While we are well into November we are still experiencing mild, dry, and even windless weather which is a little unusual for West Cork at this time. What I observe in my garden is young growth all around, the garden is bursting with life! It promises to be an abundance of wild plants next spring and summer. I see strong young plants of foxgloves and borage, sturdy young nettles, feverfew, and tansy plants, mullein and forget-me-nots, comfrey, evening primrose and lemon balm, lemon verbena too. And fabulous displays of herb robin! The variety of green shades is wonderful and the vibrant energy coming from all this young life is super! I’m not worried that these plants will die during the winter unless we have an extra cold one, as this growth happens every autumn and you can see what you have in store for the following season. I might have to thin out some of the foxgloves even as there are so many of them coming up. I did not sow any of these plants, they self-seed, they get on with their own lives and I let them be. Such a pleasure to see them grow.
Flowers are still brightening some spaces in the garden which is important for any pollinators that are still around. We saw bumblebees well into October this year, it was so mild and there was very little rain and wind. This summer, late summer I should say as they did not arrive until August… there were more butterflies than I normally see in the garden. In the beginning I only saw the whites, but then it was mostly the tortoise but also some admirals and peacock butterflies. I will be making a better record next season after I recently read a book on butterfly conservation, I will also leave some branches at the back of the garden which I was planning to clear. Nature gives us less work if we start to understand it properly!
Some inside snaps, as the days draw in our attention also goes inside the house a little more. I am lining some of the curtains with thermal lining. Ian is working on his project, while I am enjoying my study very much too, it is cosy and we both enjoy each other’s company and are excited about our separate projects.
We have started to feed our wild birds again too, we are still waiting for the chaffinches to arrive. Last winter we had one or two with the dreaded disease trichomoniasis, it was sad to see this. We are really looking forward to their return soon, some of them are migrants, some are home-birds. Apart from a whole host of wild birds we have three collared doves that feed everyday in our garden.
Well, this is more or less what is going on during this first part of November. I wish you all a good autumn, enjoy and hope you are well wherever you are.
agoyvaerts 
It is always good to have some inside projects lined up for the winter.
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Absolutely, where would we be without them ❤
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I see you have nasturtiums thriving – ours are having a wonderful last flush this year! What is the plant with the bright purple leaves, top right in your second set of photos? It looks fabulous!
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That plant is a salvia, it is sold as a flower, not sure if the leaves can be used like the ordinary sage Sarah. Yes the place is still full of nasturtiums here too, they still get visits from the odd insect.
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Thanks! I know salvia of course but didn’t recognise it as such. It looks an especially colourful one!
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Yes I had never seen this one before either Sarah, I sowed it early spring, it started to flower early summer and its still flowering a bit now, definitely for repeating next season, and it will probably selfseed.
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Your gardens are rich with promise! I do love this time of year of rest and relaxation close to the fire, a drawing in for the short, dark days ahead.
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Thank you Eliza, yes I love these days too, so cosy and relaxing, nice!
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Lovely update with your observations, Agnes. I was wondering if our bumblebees had gone into hibernation since they are no longer around and was thinking it is a pity, considering all the blooms still out.
Let’s hope this will be a mild winter.
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Hi Helen, thank you and you make a good point, the flowers are there but much less insects to be seen, though there are still a few around. A week or two ago I still saw some bumblebees.
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I guess they know it’s time to sleep when the days get shorter?
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So WONDERFULL Waauw Echt Mooi xx
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Hartelijke dank David en Stefanie ❤
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Thank you. I enjoyed all your photos and comments. You have a relatively small garden but show us what can be observed and studied.
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Thank you Colin, everyday there is some little thing new or different isn’t there, yes such a joy to observe and to study!
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