December

Stunning blog ... you take such good photos Dawn!

Nature creates her own sculptures and in most cases they appeal to me more than man made ones. I wrote something similar in my latest blog so have said this twice today!!

Please tell me about the 4th picture from the end - am I looking at bark or something else?

Doesn't the beautiful sunshine make such a difference?

Chris, I think that could be the peeling-bark Acer (Acer griseum?) Though it looks more exotic than that now that I’ve looked again!

Thanks Sheila and yes you're right it's Acer griseum. It's the trunk of the tree Wildrose, common name paper bark maple.
Sheila, I only use my iPhone to take pictures these days, so quick and easy to load.

lovely blog and yes hasn't the sun made a difference to the way the garden expresses her self.

Certainly has Seaburn.

I miss mine Dawn ... think maybe I need to find room for another 🙂 the colour of its autumn leaves is so lovely.

Snowy days here already Dawn. I appreciate looking at your colorful garden.

Yes special trees Sheila. I have a peeling bark Betula too but it’s still small and also a prunus serrula with the gorgeous copper bark, I wish that would hurry up and grow too.

Oh dear Bathgate, snow already! Is it likely to stick around for very long? It’s probably the fault of Trump haha , he seems to take the blame for everything listening to the media.

I love the sky. Best colour in a while.

Today skies back to grey.

We got a foretaste of winter with a snowy Thanksgiving and there is always that 'storm on the way'.

I hope you don't get too much snow Bathgate

So many shapes,and textures,as well as colour,Dawn.your garden always looks wonderful,at any time of year :o) .

Aww bless you thanks

Which proves that winter is not as drab a season as many make out.

I've never seen cones on a monkey puzzle tree before ...

Thanks Hywel.
Yes male cones. We planted the monkey puzzle about 18 years ago and it was tiny, it started getting these cones a couple of years ago, so it’s a boy, the females have round ones like coconuts:-)

I agree Dawn lots of interest, favourites are the Monkey Puzzle and the Acer........we are considering a Prunus Serrula in place of our Foxglove tree( it has until next year to flower!)

Dotty - we planted a Prunus serrula in our previous garden: that bark was lovely and strokeable, but the white flowers were tiny - a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Have you thought of a Prunus Tai Haku (Great white cherry)?

Dotty, Sheila, I have Prunus Serrula princess sturdza, it's quite slow but I'm really looking forward to it developing.

Thanks Dawn, there was one in the garden next door to an aunt of mine many years ago but I never saw either type of cone on it. The house had 3 stories and the tree was as tall as the house so it must have been old. It disappeared quite a long time ago so must have been chopped down.
How tall is your tree ?

Probably the cones were right at the top Hywel, where you couldn't see them.
Our tree is about 18 foot, it's grown a foot a year :-o

Thank you :)

A lovely blog. What are the leaves of, in the last photo?They look so strong & healthy.

Thanks FeverFew, they're yukka, I have three planted together

Sheila I shall look that one up......thanks.......there are so many beautiful trees to choose from....have just checked it out, and it really is a gorgeous tree......