Six On Saturday: Changing times

/ n20gardener

We are into August and I feel the Summer shifting towards the next season. I was quick off the mark with cutting back the geranium psilostemon and they have rewarded me with a new flurry of flowers. My goal for the coming week is to deal with the alchemilla mollis and the hebes. The first tomatoes have ripened which always makes me think of Autumn. I should be looking at bulb catalogues and sorting out an order of special daffodils for the pots but I haven’t quite settled to that yet. Here’s six things from my garden this week.

One

I am still waiting to see if my pots of thalictrum seedlings are purple or white. Here’s the white one that’s flowering in the garden. Thalictrum delavayi ‘Album’. It should grow to over a metre but it stays stubbornly at about 30 cms. Right plant, wrong place?

Two

And this is thalictrum delavayi in its purple form. This one has self-seeded generously and once settled it does grow tall. Here it is mixed with veronicastrum virginicum ‘Album’, miscanthus ‘Silberfeder’ and magenta phlox.

Three

I moved the pennisetum villosum to a sunnier spot last year and it does seem happier. It has been on the verge of disappearing from several years now. Let’s hope it can cling on through another winter.

Four

The Japanese anemone ‘September Charm’ are always the first in flower. This year they have been hit hard by the drought. Crispy stems and leaves, drooping flower buds looked terminal but there was a shower of rain and they perked up.

Five

The solidago golden rod was in the garden when I arrived. I thought I had driven it out but it reappeared last year and here it is again. It’s a tall version and does an excellent job of hiding the fence so it stays.

Six

Montbretia or crocosmia. I have always called them crocosmia but I think these are probably montbretia, which seems to be the name for the more invasive form. Inherited again and I did spend a great deal of time trying to dig them out as they never flowered. This year I have flowers. Who knows why?

I visited my daughter’s garden to see how things were. Taking down the old shed and fences proved easy but putting up the new fence was not a success. The ground was too hard to excavate deep enough post holes and various quantities of brick were found along the fence line suggesting that in amongst the undergrowth there might be a retaining wall. Work stopped and they are calling in the specialists. Fortunately they were able to secure the fence line. The garden is now piled high with the undergrowth that was cleared, a miscellany of items left in the old shed and splinters of wood. Bindweed is rampant and the lawn is brown. It’s not the green sanctuary that was envisaged and spirits were low. The green bin was refilled for another collection and a rose was planted. There is a glimmer of hope rising again.

I’m still longing for promised thunderstorms and downpours that mysteriously bypass the garden. I have plans for new planting which I am strongly resisting until September. Deadheading is the order of the day. That’s tomorrow’s work. Happy gardening to you all and if you have time stop by and see what Garden Ruminations has on offer.

21 thoughts on “Six On Saturday: Changing times”

  3. I also have Thalictrum delavayi ‘Album’ in the garden and it gets to around 1m in height. My purple one (name forgotten) grows much taller. Perhaps as your plant matures with the passing years it will shoot upwards. Mine is planted in heavy clay soil in full sun. I’ve had (and still have!) Japanese anemone ‘September Charm’ in the borders. It’s one of the loveliest, but over time it became too vigorous and took over a large border. We spent many weeks digging it out, but its roots go everywhere and years later we’re still digging it out. Keep a close watch over it! 😁

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  4. This is the second picture of anemone that I noticed in Six on Saturday this morning. It seems early for them, but it must be normal. They are so enviable because they do not perform well here at all. When they do bloom, it is much later, during autumn.

    By the way, I also know Crocosmia as Montbretia.

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  6. Thalictrum delavayi ‘Album’ sounds perfect for me! My ‘Elin’ and ‘Anne’ are way too tall for this windy spot. As for montbretia I imagine the hot weather has something to do with it since they originate from South Africa.

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  10. Your golden rod and montbretia take me back to the 1960s when, at least one, if not both, were to be found in every garden. I used to think montbretia was an old generic name, and your mention of it prompted me to research it. I found that it was always crocosmia, and montbretia is now Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora. I still have some in a corner of my present garden.

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