Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Autumnal Bliss

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ..... Don't worry Christmas isn't upon us. Yet! Just trying to capture that image that says Autumn like nothing else. Roasted chestnuts is one of those images and so is this
and this.
Autumn is such a cliché, isn't it? One hoary old err chestnut after another, but fun though and pretty spectacular colourwise.
And fun was had by all. Recently yours truly went on a much deserved break and took the Ickle Pup and the odd kittycat or two with her. We stayed in the former coach house of a friend of mine, as we've done many times before. It's situated smack in the middle of a huge forest.

This time Autumn was a rather magnificent affair as there had been hardly any wind to speak of so the trees were in full regalia. Magenta, gold, copper, purple, green, silver, burgundy, orange all vied for our attention. The Ickle Pup aka Tara went beserk with it all and ran around like a demented chestnut.
Wish I had a huge forest in my back garden so that widdle Tara could run around to her heart's content. Unfortunately she has to make do with this, a back garden of more modest proportions and with just the odd tree here and there.
A garden she has to share with others as well. On the garden path are Macavity (red&white) and Jeeves (black&white) enjoying a balmy autumn afternoon. Lately we've been enjoying days of 15 C which is rather warm for the time of year. Since last weekend we are back to our usual schedule of temperatures around 6 to 8 C. Brrr, high time to bung the wooly hats and gloves on.
But before I do just that, I have a few bulbs to plant, a mere 1600 of them. Yes, I'll wait until you've recovered from the shock. Don't know what this hullabaloo is all about, a piffling 1600 bulbs is nothing to get worked up about. You really should go out more and visit the Keukenhof in Dutchland were they plant millions of bulbs every year.
I, on the other hand, had much much less to plant so I simply rolled up the grass carpet, scattered the bulbs and planted them were they fell. Then I rolled back the carpet and that was pretty much that. Can't wait to see them in flower though!



I leave you with this new addition of scroungers chez Bliss. After feeding pretty much every stray kittycat within 10 miles of Bliss for years and years, and a vast amount of the bird population as well, now I have another hungry widdle mouth to feed.

Speaking of food, excuse me while I burn my fingers trying to peel the roasted chestnuts. Ouch,  mmm yummy! Autumn is Bliss!

copyright 2010 Y.E.W. Heuzen

20 comments:

Lona said...

Hi Yolanda. What beautiful Fall images. It does look like a lovely place. OMG! 1600 bulbs! And I complained about planting 116. LOL! I can hardly wait to see their display in the spring.

Helen/patientgardener said...

I love the idea of rolling up the grass carpet - cant wait to see them flowering in the spring

Marian said...

Ik kan ook zo genieten van al die mooi gekleurde bomen, tenminste tot vorige week, want nu is er hier al het blad af.

En zo'n bos in/aan je achtertuin, dat zou ik ook wel willen....

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Autum is such a time of bliss for you and yours Yolanda. It is good to hear you are enjoying the season. I wish I had such a lovely lawn that I could just peal it up and plant bulbs. I can't wait to see what the result is of your planting. Happy Fall.

Gemel said...

Thank you SO much for sharing your autumn beauty. I miss autumn so much now that I live in Australia, the smells and the color are always in my heart, truly the most wonderful season of all ♥

Jenny said...

How wonderful to stay in the woods somewhere in autumn. Love the coach house. Now, how do you roll up the grass? Great idea. Thanks for sharing your quiet time with us. x Jenny

Libby said...

How lovely, maybe I should plant some bulbs under the grass???

If you or any of your readers are interested I am arranging a tea towel swap on my blog, just pop across to sign up.

chamomilla said...

This prickly little fellow just knew exactly where to turn to for some loving, nutritive attention! We are building a squirrel feeder for squirrels that share the crazy urban lifestyle with us. They need us!

Arabella Sock said...

I can't wait to see those bulbs in flower either!

Tara looks like she has grown - lengthwise.Lovely photo of her - and the rest of the gang of course.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Yolanda girl you are so lucky to escape with madcap puppy and feline caretakers ? LOL
Yes .. we could not miss seeing the BIG "K" and all of their millions of bulbs on display when we lived there .. it was amazing and I will never forget it : ) .. now go peel some of those chestnuts with gloves on girl and look out for Hodgepodge family to show up for dinner too ! LOL
Joy : )

Trädgårdsdrömmar said...

Hi
Can you pleace change our adress on our blog. You can copy it when you go in on our new blog.
I see that you have our old one on your bloglist.
Best regards Ken from Sweden

Anna said...

Mmmmmmm ~ chestnuts ~ I knew that there was some autumnal goody that I had forgotten Yolanda. Just the very thought of planting 1600 bulbs leaves me exhausted :) Look forward to seeing photos of a riot of colour come spring. Glad that you all enjoyed your holiday.

Alex aus dem Gwundergarten said...

Hi Yolanda
What a nice place for the break you choose!
Huch, yes, that sounds like many bulbs for planting. But the way you did it, is clever. I planted some bulbs (not as many as you did) in the lawn too, this year... for the first time. I really can't wait to see the result.
Take care
Alex

easygardener said...

The phrase "Hiding things under the carpet" takes on a different meaning in your garden :-)

em said...

i've missed you posting! glad you are back. i hadn't thought of planting bulbs like that! are they mostly smaller bulbs? can't wait to see them bloom! happy fall!

*Ulrike* said...

I thought my 200 bulbs from last year were a lot! I like the way you planted them too. Alas, here we have that hard red clay so if I tried to roll up the grass I'd be needing a bulldozer!

Diana said...

Yolanda - thank you for sharing all that spectacular Autumn color with us. We don't get much of that here in central Texas because we just don't get much winter. I love the photo of you rolling up the grass! How inspired. But out grass would be growing and needing mowing about the time the bulbs come up, so mine must be in the beds. More power to you for trying to catch up with Keukenhof!

Matron said...

I adore chestnuts, but they seem to be more popular in mainland Europe than they are here in the UK. All over Rome there were street vendors selling lovely, fat roast chestnuts. Wonderful to see Tara again, she looks in her element on the bank of that little stream. Perhaps she was looking for ducks!

Maureen Walsh said...

Sheer magnificence! Thank you Yolanda!
Maureen
http://wwworphanstones.blogspot.om

healingmagichands said...

I never thought of rolling up the grass to plant bulbs. And 1600 doesn't really sound like that many to me; I honestly have no idea how many thousands of bulbs I have planted here!

My favorite way to plant small bulbs involves using the splitting maul. I smack the earth with the wedge end, and it goes in about four inches. Then I use the long handle as a lever to twist it back and forth. Pull it out of the resulting hole and pop a bulb in, then use the blunt end to sort of tamp the dirt back around the bulb and move on.

For larger things like daffodils, I use my shovel to pull open a slot and jam the bulb down into the slot, then step on the dirt to close it back up.

Your dirt looks like it is much more amenable to having holes dug in it than my hard limestone clay. I'll be back in the spring to see your planted lawn. I'm sure it will be gorgeous.