2nd flush of chestnut #mushrooms on Merryhill Mushrooms kit and plenty more to come! These are the best kits I’ve ever tried! #gifted

I’m mostly going to be spreading A D digestate on the #garden for the next few days. I buy bulk but you can buy @bloominamazing bagged from most local garden centres down-to-earth.co.uk/product-revi...

Prunus serrula bark shining like polished mahogany furniture in the winter sunshine.

Tiny crab apples in the sunshine. Malus transitoria #crabapple. #inmygardennow

Cushion bracket fungus on a doomed blackthorn tree (Prunus spinosa).

First harvest of tasty chestnut #mushrooms ! These kits from Merryhill Mushrooms really deliver and make a great gift even for those without a garden! www.merryhill-mushrooms.co.uk Btw they come with masses of helpful info! #gifted

Even - or perhaps especially - in winter the hardwood (oak?) lathe fans for training #fruit #thenewtinsomerset look impressive!

Unworldly?

Lovely surprise to see @shegrowsveg.bsky.social seed range on sale at #TheNewtinSomerset!

Algerian iris (Iris unguicularis) already putting on a good show! Planted close to a wall where it thrives in the dry soil there.

In spite of the grey skies today Cotoneaster horizontals - growing out of the top of a wall - is bright and cheerful!

After the heatwave, lots of Wisteria seed pods. They are covered in fine hairs - not frost!

Still hanging on! A #cider #apple variety with such a heavy crop this year will probably not end up in a glass!

Mahonia x media Winter Sun still amongst the very best #autumn flowering shrubs. #inmygardennow Having recently seen the exciting RHS trial, there will soon be other excellent choices!

Just 10 days from starting we have fantastic pink oyster #mushrooms ! These kits from Merryhill Mushrooms really deliver! #gifted

Amazing glowing #autumn colour on neighbour’s maple #tree! This is probably Acer palmatum Bloodgood as it has rich purple leaves all summer before turning red!

Bumper crop of Pink Fir Apple salad #potatoes . It certainly paid off irrigating them! This is from just one plant! 🏆

It’s ’just’ Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba) but eye catching nevertheless. #wildflowers

Scarlet Hood Waxcap (Hygrocybe coccinea) above Church Knowle, Wareham, Dorset.

No blue sky yet today but yesterday the crabapple Malus Everest looked incredible! #trees

Those of you old enough will remember the spectacle that English elms gave to the late autumn #countryside! Here is a little reminder. #trees

The glowing translucent leaves of the smoke tree Cotinus x dummeri Grace. A vigorous hybrid between C. obovatus and coggygria Velvet Cloak. #inmygarden

A fabulous late visitor #inmygarden today. A gorgeous looking comma #butterfly

Wonderful #autumn leaf colour on Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)! Look at the varied colours on the north side (2nd pic). I’d recommend planting a named clone like Worplesdon or deeper purple Lane Roberts. Plant Slender Silhouette where space is very limited.

Stretching a net over your pond or stream prevents leaves getting into the water, which add unwanted nutrients and create harmful noxious gases. #gardentips

A strong warning for shepherds this morning! We get some fantastic sunsets here in the west but occasionally some stunning sunrises too.

Strawberry trees are blooming now and a local tree is laden with fruits. Surprisingly lime tolerant for a member of the heather family (Ericaceae) L. Arbutus unedo rubra R. Arbutus unedo with fruits.

Our neighbours have some great Guernsey lilies (Nerine bowdenii) in a hot, dry border. I’m impressed that they have 3 of the main colours but especially admire that white!

Not to be left out of this year’s #apple bonanza, the weeping crab apple Malus Red Jade is covered in tiny red apples. It’s an old variety but still a great choice for a small garden.

Persicaria really performs! And it’s a colour that fits in well with #autumn leaf colour. Still going strong in mid October. #gardentips

Winter is on its way! This mountain pine variety (Pinus montana cv) at HTA HQ #horticulturehouse has changed colour to a glorious yellow reacting to lower temperatures. A very underrated #garden plant IMHO.

Picked these from my absent neighbour’s neglected and overgrown #wildlife friendly old orchard - with his permission so not really #scrumping ! I think they are a heritage dual purpose variety called Orleans Reinette. Masses left for the birds!

My original full video of honey badger vs elephant fight in Sable Valley... youtu.be/_v4A8HBo1f4?... via @YouTube

Benton End secures heritage grant. The Garden Museum has been awarded a £294,221 grant from the National Lottery for the ‘Benton End Revived’ project. ...read more on thedirt.news #BentonEnd #Conservation #GardenMuseum thedirt.news/benton-end-s...

A hot summer = large sweet chestnuts! (not to be confused with conkers!) And #StormAmy is bringing them down now.

I must get the more colourful forms of this late flowering hardy perennial! This is Saxifraga Dancing Pixie ‘Thea’

Honey badger vs elephant! What a scrap! I recorded this lifetime wildlife event near Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. With over 35 million views so far it’s caused a stir! See my Insta a/c alanedown for full video

Love how the low sun shines through the translucent leaves of #Begonia (thurlstonii?) and even matches the sunset pic I have from Okavango delta in Botswana!

I wondered if this qualifies as a champion tree? It’s Cupressus sempervirens ‘Swanes Golden’ - a selection I believe originated in New Zealand. It’s certainly the biggest I have ever seen!

Looking up you could almost be in Australia! Such a beautiful gum tree - I don’t know which Eucalyptus species this is. Notice the woodpecker hole?

Our #garden has made a great recovery from the drought!

Pennisetum villosum looks surreal in the low morning light. It’s easily raised from seed and spreads a little. It’s a half-hardy perennial and known as ‘Feathertop grass’.

Sheesh, it’s got a very long name often shortened to just Soft Caress mahonia. I’ve never seen it flower so well as this year #inmygardennow. It’s a great evergreen foliage shrub- so it’s Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis 'Soft Caress'

What a year for apples! Kidds Orange Red, Ashmeads Kernel, Bountiful, Pinova and a few curious Pitmaston Pineapple. Bramley and Charles Ross yet to pick.

Well here’s one the wasps missed! Black Hamburg grape grown outside and really benefitting from the hot summer we’ve had. #inmygardennow.

The tiny flowered but prolific Michaelmas Daisy Symphyotrichum ericoides 'Pink Cloud' is a hive #bee magnet #inmygardennow.

Oh how I wish we could grow tree Gardenias in the UK! Such fabulous sweet scent and king flowering period! Probably Gardenia volkensii or thumbergia.

Cornus sanguineum ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ showing great #autumnfoliage already! #inmygardennow

Black Hamburg grapes ripening well on a south facing wall #inmygardennow .

Brown hairstreak #butterfly on Rudbeckia #inmygarden