The boys are back at school.
There's a slight chill in the early morning air.
The spiders are busy making cobwebs that catch the dew
In the garden at Eco-Gites of Lenault the hot colours of summer are changing to the warm hues of autumn ...
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| Autumn hues - pumpkin, Tagetes (African Marigold) and yellow tomato |
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| Harvested red onions |
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| My colourful ornamental chillies |
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| A basket of vegetables from the polytunnel |
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| A multi headed sunflower in the polytunnel |
We may be in September and summer may be slipping away from us but I do hope the warm weather continues a bit longer. I found this colourful fellow on my carrots and whilst, normally, I am not happy to have caterpillars munching my vegetables, this is one instance where I'll let the diner be.
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| Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar |
Sorry about the quality (I have still not got round to buying a camera that can do a decent macro shot) but anyone who knows their caterpillars should easily recognise this one. It is the caterpillar of the swallowtail butterfly, a rare find in the UK where it is limited to East Anglia but a touch more common here in Normandy ... although still not often seen. In fact I have not seen an adult this year and only fleetingly saw one last year. However back in 2011 I did succeed in catching and photographing an adult swallowtail in a glass!
Thank you for everyone who sent me good wishes about my back, last week. "Touch wood" it seems to be fine at the moment even after getting back to some serious weeding!
For more gardening blog gems head over to Mammasarus and the How Does Your Garden Grow linky.
such autumn colors a;ready. i know most of you don't get too excited for autumn because winter is close behind but i truly love and miss autumn....
ReplyDeleteI can imagine and I do love autumn - would that we could just have a month of cold frosty winter weather to kill the nasty bugs and then head straight to spring!
DeleteI love Autumn colours to bits, oranges are the best. As always I am jealous of your stash. this year I didn't even manage to grow the strawberries properly - in fact I ripped them out of the raised bed in a tantrum-fuelled rage this morning. I know, wasteful me.
ReplyDeleteThe chillis look like little fairy lights - so sweet!
Thank you for joining in again lovely x
Ooops re strawberries - I need to reassess how I grow them as the weeds took over again this year. I think I'll plant them through weed suppressing fabric and hope the ones on the side will send out runners to root that I can pot up from the soil there.
Deletelove your early fall colors! we are still having late summer brilliance here, but i know those days are numbered. hope you're little guy has time to fly! i love butterflies! we have tons of swallowtails here in the southeastern u.s. they are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI imagine the caterpillar will spend the winter as a pupae - I just hope he finds a safe warm place of we do get some really cold weather ... which we need to kill off the bad bugs. Enjoy the rest of your summer!
DeleteThere are some lovely tomatoes there and the chillies too. If I could grow an aubergine I'd be so happy! And love the peeky pumpkin too, the gourd fever is starting for me already.
ReplyDeleteThe leaves are just beginning to die back on the pumpkins so soon I'll be able to see how many I have managed to grow this year. It's an exciting time!
DeleteWhenever I see orange I always think of Halloween so autumn must be on its way! It's getting colder by the day here so soon I know I will neglect my garden save for filling up the bird feeders I can't forget my birdies!
ReplyDeleteMornings are a touch chilly now as I said but daytime temperatures are set to rise nicely again next week. September is usually a fabulous month here in Normandy.
DeleteOh what gorgeous autumn colours. Your ornamental chillies are so pretty and the edibles look pretty amazing too 😀
ReplyDeleteThank you - I *think* the ornamental chillies are also edible but I can't find the seed packet to check!
DeleteI love the colours of the ornamental chilli
ReplyDeleteSo do I - I am going to try and keep the plants alive over winter.
DeleteYes, I think I'll have to concede that autumn's racing towards us - I love the colours and the food though that it brings, so it's no bad thing really. Those onions look fab #hdygg
ReplyDeleteI think it was a good onion year for everyone. My friend has grown ENORMOUS ones although they were a bigger variety than mine. I am certainly very pleased with my crop this year.
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