It's beginning to look a lot like xmas - except for the summer flowers still blooming!

Is christmas really just around the corner! It seems like only a few weeks ago when I was blogging on here of all the garden landscaping we were doing, where on earth did the months go!
Well along with Christmas comes the excitement of planning for next year, got to be the best part of winter right? My planning hasn't really taken shape just yet because I've been busy building things now that the garden doesn't need daily pandering. I was going to head out and cut back all that dead or dying foliage but in the end I decided that the foliage would act as insulation during the winter and left it all intact. OK I admit, the task seemed tedious so I convinced myself it would be better to leave the foliage as is!
I did have to rescue an Aucuba though, one that was bought for me on mothers day and had seemed to be doing so well all year, then the other day I noticed it looked blown over by the winds so went out to reset it. Once I touched it though it felt really loose so I decided to dig it up and check out what was happening, I haven't ruled out damage by windrock completely but I'm more convinced that something has been nibbling at it because half of the stem and root system was completely missing from one side. I've repotted it now and hope that it will survive but I have serious doubts it will.
What gnaws on the stem and roots of Aucuba?

Roots to one side totally disappeared.

Is the damage too great.

I was totally amazed to find so many plants still in flower here, especially when we had that recent drop in temperatures and the snow.
This Kaffir Lily amazed me all Autumn because I thought it was way too tender to survive here but look at it still producing flowers with buds still aplenty.

And this Clematis - Mrs N Thompson - is also flowering and showing plenty more buds.

I made my very first willow wreath yesterday. Granted it's not perfect but once I had finished it off with red fabric flowers, white fabric flowers and some greenery and ribbon it looked pretty ..well.....pretty. I must get a photo of the finished item but this is the bare wreath, it was a bit fiddly to start with but once I got the hang of it it was quick to do.

One of the good things about a bit of spare time is having the opportunity to clean and oil garden tools. I love this job because I get a real sense of achievement when I've sharpened blunt blades and oiled the wooden handles and steel, plus I love the smell of Linseed oil too.

Dirty blunt tools quickly become sharp tools of the trade