Awful weather - typical Brits talk

ArbitraryRandom

Quince (probably Japanese)  

It needs cooking to be edible: https://mycancalekitchen.com/cooking-quince-made-easy/

YoungBlueEyes

Lovely frosty pics pp, and your birds should be happy with those eh  

Farway

First frost here this morning, but blue sky & sunshine. Dahlias appear to be OK but once it warms up it may be a different tale.

Every fuschia is Winston Churchill it seems, I have one that is supposed to be but I'm told it's not, a lot of impostors around

Dustyevsky said:

Good news on the boiler. No need for a blooming heat pump yet.

Funnily enough the traitorous gas boiler man is getting a HP fitted , his boiler is on the blink & replacement even at his rates is knocking on for the £3K, he has been quoted for a HP [rest of cost is covered by our standing charges in a bung ]. He tells me they promise any larger rads etc are covered in that cost, he has priced it up & he just can't DIY for anywhere near that. Very tempting if boiler is duff & needs replacing or expensive repair work.

I've never seen a kingfisher in the flesh, but to be fair, I rarely strolled along river banks either.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Cold and sunny here this morning, they said 'feels like' was -4' and that seems right to me Can't say it's "terrifying" though, just a bit colder than it was the other day. Maybe "terrifying" is next week...

Beechgrove was on last night and they were talking about violas and pansies. Apparently violas are the safer bet cos their petals/heads are only little so the rain doesn't weigh them down so much, they can nod and survive where pansies droop. 

Oh, I thought Beechgrove was finished for the season, must check now

At last, I pruned the buddleia, did it yesterday afternoon in the sunshine, which is why I missed the parcel I expect

This morning it was an early start to volunteer spot and the pansies are now in, still a bit of space for some violas if I have any spare

This afternoon if sun keeps out & my back behaves I'll get the Jet fire daffs into their pot with some violas on top

Pic for today, frosted leaves this morning, Autumn & Winter in one shot, plus eagle eyed will spot a daisy

twopenny

As it was lovely and sunny for all of 4hrs today which just showed me the windows needed cleaning I thought it would be cheerier to show some plants that are still blooming in the (currently very chilly and soggy) garden

 

Geranium from diy store last years stock ....

 

.Perenial Wallflowers, one of the new varieties

 

Snapdragon, Morries special.................

...Small scented rose, garden centre

            

Chrysanths from potted cheap ones and planted out.....

 

..Old rose Cornellia, happy under the heating exhaust it blooms most of the winter.

YoungBlueEyes

Your gas man's getting a heat pump Farway? Traitorous wretch, wants thrashing. I'll admit I'm not up on heat pumps etc, except for the bits I read on some of the threads here. They don't sound effective enough tbh. I reckon the £5k bribe helper from the govt will just the prices up by £5k. I'll not be ordering one so it don't cause me no goddam nevermind. More importantly - I really like your frosty leaved daisy pic. If there was a calendar of the pics on here, I'd buy one

I didn't find Jesse Stone on the catchups, but there's a load of old black and white films on the bbc one. So I watched It's a Wonderful Life, Kind Hearts and Coronets and Rio Grande yesterday. Himself was at his xmas work do thing so I had the whole afternoon and evening to myself. Heaven. Also on bbc catchup is QI so I rewatched the kingfisher one (series K, ep 5 - Kings). They're a brown bird that our eyes see as blue because their feathers are iridescent. Same as how a spill of petrol looks rainbow-coloured to our eyes but it actually isn't. They mostly don't eat fish or live by rivers either, that's a Britain thing. As a pure numbers game they mostly live in hot/desert countries, often in old termite mounds. Jeez I love QI  

You've plenty going on in your garden still 2p. Imagine having roses and things still flowering now. You wouldn't if you were up here :brrr:

Cold here this morning, not as cold as yesterday mind cos that wind's dropped. I wonder if @wort is  one of those that doesn't look at their phone while they're away...  She'll be in for a shock. Pop a jumper in your handbag for when you get off the plane wort!

twopenny

Thick layer of grey cloud and not a lot warmer. About 5c and windless.
I guess everything is just cold from yesterday. 
The little pink rose has not made it through the frost but more will come.

The one over the arch is fine and the diddy yellow one.
Thats the thing with the old bred roses, tough! And why I like them.

No sign of the blackbirds  or the little ones.
I think the crows have moved in and put them off.

So it's inside work again today. Lot to do because given half a chance I would rather be out in the garden or out with friends saying I'll do 'that' when it's cold and wet.
Now I have to stand by that.......doesn't make it any more appealing.

Dustyevsky

Thanks for the Fuchsia Finder, Arb. I'm not convinced it is either of your suggestions, only because I will know the name when I see it, and I don't recognise those. Mrs Dusty is responsible for most of the fuchsia introductions, but I always give them the once over and try to memorise the names. It hasn't worked this time, or indeed even with those I sort-of remember; 'Tom West' usually being called 'Fred West!'

Did concreting in the lovely sunshine yesterday. It was slow, as the railway sleeper I was trying to surround with  concrete was slightly twisted.   Then, Mrs Dusty said my formwork was out by 25mm at one end, so I had to re-set that, despite my pleading, “It's only a blimmin polytunnel!!!”  Needless to say, I didn't finish.  It's going to rain today and I shall have a day off tomorrow, so there will be plenty of time for the concrete to harden before the next bit.

Asa we've been on herons and kingfishers, here's my contribution for today. He stayed nice and still for me, but there was Photoshop hell afterwards getting rid of all the cables and lights around him! There's still a bit of cable showing, centre frame if you look closely. 

May as well add the closer shot too....

YoungBlueEyes

What's your inside work 2p? Have you your bathroom finished? 

I like your heron Dusty, it looks well by that wee waterfall MrsD is an exacting sort eh! (Quite right too ) 

twopenny

Another beauty Dusty 
I should be trying to make things like that instead of having to pfaff around with sorting and shuffling around with the house.
Maybe next year....

Bluey, yup. Painting the bathroom trying to deal with appts and utilities etc etc. It seems never ending now its all centralised and online. They all come up with new ways of doing things but no joined together thinking 
And how come I had kitchen scales fro the 70s that cost me nothing for decades but the new fancy ones have no instructions for getting the battery out even? Wonder if I kept the old ones?

So I'm finishing my book in my rocking chair with coffee and chocolate    

Farway

Hard frost overnight, white cars & roofs, and at last blackened dahlias, collapsed castor oil plant & limp nasturtiums. Once they are less soggy, I'll get them into the green waste garden bin before they stop over Christmas.

Doing well 2P for flowers still out, not checked, but I reckon the frost will have finished off any I had lurking

Managed to get the daffs & violas into their pot yesterday, should look nice come Spring. I found the hyacinths I bought in clearance earlier this year, and flowered, are just poking up in their pot. Yet more to brighten up the spring.

All that's left is pot on the new Russian sage plants. They have good roots and would be fine left, but I think a larger pot and room for new roots should pay off when I plant them out next year. AS B4 photo is in hand.

This rose was taken in the volunteer patch yesterday, with first frost on it