My garden is covered in chestnut husks. Every few minutes I see a squirrel dashing past the window clutching another chestnut. They must be quite difficult for the poor thing to carry, considering how spiky they are! It's that time of year when squirrels collect chestnuts, acorns, conkers etc, and store them away for use during the Winter. I have sometimes seen them bury the loot in my raised beds and borders. I have read that squirrels have very good memories, and can remember where they hid every one of the hundreds of nuts they gather in a typical Autumn. (Don't ask me why they don't put them all in one place and make it less difficult for themselves...)
Did you spot the Ladybird lurking in amongst the spines? Better watch out, Ladybird, you might get buried alive!
The colour of the Dogwood leaves is at its best now:
And the contrast between red leaves and white berries is very pleasing.
Likewise the contrast between red Dogwood and purple Cotinus leaves:
Some of the Dogwood leaves are yellow rather than red / orange:
So many of my photos at present have raindrops on them! (Hardly surprising though).
The purple Cotinus foliage is developing its characteristic "Tiger-stripes".
My last photo for today is of a hardy Geranium. Well, although it's called hardy all its leaves die off and the plant remains invisible below the soil surface during the Winter months.
Unfortunately these impressive colours only persist for a short period of time. I took these photos about a week ago and by the time you read this most of those leaves will already have turned brown and/or fallen off their plants, and we will be into the dull grey days of November, with little colour in the garden.
The conkers I've come across around here are really immature. They've fallen from the trees but the conker inside the spikey shells or husks are under developed. It seems really late for them.
ReplyDeleteJo; Same here. Many of the ones that have fallen are mainly white still, and they are all thin and weedy.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous colors in this post! Your photos are lovely.
ReplyDeleteSo do you collect and use the chestnuts? I have a Chinese chestnut tree but have found them incredibly slow growing. Pecans and hazelnuts are a whole lot faster.
ReplyDeleteBecky; No, This year I have not collected any chestnuts, because they are very small and not attractive, probably because of our strange weather. Normally I do though - there are a number of very big chestnut trees just down the road from us, where I can usually get a couple of pounds of nuts within a few minutes.
DeleteThe squirrels often "plant" chestnuts in the flower beds. Perhaps I'll transplant one to replace the trees lost this summer.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is certainly a long-term plan. Your grandchildren might live to see the benefit, but I don't think you will!
DeleteI did spot the ladybird! The tress all around us are showing beautiful colour at the moment.
ReplyDeleteAs for the squirrels - I guess having all your loot in one place means that if someone else stumbles upon the cache - they can take the lot!