After working in the sunshine for most of this morning, it was a strange feeling to get back this afternoon to the odd half light that storm Ophelia is causing by whipping up Saharan dust into the skies. It’s been cloudy since lunchtime, so sadly I’ve not seen the red sun that has been widely reported, but the whole sky has been a sickly leaden yellow for hours.
The flowers I’ve gathered from the garden turn out to reflect today’s weather effects. Here in the East of England we are luckily missing the worst of the winds etc, but the jug I’ve used nevertheless managed to blow over at least three times during the photo shoot, so some of the pictures are just of a hand-held bunch of flowers. I wanted to take the pictures outside in the odd light though, “roamin’ in the gloamin'” in other words!
Iris foetidissima, Mina lobata and persicaria reflect those dusty red/yellow tones that we are seeing in the atmosphere today
A temporarily upright vase, showcasing my lovely William Shakespeare rose (front centre)
Yellow-tinged whites provided by feverfew, cosmos ‘Purity’ and an unnamed white bush rose (a reverted garage minature)
Additional foliage from a flowering red chard (dark leaves with red stems) and salad burnett and heuchera ‘Midnight Rose’
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts this fun ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme. Check out today’s many beautiful contributions though the comment section … and perhaps consider joining in, if you don’t already.
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We had turbulent skies at dawn and the overcast in the afternoon – I looked up at three and saw the sun burning red through cloud. Definitely not natural!
Quite spooky. Great picture of the red sun btw. Sadly, we didn’t see the sun after midday.
It’s a lovely mix of colors and does mirror some of the tones in your gloomy sky. Oddly, I experienced similar light conditions when a fire was burning some 50 miles away last week, blowing smoke in our direction for the good part of a day before the wind shifted. I hope Ophelia causes no harm to you or your garden.
Apparently our dust included smoke particles from the portuguese wild fires. Happily we weren’t in the catchment area for any of Ophelia’s damage. Your example of the long range effect of smoke from a fire 50 miles away brings home how potent it is as a factor in natural disasters and climatic change.
Wasn’t the sun strange and the light so eerie. Everyone commented on it. Your vase is lovely though. That dark rose! Wonderful. The mina lobata looks really interesting too.
Thank you. Yes, it felt similar to an eclipse and oddly haunting. I am very happy that William Shakespeare is repeat flowering now. He is a beauty.
Your hand held bunch really does reflect the sky as it was earlier today. Willianm Shakespeare looks gorgeous, possibly even more so than Munstead Wood which is similar, and I love your inclusion of the half open pods of the iris. I used to have ‘Midnight Rose’ with its lovely spotted leaves but sadly it didn’t live long 😦
I hope the Heuchera does well, but I am not so lucky with them usually because there are weevils around.
I can never be sure whether it’s me, the weevils, or the heuchera that are fault…
I hope you escape severe weather from the storm, Allison. Always a bit scary when the wind rises. The iris seeds are perfect for fall arrangements and I love your Mina lobata, they look so healthy!
Iris foetidissima is invisible in the garden until October, when those super seeds are suddenly displayed!
Love the colors you have put together, so seasonal! Hope all is well and the storm has passed. Let us know.
Thank you. Storm Brian did some damage on the West coast, but luckily we just had strong winds in the end.
Gorgeous! But the Saharan dust over England thing should not be… a thing. What wacky weather the world is having!
Thanks. I think it is funny that we have started naming storms in the last year or two, but I guess after seeing so many hurricanes one after another, so close together, does feel like something odd is happening.
A really eerie light. The sunrise was red and you could just see it through an amber mist. And then 22 degrees mid October. All very weird. Nice that you included roses in your October arrangement. Very pretty.
Thanks Liz. Somehow I missed the dramatic sun, but I regretted not wearing shorts at work, it was so hot!
A beautiful arrangement – and well done for braving the wind! I was in the UK (Norfolk) that weekend (wonderful weather!) and flew back in that strange sky on Monday. Thank goodness I was flying from Birmingham and not further north as some of the airports were closed!
Glad you made it home without delays. Hope you enjoyed Norfolk. Yes, we are having such weird and unseasonable weather! November seems to be heading our way with cold start though.