Preparation work at Coombe Wood

Frustratingly after a few days with a reasonably comfortable foot it suddenly got worse again this morning just as I started my walk so I had to cut my walk short..

As I was parking the car I caught a glimpse of the gardener through the hedge. He was dragging a large chunk of pine tree.

Walking along the path which goes left after the pond, I found out where the large branch had probably come from when I noticed that a large tree had been cut down making the area much more open. I didn't realise till talking to the gardener later on that another tree on the left a bit nearer the pond had also been cut down.

The three abutilons have reacted very differently to the cold weather - the one on the left with yellow and green leaves is the only one that still looks healthy. There are two have lost all their leaves.

These looked so orange I thought someone had dropped some orange peel - till I got a closer look.

This is all that's left of what I called "the burning bush" a little while ago when it was looking glorious in its Autumn colours.

Camelia - looking good but the cold has affected some of the other flowers turning them yellowy brown.

I met the gardener on his way back from taking the branches from the trees that had been cut down, ready for a bonfire. This was when I found out that a second tree had been cut down the other side of the path - which I hadn't noticed.

The gardener hadn't seen the Earthstar mushrooms yet so I showed him where they were. They looked a lot smaller than I remembered them - possibly because the outer layer has curled back a lot further. The gardener knocked the centre of one and we saw a plume of spores squirt upwards.

The gardener has used beech nuts shells to level out some of the pathways. They were collected after the branch was cleared away that fell across the herbaceous borders. (Excellent use of what might otherwise have been disposed of.) 

Here's the beech tree. 

This is where the other tree had been cut down and all the surrounding shrubs and trees have been trimmed back to make a space for an Albizia (Silk Tree). The gardener was digging out the roots and preparing a hole for the new tree.

Winter work for the gardener involves a lot of clearing away, trimming back and preparation work - plus paddling in very cold water in waders - the pump has broken again so the waterfall isn't working at the moment. 

The sunset this evening was quite subtle.

Thank you very much for joining me.