Dear Readers, as I wandered home from seeing my friend A this evening I thought again about how lucky I am to live where I do. There is always something to see in the front gardens of the County Roads here in East Finchley, but since breaking my leg I have only rarely been out after dark. But today, with the sun setting and just a short walk home, I decided to take out my camera and see what I could see.
One front garden has agapanthus in the summer, and nerines in the autumn. They always cheer me up! Also known as Guernsey Lilies, they aren’t from the Channel Islands, nor are they lilies, but are actually related to that favourite Christmas bulb, the Amaryllis, and come from South Africa. It occurs to me that they have never featured as a Wednesday Weed. Watch this space!
Nerines
Several people have Japanese Maples that are coming into their full glory at the moment. Just look at those exquisite leaves!
And this fine red hydrangea could give the maples a run for their money.
I haven’t quite gotten over the novelty of having ginkgo trees as street trees – this seems like a new one (or maybe I just haven’t noticed it before). It amazes me to think of these trees living alongside giant dragonflies in the Permian era. All the other species of Ginkgo have become extinct over the millennia, leaving us with just this one species. And now here it is, outside a Victorian house in East Finchley.
And it’s not the only one – here’s one on the High Street…
A few weeks ago I noted that some Verbena bonariensis had hopped over the fence and were growing through the paving stones. One clump has been crushed during the building of a new wall, but the other one is still in flower, and still going strong.
And then there’s the familiar sound of a pair of magpies surveying their kingdom.
Today was a good day – I’m still a bit slow, but it means that I notice things. And I got very good news from the Cardiology department at the Whittington Hospital – you might remember that I’ve had a 24 hour blood pressure test and an echocardiogram recently. Well, the results are in and there’s nothing to worry about at the moment – my blood pressure is fine, and my echocardiogram is showing only the slightest of abnormalities, so all is good at the moment, and they’ll call me back for another echocardiogram in a year’s time. Hooray! Time for a tiny celebration, I think.
It is good to know that you are out and about – seeng the beauty in your surroundings too.
There are four Ginkgo trees in our road and the colour of the leaves at this time of year is glorious.
A lovely evening walk and so glad you are getting about. 🥰
Some lovely colours in those trees. Ours have been turning golden and red for the past week or so. Did I mention that we have some verbena growing on our ‘driveway’? It’s quite a large a stoney patch at the front of the house and the previous owners have obviously allowed various plants to flourish wherever they came up, so we’ve done the same. I admonished my mother-in-law, a few weeks ago now, for reversing her car a bit too far over quite a few verbenas that had sprung up.