Winter begins

December 5, 2014 by afrenchgarden 32 Comments

Winter has finally arrived. The drop in temperature over just two days felt brutal. We have gone from mild, sunny autumn days to dull days with temperatures sometimes in the single figures (Centigrade!) – still no frost yet.

My liquidambar has lost most of its leaves now without producing spectacular bright red leaves but yellow/orange is good too. I’m pleased with the Cornus alba doing its bit on the left to add a bit of red for the autumn.

I planted four scarlet willows (Salix alba “Chermesina”) to provide a blaze of red stems in autumn and through winter. Well, they are not quite there yet but I am pleased that they have all taken and seem to be quite happy.

The fuschias are still providing lots of colour and don’t even look tired.

But I still come back to the humble cotoneasters for the best show.

And I noticed today that the berries are starting to go missing so they also provide a good winter food for the birds.

A flash-back to last May and the cotoneaster in the front garden and you can see what a useful plant this is.

It was only nine degrees in the garden this afternoon but the bumble bees were happy on the winter flowering honeysuckle …

and on the salvia, but it was too cold for the honey bees to put in an appearance.

I enjoyed watching, what I think must bee a buff-tailed queen, sunning herself on the ground where she was sheltering at the base of a plant.

She had been feeding on the winter honeysuckle and in consequence got covered in pollen and felt the need for a good grooming. She will not need the pollen until next spring when she starts her first nest.

This morning my husband grabbed his camera and shouted for me to look at what was on the patio.

This is a red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) and a new visitor to our feeding station. I had a good idea where he had come from. I checked with my neighbour and not too long ago partridges had been released for hunting purposes.

However, this is a lucky one – well for the moment- the season is closed now and it will be safe to eat at our bird feeder. Mmm. just how much wild bird food can a large partridge eat?

Author: afrenchgarden

Born in Scotland I have lived in England, Iran, USA and Greece. The house and land was bought twelve years ago in fulfilment of the dream of living in France that my Francophile husband nurtured. We had spent frequent holidays in France touring the more northerly parts and enjoying the food, scenery, architecture and of course gardens. However, we felt that to retire in France and enjoy a more clement climate than we currently had in Aberdeen we would need to find somewhere south of the river Loire but not too south to make returning to visit the UK onerous. The year 2000 saw us buying our house and setting it up to receive us and the family on holidays. The garden was more a field and we were helped by my son to remove the fencing that had separated the previous owners’ goats, sheep and chickens. We did inherit some lovely old trees and decided to plant more fruit trees that would survive and mature with the minimum of care until we took up permanent residence. The move took place in 2006 and the love hate relation with the “garden” started. There was so much to do in the house that there was little energy left for the hard tasks in the garden. It was very much a slow process and a steep learning curve. Expenditures have been kept to a minimum. The majority of the plants have been cuttings and I try to gather seeds wherever I can. The fruit trees have all been bought but we have tender hearts and cannot resist the little unloved shrub at a discount price and take it as a matter of honour to nurse it back to health. This year I have launched my Blog hoping to reach out to other gardeners in other countries. My aim is to make a garden for people to enjoy, providing shady and sunny spots with plants that enjoy living in this area with its limestone based subsoil and low rainfall in a warm summer. Exchanging ideas and exploring mutual problems will enrich my experience trying to form my French garden.