October has blown in with the first named storm of the season. I’m writing this blog on Friday afternoon with the wind rising and the rain pouring. yet, it is still warm. This morning I popped out to see what was new, and there were a number of surprises. This week’s #SixOnSaturday features things I didn’t really expect to spot in October.

A big surprise to start with. Back in July, my lupins gave up on the dry and warm conditions and faded away. I’ve not seen them come back with such a flourish before and certainly not in October.

Perhaps less of a surprise, as these window boxes sit on the courtyard windowsills, so I see them whenever I go in and out of the house. Summer geranium are doing really well still, though I need to keep an eye on frosts so that they can be swept into the greenhouse soon.

This is the second time this season that wigela have had a go at a second flowering. The shrubs are looking wonderful, with more flowers this time.

Yet again, an old OLD traditional rose is going for full flower, and I’m pleased that it has been warm enough to smell the wonderful spicy scent.

Perennial cornflower loves my garden conditions. Even more so this year, as several plants are throwing up a few more flowers. A lovely form to this flower.

This must be a first for my veg garden in October. Usually, there are sufficient cool nights that courgettes shrink away to nothing by the 2nd week of September. Not so this year. Fruit AND flowers into October, what resilience.

I hope you enjoyed my October surprises as much as I enjoyed finding them. I fear there may not be much left after Amy has done her worst overnight.

Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog – sorry if I don’t always get back to you on time! The blog is going well, but it would be great if more folk on Mastodon, or other parts of the Fediverse got into tooting a Six! Go on, it’s a much kinder form of social media, not controlled by crazy billionaires. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot