Truth be told, I am surprised the garden was still here this morning – we had a huge squall in the night. Gale force wind and rain hammered down from every direction.  When I woke [...]]]>

Not a lot of change in the garden this month – although it is looking more “straw like”.

Truth be told, I am surprised the garden was still here this morning – we had a huge squall in the night. Gale force wind and rain hammered down from every direction.  When I woke up this morning I was concerned as to whether there would still be a garden around the house – but it was remarkably unaffected.

The Molina arundinacea ‘Skyracer’ which has been marvellous, vanished in the gales at the beginning of the week. As did the Bonkers passion flowers.

The panicum virgatum to the right of the picture above has developed lovely buttery tones – I think this may be P. ‘Squaw’ although mine has never had the pink / purple tones in the flower heads that is associated with this variety, so although that is what the label said … I am not sure.

The Salvias are still in flower – and give marvellous splashes of late season colour through the garden.

For me though – the late November garden is all about seed heads and stalks.  In the longer view the grasses and the seed heads mingle together – walking through the garden and noticing them individually and close up I find them quite remarkable and my studio is full of things to draw. I have been observing how the fennel stems join together in an angular way – and been totally entranced by the seed heads of the Shoo-fly plant (Nicandra physalodes) which is at the bottom right of the image above.  The Shoo-fly seed heads have given structure to the garden for most of the summer, when they were dark brown or black. Now – they have a lace like quality which is adorable.

My garden does not have the starkness of a winter garden yet – although to-day is only the first day of winter, from a meteorological perspective, so plenty of time for it to look wintery.

Thanks go to Helen / Patient gardener for this meme – which I still enjoy enormously and find very useful. Why not pop over to hers and see who else is posting their end of the month view – or better still, join in yourself!