My garden in October

October has been a lovely warm month, I think I read somewhere that it’s been the warmest for seven years, but suddenly this last weekend it changed and now we know that winter is on its way, but until then let’s hope for some more clear and crisp autumnal days. There’s only been a bit of pottering in the garden this month and we’ve yet to put the garden to bed for the year, covering up tables and chairs and moving pots into more sheltered places but I’m hoping that the weather will continue to be kind and we’ll have some time to do that before winter really kicks in.

The garden manages quite well without us and during that time pottering I grabbed some snaps too. This year the cyclamen arrived early, but they’ve also put on many more leaves than I’ve noticed before, so I’m hoping that means lots more cyclamen over the winter and in years to come.

Our agapanthus have had a quieter year this year, with only three or so flowers. The seed heads are dropping off now but the structure of the head remains, for now. I’ll need to cut the stems soon so that the plants can regenerate and provide plenty more flowers next year. We lost a couple of our agapanthus plants this year, I think because they got so wet, so I’ll be covering them with fleece again this winter to offer them some protection.

Yes, more cyclamen. They are slowly creeping around the garden, but I don’t really mind.

The sedums have been stunning this year, the colours are so vibrant. I’m sure there’s a scientific reason which pins this down to the warm and dry summer, but whatever it is, I’m pleased to see them when they’re as beautiful as this.

ANYONE ELSE SEE A HEART?

Strangely the lettuce seems to have come into its own. Yes, in the month when I’m least likely to eat salad I have lettuce a plenty (and don’t worry, that darker green leaf of the left of the picture below, I know that’s not a lettuce, so we’re not about to eat it).

I’LL SKIP THIS TOMATO IN THE SALAD, THANKS

My ‘best’ tomato didn’t survive my week away. It looks as if someone, or something, else had their eye on it too and got there before me. They didn’t get my borlotti beans though, but as borlotti beans were in the meal I ate before being ill on holiday, I’m off those at the moment and our crop is drying to be used as seeds next year instead, as I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to look a borlotti bean in the eye by then.

The pots are doing well, in fact too well. It looks as if I’ve some unexpected Lords and Ladies in with my rhubarb - I thought that wasn’t growing, but now that the rhubarb’s in there it seems to have sprung into life. Typical hey?

RHUBARB IN A POT, THE SMALLER OVAL LEAVES ARE LORDS AND LADIES

And behind the bamboo in a pot that we haven’t used this year I discovered a self seeded and flowering primula. I really don’t mind when plants self-seed, and I’m doubly impressed when they manage to get themselves into a pot too.

ANOTHER OF THE EVERLASTING PRIMULAS, EVERLASTING BECAUSE THEY JUST KEEP ON GOING

The other thing that I have to mention in this monthly update, is the leaves. They’ve started - it is autumn after all - but as you can see it’s going to be something that keeps us busy, until they’re all down.

THE START OF THE LEAVES

Secretly though, I think MOH is willing them down so he can get out the leaf blower again…

Homewares, Italian-style

When we were away recently in Italy we stayed on the outskirts of Todi, a relatively small hill top town in Umbria, with a population of almost 17,000. That might sound a lot, but in comparison even Greenwich has a population of quarter of a million (and that was in the 2011 census), so you can see why it felt small to us. But even so, my knack of stumbling across a fantastic homewares shop still managed to find its way, which really is quite something…

And so was the silver sequinned pumpkin. I’m not much of one for celebrating Halloween - I’m the type of person that pulls the curtains and doesn’t open the door, if the doorbell is rung by trick and treaters - but I could have made allowances for the sparkly pumpkin. The smaller plush fabric-ed pumpkins were also cute, but after seeing the sequinned one, there really wasn’t any comparison.

But the pumpkins were a bit of a distraction, once I saw these pots. By now MOH was looking concerned, as there was no way these would fit in our suitcase and I’m sure he was already planning his excuses for not having these in hand luggage either, and I have some sympathies.

My reason for giving these such a close look over was more than that. I was keen to know what they were made of - small wooden discs painted white - and how we could replicate them at home, and if we could use the small mountain of corks that seem to multiply at home.

I mean, I have no idea where they all come from…

But the real star of our visit was these exquisite bowls.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

They’re rustic wooden bowls with a smooth floral patterned interior. I don’t need any more bowls (but please don’t tell MOH) and I was very tempted, of course it helped that they were yellow, but I resisted. I didn’t even get as far as looking at the price, however I did take a picture of the label and the base and hope to be able to track down something similar online.

I’m pretty sure that the floral pattern, which I’m hesitating to call vintage, featured in my childhood wardrobe at some point!

The Italians are shy of using yellow as these zingy scalloped bowls show. They’ve a bit of a kitsch feel about them, but they’re fun too. And we’re getting in on the yellow scene here in the UK now too, although we’re most likely to see a pop of mustard in our homewares, and in our wardrobes, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I think after all the browsing, and especially the pausing to inspect closer MOH was relieved to leave the shop empty-handed, but that’s partly because we’d already bought a ceramic momento, but more on that next week.

The one with the redecorated loo

Last weekend we celebrated my MIL’s birthday with afternoon tea at Alexander House Hotel in West Sussex, and it wasn’t our first time there. Our previous visit, also for afternoon tea (they’re good) was a couple of years ago, and then I shared how my outfit seemed to match the painting in the loo.

When thinking about what to wear I remembered them matching my yellow dress before, and thought I’d wear something different this time. I’m a fan of colour, often wearing, at least one bright colour but nothing really jumped out at me as I recalled my wardrobe. So, as often is the case, I chose the shoes I wanted to wear and went from there, thinking nothing more of it.

After eating more than I had in a while, and yet still not managing to polish off all the cakes - I know, I was shocked too - and drinking a pot or two of “sparkling white” white tea, a trip to the loos brought a good excuse for a break and a wander. Remembering the loos from before, and knowing I’d already shared them here, I almost didn’t take my bag with me…

It was obvious though, that something had changed.

I noticed the wallpaper straight away, it’s similar to the bamboo wallpaper we have on one wall in our living room, but with more sparkle. Had I known I could have got some sparkle in my wallpaper then maybe I’d’ve had some, as it would bring an element of light to the wall. I was less sure though if the basins had been changed, so later I checked my earlier post and they had. In place of white traditional sinks where these countertop basins, which as you can see bring another metallic texture to the space.

The wallpaper was different too, more metallics and with a geometric pattern - the light in the photo below seems to have played havoc with the colour, but I couldn’t resist showing you this wall, isn’t it great?

In the lobby area, you can see a truer colour of the wallpaper, and it was great to see the picture still hanging in the same place. The padded bench seat though was the star and this is my favourite view of the loos - I know, how weird is that, I mean how many people have a favourite loo view?!

But you know what I mean, it almost seems wasted in the loo (but it was too large for my handbag!)

So that’s another first for the Loo Series, this is the first loo that’s been redecorated and therefore featured twice. I think I much prefer the updated version, but what about you?