Saturday 13 October 2012

My Autumn palette part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's theme, though this time I'm concentrating on berries and seeds more than leaves.

First the Callicarpa aka "Beauty Bush". The leaves may be turning yellow, but the berries are colouring-up nicely.

Callicarpa








Some of the Dogwood berries are still plump and glossy white


...but they are mostly withered now, leaving just the seed capsules. This is the Cornus "Kesselringii", the one with nearly-black stems.

Dogwood berries

This is a dried-up bract of one of the Euphorbia plants ("Clarice Howard").

Euphorbia

The Fennel seeds are brown and shrivelled too:

Fennel

Likewise the Hypericum berries, which a short while ago were bright pink. They look a little bit like Allspice berries, I think. Probably don't taste so nice though...

Hypericum berries

The Olive tree has not been especially happy this year, no doubt wishing it could exchange our grey and chilly weather for something a bit warmer.

Olive flowers
It's a good thing I don't grow the Olive tree in order to get a harvest, because its fruits are small and not very plentiful. I wish you could eat olives straight from the tree, without all that palaver of brining them etc...

Olive fruits

6 comments:

  1. Look at those lilac coloured berries. They don't look real!

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  2. I'm afraid as far as I am concerned the olives can stay on the tree. What are the white dots on the zoomed up purple berries?

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    1. Sue, when they are young the berries have a sort of dusty bloom, which eventually disappears. I think it is part of the process of berries forming from flowers, but more than that I cannot say.

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  3. The brining palaver has stopped me from buying an olive bush. Also the lack of sunshine has a certain part to play. I adore olives. Mike hates them, calls them the devils food.

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  4. The callicarpa are stunning! Do the birds eat them?

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    Replies
    1. David; yes the birds do eat them, but usually only in the depths of Winter, when everything else has gone. I suspect they are not very nice - even for birds.

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