. Stay tuned folks, Nicola’s garden will be virtually joining our site soon.

I know what you mean about that housework stuff - us gardeners would much rather push around outdoor soil than indoor dirt any day. Our weather was so wonderful yesterday that I got to spend way too many hours working in the garden. Really must get a housewife to care of our indoors ;-).

Autumn is starting to colour up here. These are leaves from Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' and Cornus alba 'Kesselringii' that I picked from the garden this morning. They have not come out quite as vividly as they actually are but they still look quite good.

Gosh, the trees must be awesome with that much color on them. Wish I was there to click at them again :-)
We just had our first cold snap and I expect the Sweet Gums in my neighborhood to be turning any day now. They are usually the first to 'bloom' into autumn color around here.

Very pretty. I've alwlays wanted to get some of the "Acer" varieties. Everyone's pictures always adds to my want lists, and Nicola's are reminding me that I got side-tracked with other plants and almost forgot about the Acer's.

What are your temperatures like in England and TX? It seems like it has been warm here this October. We have only had 2 or 3 nights with frost and freezing temps.

It's still very warm here, no frosts yet. Yesterday it rained properly for the first time in what seems like weeks.

Doesn't sound like England to me ;-) Guess you are being rewarded for that lonnnnng wet spring that lasted into July. My cous in Sussex said it hadn't been warm enough to sit on the patio until some time in Aug. (it was the day i was there last - i always say they should pay me to come over and bring the warmth) Guess your summer is trying to make up for long that messed up spring. Makes me want to hop a jet plane and see the autumn borders in their final hurrah.

Sorry I missed your ? earlier, MK. It has been like an English autumn here in Texas - cool temps and lots of rain. Not occasional spells of rain like we usually get, but seemingly endless cloudy days full of rainfalls. Its been wonderful to work outdoors again without heatstroke and mosquitos!! But no where near a first frost, so there is still lots of flower color and green trees.

Nicola – in hopes of you surfing in soon – the trick we figured out on how to get our mail servers to cooperate – we have been foiled again. It keeps coming back to me again, no matter which way I try it.

Hope no one else is having trouble getting my replies lately, or visa versa