In a Vase on Monday - Graceful in decay

I'm resurrecting my gardening blog. If I'm going to do the odd post about my garden exploits, I may as well do it here. 
I stopped posting as I wasn't finding time to keep it up but I do like the reminder of what has happened and how it all looked in a previous season.
I was scouting round looking for things to go in a vase.  There is precious little about that looks at all good just now. 
I noticed the leaves were dropping  off this Cotoneaster so I collected a few twigs to bring in before it's too late. 

I was determined to  use this vase, as it gives a nice fan shape to the leaves, but it was vary hard to get them to stay put. In fact the clock is helping to hold them up! The vase is one of my favourites more usually holding sweet peas.
The photograph does not really show the wonderful colours. It was too dark and I didn't have an available lamp. 
I'm linking this to Rambling in the Garden - In a Vase on Monday. 

So what's going on in the garden just now?
As this purports to be a blog a bout compost , I'll tell you about the compost heaps. We (the Royal We) built these in this corner which is tucked away behind my poly tunnel and out of  sight of the road. 

You can see the day was sunny but very cold. The wind was pretty chilly and some of the frost lasted all day. However it got up to 20∘C in the poly tunnel. Yesterday it was -2. No sun.

Now I've decided to get some ducks. Ducks eat slugs. Say no more. 
After some discussion it was agreed that the best place for the ducks would be in this corner so that means moving the compost heaps. As you see they are only made of pallets, we are lucky enough to have a steady supply, so not too difficult to move. Though it does mean digging out the contents.

I've moved most of this heap. It is very well rotted with just a few twigs which I pick out as I go, along with plant labels and bits of plastic.  The one on the right is also quite well rotted but the contents of the one on the left will have to be moved into a new bin and left for a few more months. Moving it will do it good, and me - I need the excercise. 
They have been built with no real thought to the compostion. I just pile things on when I have them - kitchen waste, soft prunings, some grass, annual plants and cuttings from perennials, some cardboard and paper. We probably built them in the spring so it has rotted down very well, I must have got the mix right. 
 
Here is the pineapple sage I mentioned in my last post. ( Which confusingly was not on this blog - it's here).

We've had a week of hard frosts so it looks much worse than last week and the flowers are mostly shrivelled. I've cut it down now and tucked it into a cold frame I've just put inside the tunnel.
Luckily I remembered to take some cuttings last month. I just put them in a glass of water and look:

Roots! So easy. I'll pot these up now and keep them in the house until spring.