Winter is on the way...

Some simple pictures of the latest offerings in our garden. I love seeing the changes as the seasons turn.

One of our roses produces the most enormous rosehips I have ever seen!

The lemon tree is still producing well.

The pomegranates are starting to swell - it's a shame none of us like them LOL!

We have lots of grapefruit with both newer green fruits and ripe large yellow fruits all on the one tree.

I am not sure what to do with all the grapefruit. None of us is terribly keen on them. I thought of making marmalade but we don't eat that much of that either. It is a terrible shame to see them go to waste. The orchard was planted by Mr. B's parents and contains many strange or unusual fruits. Perhaps they were popular fruits of the time.

Although my daughter loves them just as they are I am hoping to pick enough quinces to make some quince jelly.

We have lots of different trees in the garden, both natives and exotics but I love the deciduous trees. I enjoy seeing them shed their leaves at the end of autumn and love the structure of the bare branches through the winter. Of course spring brings buds and tiny green shoots followed by flowers and fruit.

We have half a dozen different apples in the garden, they all fruit at varying times. This one has finished fruiting and has changed it's colour, ready to shed it's leaves. I love the shape of this lovely old tree.

This is one of our two almond trees. It has already shed it's leaves ready for the dormancy of winter.

I took this photo of the hawthorn tree just two days ago. It has lost almost most of it's leaves now after the heavy winds we have had the last few days. It is such a pretty tree to watch change. In autumn the leaves turn yellow and fall. Winter sees it bare only to burst into life in the spring with green buds and new young leaves unfurling. The leaves remind me of oak leaves, they are a pretty shape. The blossoms remind me of apple and it is so beautiful when in full bloom. It also sports tiny red berries in early autumn. The tiny birds love it for protection. Although not a native I think it adds much to the garden and I am glad we have it.
Have you wandered around your garden or neighbourhood lately to see what delights nature has to offer the senses?

wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Quotes for Autumn....

I have collected quotes for many years. Here are some of my favourites for this earthy and wonderful time of year. Of  course Australia being in the Southern hemisphere our seasons fall in different months to our friends in the North.
wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

"October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The chestnuts, oaks and maples
and leaves of every name.
The sunshine spread a carpet,
and everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band."
George Cooper "October's Party"

"Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive Autumns!"
George Eliot

"Winter is an etching, Spring a watercolour, Summer an oil painting and Autumn a mosiac of them all."
Stanley Horowitz

***photo courtesy of:
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=10395&picture=fall-leaves

Our garden's autumn offerings...

Whilst we may not get the pleasure of trees with everchanging leaf colour in the Autumn I recently took a few photos in the garden and for lack of blogging inspiration this week will share them here with you all.
wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

**all photos my own
Little green apples

grevillea

Farewell Summer....

As much as I love Summer I look forward to the change of seasons. Autumn is my favourite, I enjoy seeing the changes in the garden. Our hawthorn tree has just developed it's first berries for the season. In a few weeks it's branches will be hanging heavily bearing masses of it's pretty fruits. They may be inedible but they look oh so pretty and tell me Autumn is here!

I shall miss the blue skies and sunny days of Summer and yet I enjoy so much more the cooler Autumn days.
I'm just not cut out for very hot weather. I wilt like a delicate flower and hide indoors lest my lily white skin be burned to a cinder in the blazing Australian Summer sun.
Sadly we don't get the right kind of change here to give us the autumnal delight of changing leaves on the various deciduous trees. How I long to visit a place where the autumn sees a landscape palette of ever changing reds, greens and golds. I have seen photographs of places in Australia and overseas that take my breath away with their majestic Autumn flush of colour.

Cooler days mean more time to spend taking leisurely strolls around the garden. Evenings to sit and enjoy creative and crafty pursuits.More time to read! Of course I can do all of these things in Summer as well but usually don't. Summer is usually spent trying to keep cool, out of the sun. Summer is time with the children, preparing for Christmas & beyond. Organizing back to school and making plans for the coming the year.
The months fly by and before we know it Summer has ended and Autumn is here.

Autumn eases us from Summer to the resting and recuperating time of Winter. I hope you enjoy the coming season as much as I know I will.
wishing you sunshine in your shadows
Helen

Photo courtesy of http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=9669&picture=autumn-leaves-pattern