Autumn colours, by the lake, parsnips…

The first six pictures I took in our garden yesterday.

red oak

Our red oak is red, strikingly red, this autumn. 🙂

red oak

red oak

red oak

October

Birch tree & maple tree, again… I got a bit carried away with these two, they are both fabulously yellow, golden, this autumn.

October

Two pictures that I took by the lake today:

by the lake Pyhäjärvi

By the lake Pyhäjärvi here in our home village.

by the lake Pyhäjärvi

And I already wrote earlier that we are growing parsnips, too, for the first time ever, this year. I’ve made roasted parsnips twice, this was last night:

roasted parsnips

I used only salt and pepper and olive oil. And I don’t peel the parsnips.

Parsnip has a lovely nutty and aromatic flavour, it’s one of my favourite vegetables, best from the oven. 🙂

-Leena

Observing November

It’s November – the fifth season has started. 😉 Now just some observations I made in our garden yesterday and today.

November pine tree

Under our biggest pine tree.

dandelion & November secrets

A dandelion and November secrets…

feeding wild birds

It’s time to start feeding wild birds.

November apple

A November apple… Now the apple tree, too, has lost almost all of its leaves.

hawthorn berries in November

Hawthorn berries. We have two hawthorn hedges, this is the one that we haven’t cut – and the one that has a lot of berries…

hawthorn berries in November

November came for red oak

November came for the red oak. But the tree still hangs on to its leaves…

Someone from the couch: “Here’s some observation of November for you

observing November

I’ll be available again on the first of May, or on the 21st of April at the earliest.”
Me: “What are you doing?”
The tiger: “I’m observing November.”

observing November

Me: “Okay. WaitWhat?”

-Leena

Red oak & more October flowers

The nights have been colder now, the temperature has been around zero degrees Celsius and below. Right now, in the morning, it’s -4 degrees Celsius. Now it’s the time for our red oak to have autumn colours.

red oak

Quercus rubra or red oak, we planted this tree in the middle of July this year. A very young tree, tall and slender, hopefully it grows a bit stronger. 🙂

red oak

They say (in Finland) that red oaks have the colour red in their leaves in autumn when the trees are young, but when they are older, the autumn colour is not that bright anymore. But… some have seen old and red red oaks in Finland in autumn, and some have seen even green, very green, red oaks in autumn. So, it depends…(?) 🙂 Our red oak stayed green for a long time this autumn, compared with many other trees that have already lost all or almost all of their leaves.

red oak

The apple tree in the picture is the other one that still has a lot of leaves. But the red oak is the only one that still has all of its leaves.

fall phlox

Fall phlox grew a bit further after August. The new parts of the plant are flowering now, the older parts were flowering already in August.

fall phlox

october cornflower

Still some cornflowers… with their faces already down.

clematis, colour october

There’s still one new clematis flower blooming, I was surprised to find it. And I was delighted by its colour… deep thoughts, the colour October…

clematis, colour october

viola

And viola is still there…

viola & knitted owl

-Leena