Katsura

We have a Katsura tree that dominates our front garden. Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) is a multi-stemmed tree with heart shaped leaves that colour beautifully in Autumn. This year it is putting on a particularly good show. The Autumn colours are said to be better on acid soils rather than alkaline like ours, and most years this does seem to have been true. The best feature though is the scent that the dying leaves produce: burnt toffee. The scent pervades our garden and is noticeable from a long way down the road outside.

I spent half an hour on a step-ladder this afternoon when the rain stopped trying to get a reasonable close-up of the leaves complete with water droplets. None of these have worked very well, so in the event I have opted for this picture which tells more than one story. It gives an idea of what we see from our living room, the Katsura in full glory.

It also shows the current condition of the living rooms, which are in the middle of a major makeover. We have had the chimney breast replastered to try and cure the perennial damp penetration problem, and the room is also being completely redecorated. The wood burning stove is ex situ sat in the middle of the living room floor, just at the time when a warming fire would be welcome. Most of the room's usual contents, including a very large number of books, are scattered about the house. Hopefully this is the last week of work and we'll be able to recolonise the rooms soon, though we still have to sort out some new carpets for these rooms and the stairs.

This also just about qualifies as a SP.

Update on yesterday, the swarm of bees is still hunkered down amongst the ivy on our garden wall, where presumably they had some protection from the persistent rain of the morning. On closer inspection today, the swarm is larger than I first thought, thousands rather than hundreds of workers. Hopefully, they will soon find themselves a new and more suitable place to winter.