Six on Saturday: the Temperature is Dropping

Both day and nighttime temperatures are dropping here, although nights have only been down to about 3°C so far. I note from my garden diary that I bubblewrapped the greenhouse this week last year, and the Coop soon afterwards; that certainly won’t be happening this year, but I am keeping an eye on the weather forecast for the next fortnight and if need be I will abandon other jobs on my job list and bubblewrap instead. The lower temperatures have certainly made an impact on leaf fall, as leaves are beginning to accumulate around the garden, and the witch hazels by the streamside (above) have become all but bare in recent days, although that is not the case with all of them.

Collecting leaves is not yet urgent either, but there is plenty of other garden waste to deal with now that I have begun pruning climbing roses. A pair of ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’, climbing above the bus shelter, are always the first to be tackled and, due to their height, create bags and bags of green waste, meaning our green bin was immediately refilled after it was emptied on Wednesday, with enough prunings now to fill it all over again. It may be hard work cutting roses at height, severely cutting at that, but it is most satisfying transforming massive piles of prunings into one much smaller pile, reducing bulk by two thirds or so.

It is pleasing to see that the pink pussy willow,  Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’, which was badly affected by the drought in the summer of 2022 and some bitter temperatures in the winter, has survived, albeit looking very lopsided – I am guessing the surviving side was somehow more sheltered from the cold. The embryonic pink pussies are very clearly visible now.

As mentioned earlier, to save space in the working