Flowers still.

This is the latest I've seen this shrub flowering in my garden. I was impressed the year before last when it was still flowering all through October. Flowers in December!!

This Erysium 'Bowles Mauve' is an amazing flowerer - it seems to carry one the whole year round.

I was in my slippers so didn't get very close to this plant. It's called Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' and the berries are an unusual purple. It's not all purple in my garden now honest! There are red berries on the cotoneaster but I couldn't get a decent angle on them. The red looks gorgeous -has a hint of orange.

Snow pictures

I took all these photos just five minutes walk from where I live on the edge of London. I feel very fortunate I can easily get into central London but also enjoy this. It was really peaceful wandering about in the sun scrunching snow and taking these pictures.

allotment pictures and friend's bonfire

I know you're supposed to chop off the fennel seed heads otherwise you end up with loads of seedling growing all over the place but they just looked too pretty to cut so I left them along with the sunflower. I did collect some of the sunflower seeds and gave some to my god daughter who can't wait to have sunflowers next year.

Here's a bit of digging I did the other week. Very enjoyable being out in the sun working.

My friends built this lovely fire. The kids were hypnotised by it.
They gave us a lovely lunch too - felt like body and soul fed. Bonfires bring back memories of fires made with my mum.

Fire behind mahonia.