Yellow Against Blue - December 2019

Although there were blue skies for my photo shoot this week, there were also gale force gusting winds which made photography a bit of a challenge.

As well as the wind, the time of year meant that it was also challenging finding subjects to shoot.

However, I was quite pleased to see that the Mahonia (Mahonia japonica) bush was now in full flower, and thought the blooms looked wonderful against the lovely blue sky.

Oxeye Twin - December 2019

To my surprise, the Oxeye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) were still producing new flowers, although the once abundant blooms were now reduced to a single pair.

Winter Jasmine Rear - December 2019

The Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) blooms continued to twinkle in the sunshine, and other than the Mahonia blooms, were the only other flower making progress in dad's garden.

Fresh Growth - December 2019

The Holly (Ilex) bushes were putting on new growth, with fresh looking leaves appearing on various bushes around the garden.

Continuing Decay - December 2019

Most of the other bushes, like this Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) bush were slowly declining, having lost all of their leaves with the first frosts.

Red Leaves - December 2019

A curious exception was the Barberry (Berberis) bush, which was completely devoid of leaves other than a few patches of new growth resulting in outbursts of these lovely red coloured leaf clusters.

Backlit Berries - December 2019

The Common Ivy (Hedera helix) berries continued their journey to fulfilment, and would probably be fully developed by the end of the year.

Leaf Litter - December 2019

Finally, leaf litter season had arrived. This was the scene beneath the Twisted Hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') tree where its leaves had fallen and mingled with a few from a nearby Sycamore tree.

So this week I went with Yellow Against Blue as my Image of the Week simply because I enjoyed the colour combination...