We are experiencing the most wonderful autumn in the South of France. For several weeks now the mercury has been hitting the 20s, with a high of 28°c last week! November is often lovely on the French Riviera but these temperatures are even higher than normal. The garden is still full of colour, with a mix of autumnal berries, second bloomings, fungi and pretty leaves. This is what it looked like yesterday, 18 November 2015. Come take a walk with me.
Just look at the colours in this cotoneaster!
Osteospurmum in front of jasmine leaves on the turn, with a splash of silvery-grey lavender..
These roses have been flowering since May (with a tiny break in August when it was too hot).
The mimosa is practically out – it shouldn’t be till late January at the earliest….
Such a beautiful rich red.
Another long flowerer (can you say that?) The plumbago hasn’t stopped since July.
The bougainvillea is still thriving, amongst some other autumn leaves.
I love the light shining through this wig tree.
More roses muddled in with a budding camelia.
The ceanothus is having a second flowering after its first big one in April.
Another cotoneaster, a more common red than the orange one above.
Sun shining through the wisteria.
There are plenty of different fungi,
like these crazy ink caps taking over the lawn!
There are several different osteospermum clumps still flowering.
We planted an unusual white bottle brush where a lavender died this summer, just outside the gite door; it’s still got one flower left.
The plumbago continues to look good with a fair amount of flowers still out..
The osteospermum on the gite terrace isn’t as prolific now as its first bloom in April-May but it still has colour.
I can’t remember what this is called but it still has a few little white flowers and pretty autumn leaves.
Splashes of deep pink gaura and osteospermum.
More osteospermum and jasmine leaves.
The bougainvillea won’t like the change of temperature that is apparently coming this way…
It looks like we’re heading for cooler temperatures at the beginning of next week, but the sun’s still there, can’t complain! What’s your garden like these days? Have you also had a warm autumn?
Take a look at what happens in the garden at Lou Messugo at other times of the year:
September Mediterranean garden
Oleander – the flower with power
Summer garden: flowers, weeds and bees
Why not save this PIN!
those temps are similar to our current ones in Dubai for winter, love how yours are dropping though soon, ours don’t. i love the pictures of the fungi, they like very magical
What sunshine and beautiful flowers in November. That temperature drop is going to be felt!
a glorious autumn indeed! what a burst of color!. great shots
The weather is a bit crazy isn’t it – ours has finally turned. It’s cold and often wet or drizzly but not really that crisp cold yet. Lovely to see that you still have so much colour, love the berries and those mushrooms #hdygg
Colourful Autumn indeed! Having roses in flower for so long must have been nice – do you cut any for the house or leave them on the plant? We have a yellow rose in the front garden and the flowers smell amazing but I can’t bring myself to cut them off. Beautiful photos and enjoy the rest of the warm weather 🙂
Oh my all that colour and heat in November – bliss! Those ink caps are rather nutty and marvellous looking too.
Thanks Sara, it doesn’t really look like a botanic garden, there are far too many weeds in between each cleverly photographed glowering plant! 😮
Oh dear! Mud everywhere doesn’t sound much fun unless you’re a 5 year old perhaps!!
We rarely get grey here. Rain sometimes, but rarely grey which is so good for the soul!
What I find nowadays is it’s all about extremes, so we’re likely to get a freezing winter or very wet or something unusual I reckon.
I’m sure yours isn’t unattractive Catherine, that’s hard to imagine.
So funny Richard. A wig tree is also known as Venetian sumach, smoke bush or Cotinus coggygria. Does that help? It has purple leaves and fluffy “flowers”. We have one by the pool and one down near the ancient gnarled (dead) olive tree.
Around here most trees are evergreen so we don’t get the bare tree winter look. Even the oaks only lost their leaves in spring when the new ones push through. It’s odd but rather nice!
It seems most of France has had good weather this November which is good for morale during these trying times.
We can’t boast quite that amount of colour up here in Normandy but the leaves have been fabulous this autumn and there have been plenty of flowers blooming on and on through November. I even saw foxgloves a couple of days ago on my walk and these usually flower in June!
Oh wow just beautiful, so many colours! I do love this time of year although it always seems to disappear way too quickly. Already we have bare trees over here, such a shame the reds were incredible!
There is something amazing about the colours of an Autumn garden.
After weeks of mild, but often very wet, weather, with temperatures in the mid teens, today in Sussex we have an arctic gale and temperatures with wind chill just above zero – and flurries of snow for an hour or two this morning.
What’s a wig tree? Sounds a bit hairy to me.
wow that still all looks so gorgeous, am very envious. Autumn disappeared way too quickly here!
What wonderful pics, my garden currently looks nothing like this!
Our garden is dark and damp and most unattractive. Your garden looks lovely
Oh I wish it were that temperature here. The temps are starting to plummet and the trees are bare! I would love some colour in our garden
I know, Phoebe, mum lives in Romania and was saying they had had an incredibly mild autumn there as well. But I do think they say that is sign of a long and harsh winter, so we will see how this progresses into December!xx
what abeautiful autumn garden you have with all those colours, lovely that you’re havingmild weather in France we have rain and grey at the mo! x
Such beautiful photos, I just love Autumn and the colours it brings so much 🙂
Can I come take a walk with you every week? Those colours are lovely!
Those colours are beautiful – so different from what I see when I look out of my window right now x x
So different from the dark, brown damp UK garden that is what I have at the moment. Mud everywhere!
wow what a stunning garden!! Beautiful photos, amazing colours just lovely
Wonderful garden! It’s like a botanic garden!