Garden Post - November 2011

We've had our first frosts  - at last! - which means that the begonias are at last volunteering to come indoors, several having already been dragged in kicking and screaming...  After seeing a sizeable vine weevil population on my begonias during the summer months, I've been worried that they'd have been transformed into origami begonias by the incessant munching of the grubs.  But the corms I've lifted so far have shown comparatively little in the way of vine weevil predation and I've seen only one small grub which may have been a very small vine weevil and which has now been left to the mercy of Squinty the blackbird and her pal the Very Cheeky Robin.

One last penstemon has come into bloom.  It's probably my favourite, the magnificent Sour Grapes, though this one is more of a Sour Grape (singular) as it has only produced one flower spike.

I particularly love this plant, which has a faintly iridiscent metallic sheen to the petals.  Here's a picture, for those of you unfamiliar with it:-

It's quite hard to get hold of, too, and I was gutted when my original plant died.

On the subject of penstemon, I've better news on the cutting front.  Both my Hidcote Pinks and my Sour Grapes have now started to show some rootlets, so hopefully they'll make it as cuttings.  The rest will eventually follow suit - I hope!