Having just returned from the perfect UK beach holiday: a week of beautiful weather with a sturdy on shore breeze off the North Sea to keep things comfortable, it was something of a shock to find the garden in total chaos. Despite a good round of dead heading before departure the roses were jaded and a heavy downpour of rain had brought down apples and persimmons. Picking the plums before we left was a job that didn’t get done and a week of sunshine seemed to have pushed them over the edge. There was not a plum left on the tree. On the veg patch there was of course the marker of the season – an overgrown courgette and the cucumbers had excelled themselves. I will need the garden bucket to collect all the windfalls and the spade will be put to use as I hope to make a start on a revamp of the borders. Here’s six this week from a challenging garden.
One
The most joyful sight was the Japanese anemones growing in the North facing border. They have performed superbly this year. They are, of course, ‘Honorine Jobert’. I was curious to see if I could establish who Honorine Jobert was but drew a blank. French no doubt as the flower was discovered in Verdun in 1858. Many thanks to whoever discovered her.
Two
Having finally understood that the lovely ‘Terracotta’ achillea doesn’t maintain its colour through the season but always fades to a mustardy yellow I invested in ‘Walther Funcke’. A variety with a hint of red among the orange, this one fades to a creamy yellow which I am hoping will look a little softer. And no, I couldn’t find out who Walther was either.
Three
Before I left for the week I sowed some green manure seeds on a empty veg patch. These clearly enjoyed the conditions and have come along well. I’ll leave them be for a couple of months and then dig them in as winter sets in. In the meantime they’ll keep the weeds down.
Four
On the return journey from the Suffolk coast a stop was made at the Beth Chatto Garden to buy one or two plants for the borders. I had decided to grow actaea ‘Brunette’ behind the roses for next year and so made my purchase. On returning to the garden I found the ‘Darcey Bussell’ roses virtually leafless due to blackspot. Previously I have grown this rose with salvia ‘Amistad’. The gardener Sarah Raven advocates rose and salvia combinations as protection against blackspot and I think she may have a point. Last winter the salvias failed and the roses have battled on without their support. It could be this year’s weather that has encouraged the disease or it could be the lack of salvias. I’ll give the actaea a go but I may be returning to the salvias soon.
Five
I didn’t sow the usual trays of cosmos this year but was lucky to have enough self seeders to sprinkle around the garden. They’ve done better than anything I’ve ever sown so I’m hoping they will self seed again. It saves all that potting on! This is ‘Dazzler’. Sadly the sage is in better focus!
Six
The final six for this week is a sneaky return to my daily view from last week, marram grass helping to stabilise the sand dunes, with sunshine.
This weekend I will be trying to re-establish some sense that this is a cared for garden and will stop by the links posted by other SOSers, hosted as always by the indomitable Propagator. He’s running again!
n20gardener 
Don’t plant breeders usually name new plants after family member? I’d assume wife or daughter of Monsieur Jobert 🙂
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Fred confirms that M. Jobert discovered it and named if after his daughter 🙂
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There’s the germ of a short story in that for me 🙂
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A lovely patch of anemones, I think I must try to find space for some after removing a bunch that were in a bad location. Green manure is a good idea, mine worked really well last winter. Am also trying the roses and salvia combo, so far so good, although my old roses have bad black spot this year. Too much humidity!
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I have a similar achillea but I planted it in the wrong place, it has grown weedy and no flowers. I shall remedy that by moving it and hoping for the best! I think going on holiday any time between May and September is dangerous when you have a garden!
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It’s so difficult to choose a time when you can go away for more than a few days and come back to find the garden in reasonable shape. In the past we’ve gone towards the end of winter so we can still be back for the first spring flowers. If I ever get to visit Britain again (which looks very unlikely) I will definitely go to the Chatto garden.
I have just completely dug up two achillea plants that had turned into absolute thugs. I had carefully nurtured them and now I wonder why! They weren’t terracotta ones…I have one of those and it’s far less rampant.
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I had achillea ‘The Pearl’ once, which has button like heads rather than flat ones and it ran rampart. But it was in a corner were very little else grew so It wasn’t a bad choice!
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Ah, I still dig those anemones. They are so perfectly white. Anemone happens to look good in white. Did you feature these last week also?
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I think The Prop had anemones last week, they are the flower of the moment in the UK.
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I will never understand why they are not more popular here. They may not perform as well as they do farther north, but they certainly perform well enough.
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I found it ! This anemone is a hybrid discovered in a french town, Verdun, by Mr. Jobert in his garden around 1858 and he dedicated it to his daughter Honorine
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Thank you! Eileen of Tiny Welsh Garden was right, named for a family member. It is looking so good at the moment.
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You have brought back the memory of the first time we walked into the Beth Chatto Garden and that instant feeling of being somewhere special, somewhere perfectly “natural” and comfortable and beautiful. It remains one of my favourite gardens.
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So pleased to have reignited a special memory!
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I’ve never visited the Beth Chatto Garden and I must put that right I think. I also like the Anemone and I see Fred has tracked down the source of the name for you. I was very taken by your lovely sea side header photo too.
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The BC garden is a perfect stop off for us on the way back from Suffolk to London. And I am always tempted by a plant or two!
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Achilleas are so variable, aren’t they. I have ‘Terracotta’ and it behaves well but ‘Cerise Queen’ runs like mad and flops everywhere.
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