7th OCTOBER 2025

 I opened the door this morning to find the delivery man had left me a rose arch.  

We sent for it last week .... 1st October to be exact ... when I could not decide where to place my birthday rose arch.  Instead of having to make a decision Andy sent for a second one!

We were expecting it to arrive last Friday but when the email arrived to say it had been delivered we failed to find it anywhere.  

Andy made some calls and discovered it had been sent to Peterborough rather than our house in Yorkshire.

Its arrival today meant my planned tasks were put on hold so the arch could be built ...

The birthday arch is now forming an entrance to the pond area.  Obviously the bamboo needs to be chopped right back and something will have to be done about the bench and compost bins, but for now I just want to plant a couple of roses or honeysuckle at the side then add more bark to the path.

I had intended to place the second arch on the edge of the lawn providing a central entrance to the path to the pond .... 

 ... but Andy thought creating an entrance to a path on the other side of the garden would be better and I agreed with him ...

I was already with the spade and sharp edged trowel to create holes for the posts ... then Andy asked for the bulb planter and attacked the ground with force.  He had eight holes dug in record time!  

This is a shady area so a white rose or yellow clematis would brighten it up ... if either of them can survive in shade!!  

I have planted a couple of shrubs and some Lambs Ears  in front of the fence ... see the silver leaves?  That was a tiny cutting two years ago ... October is the time to propogate it so I should see if I can get another clump for free.

I might also string some bunting along the fence to add some colour.

A very tall spruce grows in view of my study window.  For the last few nights I have watched a number of rooks land at the top then each pulls an unripe fir cone off a branch and flies away with it in its beak.  I found this to be rather odd behaviour so I looked it up on line.  Apparently the rooks bury the cones ... as they do acorns and walnuts to help them through the winter ... but there is no evidence they actually eat the cones ... more research is being carried out.

 

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