Goldfinch wars

So after about 17 years of us putting out nyger seed, the goldfinches have finally noticed it and come down in numbers. Unfortunately this resulted in 6 goldfinches trying to use a feeder with 2 perches and a certain amount of pushing and shoving, so we got them a bigger one with 6 perches, plus another triple feeder that you can put nyger seed in beside other things so they can share nicely with the other birds. The next photo shows goldfinches studiously ignoring beautiful shiny new feeder and continuing to fight over the tatty old one. Then we had the bright idea of switching their positions and putting the new one where the old one had been......they soon twigged, and we've had up to 9 at a time all stuffing their little feathery faces. However there is one who seems to feel that he should have exclusive use of the new feeder, so spends most of his time intimidating the others when they try to land on it no matter how many perches are free. The blue tits have also decided that if the goldfinches like it so much this nyger seed must be good stuff, so have been seen tucking into it as well as decimating the bird cake. Nobody seems to like the cheapo fat snax from the pet shop, oh dear because we have rather a lot of them, except whoever it was that managed to take the whole thing down on the ground and eat the lot. We suspect M. Le Squirrel....but if it keeps him full enough not to dig up my bulbs and eat them I think it's worth it.....

So have done the usual thing of putting in lots of bulbs and immediately forgetting where they are so it will be a nice surprise when they appear in spring, or don't. We paid our first visit to Dawyck and bought a Inula hookeri in their plant sale, so it's now installed in the back of the bed all set to be bee-friendly we hope, and I've moved the Caryopteris to the front of that bed, in the process another bit fell off and has become a cutting, so we'll see if it makes it......

Most things dying down now but the flying-saucer squash in the greenhouse is still fruiting away, nobody's told it the season is over which is nice....I also bought some new pansies to replace the ones in the pots at the front and then they decided they weren't dead after all and perked up again so the new ones will have to go elsewhere......

Hanging in there

As usual, as the weather cools and the garden is supposed to be winding down, ours has not read the textbooks and is continuing to flower merrily away as if it were spring. Only the sudden absence of the frogs suggests any change - there is still the occasional splosh to tell us they're still there, but they don't come up to pose for photos any more. Late flowers have arrived: the heliotrope

and the tobacco plants that Shirley gave us:

while the morning glory by the back door has started to flower just as all the others have finished and gone over:

and the prostrate rosemary is having a second flush of flowers - but the first was in January, so for a Mediterranean herb it is behaving very strangely.

The California poppies also had another brief blaze of glory:

This year we seem to have grown an awful lot of these:

but sadly we have not yet figured out how to cook them. Unfortunately one of them landed right on the apple tree and bashed half the apples off, it was already a bit unstable and we had planned to move it backwards a bit, so we have, but it looks really unhappy so I hope it doesn't just die. The other one next to the fennel looks really well and has produced lots of apples this year, just needs a new stake instead of being tied up with rope.......

Dahlia Envy

A little trip chez Ross to install the tree peony in its new abode. I have to say that it was not entirely in agreement with the plan and demonstrated a certain reluctance to move, so it was quite a struggle getting it out. After we'd planted it it still did not look totally convinced:

but I'm sure in time it will grow to like it and will appreciate having more room to spread itself out. We are now left with An 'Ole, but there are one or two things grown this year and waiting to be planted up which can go in the gap. The third apple tree was also behind it and completely swamped - despite which it had valiantly produced one apple anyway - so it will also benefit. We have to accept that our garden seems to be really keen on growing fruit, so the least we can do is let it get on with it......

Other people's gardens, on the other hand, seem to like to produce spectacular dahlias and cosmos.......