Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Ah, Achillea ptarmica, Less. I haven't seen ours that close up!  Lots of interesting fungi and other growths in your neck of the woods.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Dusty I hope GirlHog makes it now she's at HogHQ, poor wee soul. Lovely to see your ones doing so well though I wonder how they got the bowls stacked? I love the pics from your walk, but especially the first one looking along a leafy path through a tunnel of trees Did it smell all musty and perfect? 

Girl hog has the best chance, now being at the top hog hospital in the area.    They won't give her back, though, unless we have a hog hibernation box.  I have the plans, so......

The wood is confusingly called Birchcleave, and it's full of beeches! It was lovely with the sun streaming through, and probably less lovely in the dullness of the return. Oddly, we were talking animatedly about Strictly then, saying why we no longer watch, so I didn't pay attention to smelling anything! 

Thinking the Veiled Lady was a bust is surely forgivable, given her pose?  She looks like she's about to plant some elephant garlic, but I guess there might be another interpretation that's escaping me? 

We found sloes on the cliffs a month or so ago, 2p. As the bushes were stunted, at only about 0.4m high I didn't recognise them....till I tried one! 

pink_poppy said:

No sign of Mr Blackie

Toby Buckland was receiving lots of calls from folks on his Radio Devon gardening programme, saying their Blackies have not returned this autumn. They're very scarce with us here.   

Farway said:

The doughnuts on Less's leaves, are Galls, just looked it up, and would you believe there is even a Gall Society, that must be very specialised.

Hmmm, these days, I find lots of things galling, and I'm not alone! Interesting word derivation, though: 

Latin origin:

The Latin word for a "gallnut" or "oak apple" is galla. This may be the ultimate source of the word's association with sores or blemishes. 

Middle English:

The verb "gall" emerged in Middle English around the 15th century, with the meaning "to make sore by chafing". 

Figurative meaning:

By the late 1500s, the figurative sense of "to harass, vex, or irritate" appeared, leading to the adjective form. 

Adjective "galling":

The adjective "galling" first appeared in the late 1500s, meaning something that is irritating or vexing. 

We have rain here, lots of it, and there seems to be some forecast for all the days this week. Maybe Friday's walk will be the last of the long ones for this year. 

Yay! Two photos posted and not resized! 

twopenny

That's pretty much it apart from the spoon being silver 
https://www.jamiesonbrothers.com/gardening-gift-mug-gardener-of-the-year-comes-with-shovel-shaped-spoon-by-jamieson-brothers?msclkid=8a10d810d22f1b6d0d41b0e6d3b0aaff
Charity shop £5.

Raining again here but that's good because there's still rain shadow by the fence so I'm still saving buckets of water.
Not as warm as they promised but ok.

Amazing sculpture Bluey. I wonder if there are still creative people around as the net tightens around all folk.
You should pop over to Rome and see the Pieta. Makes you weep. 

Oddly I knew they were oak galls. Used to see a lot when I had a dog to walk so I guess we absorb knowledge that stays dormant for years.
Shame it doesn't apply to shopping lists 😉

I only need a few sloes for a little bottle, friends gone that I used to make a distillery worth to pass out as presents.

No planned gardening but hope to get out and put some plant food down, late but they are still growing and need help after months of drought.
Plum covered in tiny blossoms but I can't seem to get a picture. Maybe later 

Edit, missed Dusty's post. Lovely walk there.
My blackies haven't come back yet either. Just one or two small birds passing through. Did see a lot of long tailed tits flitting from wire to wire in the countryside.

pink_poppy

The missing Mr Blackie is the one with the damaged leg who always stayed in the garden. His missus is still around (she's recognisable because she has a hump back) but no sign of him since we got back  

It's a nice, calm day today. A few clouds, but some sunny spells and a bit of blue sky.

pink_poppy

Should this be flowering now?? I think it was one that was growing around the pond and I shoved it in a pot when the pond was dismantled…

Farway

pink_poppy said:

Should this be flowering now?? I think it was one that was growing around the pond and I shoved it in a pot when the pond was dismantled…

I've seen some around here in flower, but I suspect it's muddled up, like the plum & blackberries also flowering now

twopenny

Quite possibly because the petals and leaves look more like a fancy  polyanthus if that could be.
They bloom in autumn spring which is useful.

Mind I've got things blooming out of season and early. My winter clematis is already blooming 

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Should this be flowering now?? I think it was one that was growing around the pond and I shoved it in a pot when the pond was dismantled…

They start around now. Though most of ours are still bedraggled, I noticed one or two flowering in the border.

Lots of heavy rain here today, now becoming more showery with bouts of sunshine. Suits me. I shall be attempting to repair the brushcutter in the lighter moments. 

greenbee

I think my apple tree might be on it's way out (The apples weren't very nice, so it's not a great loss, but I'm a bit cross with the gardener who was a bit overly-enthusiastic when pruning it this year). 

twopenny

Greenbee I had a plum tree with Honeyfungus and it continued to produce fruit for a few more years.

But if it's near anything precious then perhaps do something about it.

Poppy sorry your under the weather too. Been running around too much

As long as you haven't got brown toadstools growing out of your legs you should recover ok.

Wet and cold here and tried to do some online work but this Cloudfare thingy scuppered that.

T'is been one of those days when nothing got done but for no reason. Too wet to go feed stuff.

Tomorrow is another day

LessImpecunious

YoungBlueEyes said:

I've never seen fungi that colour before Less, the one bottom right looks a bit like a g-g-g-ghost!  

Dustyevsky said:

Ah, Achillea ptarmica, Less. I haven't seen ours that close up!  Lots of interesting fungi and other growths in your neck of the woods.

pink_poppy said:

No sign of Mr Blackie

Toby Buckland was receiving lots of calls from folks on his Radio Devon gardening programme, saying their Blackies have not returned this autumn. They're very scarce with us here.   

Can't seem to work out the multiple quoting thing, sorry...

The ghosty one is Candlesnuff Fungus, but the black one possibly more spooky - it's called Dead Man's Fingers...

I wouldn't have recognised A. ptarmica myself, if I hadn't taken the pic   

...Several  blackies here, but I'm usually only aware of them at dusk when they get agitated if I'm still moving around in the garden

And we seem to have had far more Long-Tailed Tits than previously, when I've spotted them only once or twice a year, if lucky - one of the species that using the Merlin app seems to have miraculously increased... I do see them now as well, so it's not the app hallucinating, as it occasionally does with Curlews and various coastal wading birds which I'm pretty sure have never been anywhere near here

OT - we did have some precipitation yesterday and today, but hardly the heavy rain forecast... however, underfoot damp enough to provide the excuse I needed to get into greenhouse and clear the succumbing-to-blight toms and clean glass ready to plant out some winter salad bits...

PS I could see the light through the veil YBE