May flowers

My garden is a bit neglected at present. I did try to keep an eye on it during the past two months, but it was a bit difficult to keep up with when I wasn't living there too and the weeds have gotten completely out of hand. Luckily I have a lot of perennials and seasonal stars planted, and they keep going according to their own calendars. Late autumn brings a lot of golden leaves and berries, seed heads and browning petals. There is also the first batch of the winter bloomers, and even a couple of rather confused spring bulbs who have decided to put in an appearance.

So, even though it's a bit of a tangled mess outside, there is still enough beauty to lift my spirits when I glance out the window. I can't wait to finish my sanding and painting so I can get out there and tidy things up a bit... maybe it's not so bad that we're coming into winter, at least things will slow down!

Here are this month's flowers, clockwise from top left: snowberries; salvia; the first of the Fairy Blush camellia (one of my winter stars, you will be seeing more of this!); the yellow clematis seed head (I'm enjoying how this changes, it's less silky and more fuzzy this month); fuchsia Lottie Hobby; an early earlicheer; olives colouring up; a late hydrangea; bright leaves on the Cercis; the chrysanthemum which have changed colour from orange to white; wintersweet (another winter star - I literally wait all year for this to bloom, I love it!); a late bloom on the Queen Elizabeth rose. Middle: my indoor cyclamen are in bloom. Time to distribute them around all the rooms in the house.