Wet Wet Wet

And I'm not referring to the boys from Clydebank. Although we seem to have missed the winds from the tail end of the Hurricane, unlike those firther south, we have had non stop rain for 36 hrs, and the ground is sodden.
Anyway, first off this week, an apology. I forgot to puit the camera in my bag this morning so I'm afraid that there are no piccies today, not that there would probably have been very many with the rain being so heavy - at least this morning - it did brighten up to a drizzle this afternoon but as I sit here typing this it is raining outside the window.
To start the day I thought I would try and take advantage of the shelter offered by the Garrya Elliptica tree and weed the bed underneath it - shame no-one told the tree to stop the rain for me. So, already soaked through the waterproofs, I set about digging out another three shrub roses. The amount of space their removal (and the removal of those taken out last week) has created in the border is quite astonishing and will take a bit of filling, but there are more plants on order. I staked one clump of Echinacea as they had been using one of the shrub roses for support and it's removal left them flopping around quite a bit.
Of the six T&M Sky High Dahlia tubers that were planted, all have now flowered bar one. So far we have a yellow, a red velvet, a dark red velvet, a pink/white and the newest arrival looks like a double with a very frilly centre which is red with yellow edges and reflexed red petals surrounding this - this is where a camera would have been handy! It looks really good so hopefully we'll get loads of cuttings from this tuber in due course - photo to follow next week. I relabelled all the dahlias with the colours so we know what tuber is what when we put them down for the winter.
I gathered up a box of windfall apples, leaving those that were badly bruised or slug damaged on the ground for the birdies to enjoy - there is another huge crop of apples this year and the trees look healthier this year than they did last year - possibly due to the winter wash they received.
Harvested another pile of Rooster tatties, carrots, runner beans and picked some more plums too.
Whilst picking the plums, I noticed small green round fruits on the tree in the corner of the west facing border. This tree did not have these last year, or at least they went un-noticed. They are the size of a very large cherry and have a stone in the centre and I think they ripen to a red colour. The leaves however are definitely not cherry tree leaves. I have taken a cutting with leaves and two fruits attached to try and identify them, so will hopefully be able to let you know soon.
Started into cutting back (I'd prefer down) some sort of Viburnum by the rose bed - it is full of pests and looks nondescript - however it does perform one important role - it is support to a very large and very old climbing shub rose, so for that reason alone, some of it will have to stay.
Anyway, that's about it for this week, aplogies again for no piccies.
See you next week