Autumnal gardening

We really are in autumn now, a lot of my more tender annual plants are dying off and my beans and tomatoes have finished fruiting. All the trees are showing off their gorgeous golden and red hues and there are plenty of ripening berries appearing, like the holly below, ready to feed the birds for the winter months to come.

 It was time at the weekend to have a clear up in my tiny garden and get some new plants into my pots to give me some autumn and winter colour. It was also the time to get my bulbs planted into their compost blankets and tucked up to see the time through until next spring.

As you know my favourite flowers are daffodils so I bought some of these and also some parrot tulips. I also plan to plant some hyacinths which I hope I can force into flower by Christmas.

I have a fun glass holder which I fill with water and pop a hyacinth bulb on and then keep in the dark until a shoot appears.  I love watching the roots pushing their way as a tangled white mass into the water. I also put one into compost this year to see what it does.

Other "must haves" for me are violas and winter flowering pansies. Their little "faces" are just so cheerful to see in the garden. I also find they are so hardy and even with the harshest frosts or deepest snow they carrying on flowering bravely. These are unusual trailing violas and they have a very sweet scent to them.

I also found some frilled pansies in some gorgeous colours.









So I emptied and washed some of my pots, filled them with bulbs and plants and stood them in the sunshine.

I then found places to put them on the walls of my patio.

And all this time you can imagine "You know Who" was busy "helping".

I'm not really sure I could describe it as help, more like being very nosey.....

But Billy certainly loves to be involved with all the decisions made regarding his garden ;0) It was good to be out in the sunshine. We have not had our first frost yet here in the South but I am sure it is on it's way as the North of England certainly has. I am pleased that my pots are ready to face the elements and my little bulbs can snooze away until spring time.

My card challenge today is inspired by the holly berries in my first photo and the thoughts of winter and Christmas. How the days are racing by now. This little sweetie below seems quite relaxed about the whole thing ;0)

Again I have used my one of my favourite Lili of the Valley stamps, Moonlight Wishes, but this time I had used the more traditional colours of Christmas. I coloured the stamp using my trusty Promarkers and highlighted using Prismacolor  pencils. I hand punched the holly leaf embellies and used red pearls as berries. The sentiment is LOTV too. She sold very quickly in my Etsy shop but there are other traditional coloured Christmas cards for sale there. Can I ask what most people like? Do you prefer the traditional golds/greens/reds? What do you think of the blues/pinks I have used on other cards? I used to be very much a traditional girl but I have had such fun with other colours that I think I have changed my mind!

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Totally Gorjuss Traditional Christmas colours #153
I love Promarkers Anything Goes #139
ABC Christmas "U for up to You" 
Bearly Mine Anything Goes #57
Fashionista Anything Goes #8
Holly Jolly Photo inspiration I was inspired by the snow and the traditional colours.
My Mum's Craft Shop Sketch #80
Lili's Little Fairies anything goes


Today is my day off work and I am going to be busy getting ready for my annual jewellery Open House this Sunday. This is such a fun occasion and there is lots of tea and coffee drinking too. I also have a few commissions, both cards and jewellery, that I am working on so this is keeping me super busy outside of work. I shall be beavering away in my garden studio...how I love days like this ;0)

Happy Thursday everyone, thanks for all your kind comments about my earrings in my last post. I will try to get another post up soon showing more of my recent creations from my silversmithing class.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x