Earlier this week I was suprised to see some of the daffodils were starting to grow. I fear I may have stood on some of the shoots when I was planting bulbs last week.

A lovely day, sunny and calm. I went to watch the fireworks at Whitley bay and the moon was reflecting off the water.

Earlier in the day I got the remainder of the bulbs planted including the two new sets of tulips that I bought yesterday. So all in all this years new bulbs are as follows:

• 10 x Tulips "Cape cod" The petals are red with yellow edges. Look very pretty on the packet.
• 10 x Tulips "Orange brilliant". These are, well... orange.
• 10 x Tulips "Triumph mixed". Mixed colours, some two coloured.
• 20 x Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). Trying again after last years disappointment. These bulbs were much larger than last years. I also had a packet of 8 or 10 which were much smaller - I took the largest two and threw the rest away from that packet.
• 20 x Anemone blanda- mixed colours. These …

After a wet start early on it got out into a lovely sunny day. I went to the beach, then I stopped off at a garden center on the way back and bought a plant and some bulbs as you do. Totally forgot that it now gets dark very early, so rushed around the garden taking these pictures in the fading light.

1 Primula vialii

So this is what I bought today. I got this along with two packets of Tulip bulbs. The first "orange brilliant" and the second "cape cod" which are red and yellow. Apparently this was an interesting choice.

I don't think the Primula would usually flower at this time of year, they said it would die back and then grow again in the spring.

2 Cyclamen

Since I liked the previous cyclamen that I bought so much I got another one. Was going to be different …

Strangely there wasn't a lot of change during the month, most of the flowers that were mentioned in the September round up were still in flower at the end of October. The ones we have said goodbye to are the Geum and the Japanese Anemone.

Weather

There was one extremely windy day - as you can see it registered two on the plant pot scale.

The square container has only blown over once before.

Some pictures

Some representative pictures throughout the month.

The main patch of Muscari is growing well.

Pyracantha berries.

There are still a few hardy Geraniums flowering. Although this Rozanne has lots of buds, there is still only ever one or two out at a time.

Flowering

• Rudbeckia
• Geum
• Salvia 'Wendy's wish'
• Salvia 'Hot lips'
• Salvia 'Radio red'
• Eryngium
• Geranium
• Penstemon
• Verbena

Bought

• Cyclamenmagic flame x2. I bought two of these and planted them around …

Started planting bulbs early (for me) this year. Last year I just spread them all around the garden as I didn't know how it was going to turn out, and so they ended up in lines rather than in pleasant groups.

This year, knowing where everything is, I have some ideas about where I want the bulbs to be planted. There are going to be groups in various places.

So far I've planted 10 Tulips, some Anemone and Crocuses. This is concentrated on the left border and the patch down the side of the house.

Ten tulips didn't seem to be enough, so I will get some more.

I've still got many more to plant.

There is finally enough new going on that I'm able to put together a six on Saturday after missing a few weeks. Even still there are repeats...

1 Cyclamen

I bought this recently and planted it somewhat under the Choisya and Holly shrubs. Not sure if it will survive for next year, but I recon that it is in the best place possible that I have for it.

Its already a bit of a favourite. Its a little bit hidden, so it is a joy whenever I notice it.

2 Rosemary beetles

I first saw these on my Salvia Wendy's wish. Today I also saw one on the lavender as I was trimming back some of the old flower heads. I thought I better check the Rosemary more carefully and indeed there was a few on there as well.

They are too small to really see how colourful they …

When I arrived, there were already undeveloped catkins on the tree, but of course there were no leaves at all. Today, they are already showing before the leaves have fallen. Since they are already quite large, they must have been developing for a little while already.

This is quite suprising to me, as they finally opened out in March this year so it seems that they spend around six months in the undeveloped form over winter.

I bought and planted this Cyclamen last weekend. It is somewhat hidden from view so when I happen to see it, I smile a little.

Not sure if it going to be completely hardy over winter as it looks a little bit too pretty. We shall see.