The pond has turned into a disaster zone whilst we've been away. I took this a few days ago but when I went to have a look this morning it was a smelly mess with a thin oily fim coating the water. I can't see any Rudd and thewre is one comet goldfish sniffing about on the surface. The pond needs draining and cleaning. I will replace the missing paving stones at the same time all being well. 

The job is well under way! 

How sad to see such a beautiful creature in such a condition. 

Sometimes you just gotta stop & smell the roses! 

Here is the usual view for comparison. 

The seed heads of the 'Bear's Britches' are making it a bit difficult to walk down the garden at the moment but are adding a bit of a sculptural aspect to that end of the bed. The new foliage is coming up lovely and freah at the moment - unlike the slug -molested stuff we have been tolerating all Summer. 

We are very pleased with our new back gate. 

The baskets are still giving Sue a lot of satisfaction toward the end of October. A lot of them have had a real growth spurt since we cut down the huge Berberis and gave them a lot more light. (I knew we should have done it years ago!)  

The Rudbeckia are soldiering on. 

We cut back this Verbascum hard a few weeks ago - it looked over but it is covered in flowers now. 

The seed heads of Clematis (?will look it upo I've forgotten!) add a lot of Autumnal interest. 

Sorry this one is a bit 'arty' but the reds were already quite saturated so I just went for it! 

Penstemon

The Penstemon Mum a s id florishinf at the moment.