The season is clearly changing but the garden seems to be in a state of confusion. Here are six things from my garden this week.
One
Natasha Richardson rose, one of the English roses that just keep on flowering. Lovely pink flowers and new buds still appearing. It could be summer!
Two
Penstemon ‘Plum Jerkum’. This suffered in the scorching sun of summer but it is happily putting out new flowers now. It was a great companion to the Tithonia, which truly does know summer is over and is slowly curling up at the edges.
Three
There are one or two last flowers on the rudbeckia but most have gone to seed. I will leave them standing through the winter to give some shape to the border.
Four
The agastache ‘Black Adder’ is also in its winter clothing. This was an absolute winner this year. Great colour and always thrumming with the sound of bees.
Five
Elsewhere in the garden there are signs of Spring. The primroses are out and offering a reminder that the slugs and snails are still active.
Six
At the very back of the garden in a shady sheltered corner the hellebores are putting out new flowers. I am sure these didn’t appear last year until January. This one is Pretty Ellen.
I’ve got bulb planting to do this weekend. The start I made last weekend resulted in only 18 bulbs being planted. As usual I was distracted. The dahlias needed cutting back, zinnias were pulled up and some of the foxglove seedlings were planted out. This weekend I will be trying to put a few tulips in the border without crashing in on those that are already there. Could be interesting. Wishing you all well with your gardening pleasures. If you want to see what everyone else is up to visit The Propagator for all the latest links to other Six On Saturday posts.
I garden in London and so get a little complacent about frosts. But this week the lawn has had a light frosting and it was clearly a sign that cold weather gardening had to start. Last year’s fleece was in shredded tatters in the shed and I hate all those white flaky bits. I hot footed it to Homebase and found some delightful green bags of 35gsm fleece with very handy draw string pulls. I usually fleece up the agapanthus armed with a stapler but these jackets were easy to pull over the plants and the fetching shade of green is slightly less obvious than white. Job done.
I was certainly lulled into complacency by the balmy days I experienced in Suffolk last week but the cold evenings are changing the colours of the garden. The persimmon tree is looking beautiful even as the leaves are falling.
The previously sun scorched hydrangeas are also taking on their winter hue.
But elsewhere the summer container plants are still in good health and I will leave them out throughout the winter. In mild years I have been able to carry the geraniums over into the next summer.
The white antirrhinum sowed from seed is still in flower at this end of the garden but elsewhere I have collected seeds from another plant that has done its bit for summer.
I recently planted out some gaura and pennisetums in a west border and alongside them I put in some Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’, which still thinks there’s time to put on a display. Thank you!
Daphne Eternal Fragrance. I had resisted buying this all year on the grounds that I wasn’t sure I had the right spot for it. But there it was on the bench in front of me with a label that said suitable for containers. I’ll find a space for it soon.
I have moved the scented leaf pelagoniums into the potting shed and taken a few cuttings for insurance. That meant two summer containers were sitting empty. There in front of me was a tray of winter pansies.
Recently added to the wish list was Brunnera macrocephala ‘Jack Frost’. Described as good for shade and for ground cover, I thought it would be ideal for under the snowberry tree. These were lurking just around the corner from the pansies. Speaking of lurkers – do the slugs like brunnera?
I was almost at the exit point when I spotted the pots of Gaultheria Procumbens ‘Big Berry’. I’ve had these in winter window boxes before with some ivy. The red berries are usually plentiful.
I had to walk back to the beaming cashier past the bulb section and remembered just in time that I needed to top up the alliums and fritillaries.
I count myself as quite restrained – I can’t give you a full six from the garden centre purchases! My last for this week is something that is giving me cause for concern. These Liriope muscari ‘big blue’ went into the garden in autumn 2016 and have not flowered once. The RHS site promises ‘small violet-purple flowers carried in dense, erect spikes to 30cm in height in autumn, followed by black berries.’ To quote our esteemed leader ‘Nothing, nada, zilch.’ Any suggestions?
I’ve planted the same group of plants either side of a small path.. The Agastache ‘Alabaster’ were in the garden already and they have now been joined by Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’, Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and Pennisetum villosum. Fingers crossed for next summer.
On the diagonal opposite to this area is what was fondly known as ground elder corner. After three summers of digging it out I think I have the upper hand and so I am beginning to put in some permanent plants. First to go in is Trachelospermum jasminoides, a firm six on saturday favourite. I’m hoping it will very quickly cover the great expanse of unattractive brown fence.
Also adding some late colour are these Lillies. Yet more naming debates: are they now Schizostylis, or Hesperantha? I know which one I prefer. These came from the old garden and are bulking up nicely.
And since repetition is allowed and because the late colour is so fabulous, I give you again the Salvia ‘Amistad’ and the Rose, Darcy Bussell. The Salvias mooched along all summer but they have really established themselves in the last month. Darcy Bussell just keeps on putting out new buds.
This week I dug up the last of my sarpo mira potatoes. This is the total haul from two plants. Barely enough to mash and I was certainly crushed.
The tale of woe continued. Into the greenhouse I went to pick some tomatoes. I noticed that the romano peppers needed tying in again. But as I brought the stems together to tie them in they snapped. But these things happen, don’t they? This photo was taken after a good many of the peppers had been used for the evening meal.
This bright cheerful zinnia, grown from a tiny seed, continues to shine.
The astrantia major are flowering again.
Autumn is coming and softer colours take their place in the garden. I call these ice plants but I’m going to venture to suggest the Latin name of Hylotelephium spectabile. Yes or No?
So I add to my crimes, ignorance. I had no idea the bulbs would flower this year. What a blissful ignorance it was. Without it I would not have been half so thrilled and excited as I was when I saw this flower and I didn’t step on it!
Pride before the fall and fall the persimmons did. Two branches came down, both heavily laden with fruit. They broke from the inside so nature has done a good job of opening up the tree.
No sooner had the delphiniums put up their second flush of flower stems than the storm arrived. Of course I hadn’t got round to tying in the tops but the ties at the bottom seem to have helped steady the stems enough to keep them safe.
The stately cosmos that was just opening out its flowers was not so lucky. I had tried to push a cane into the ground but there was no give at all. The plant snapped off at the bottom. All was not lost as I cut back the side stems and brought them inside to fill a vase.
The fruits of the passion flower are ripening and providing a focal point over the top of an arch. These is the more common Passiflora caerulea and although the fruits are edible when very ripe I prefer to leave them be.
There is a paragraph in the 
Indeed the doorbell rang a moment ago and although it was not the aforementioned plants I was excited to receive the first of the bulb orders. Excited on two counts: Yes! I had my six for the week (it was touch and go) and I could cross Colchicum speciosum Album off of the wish list. I hope they are going to like the space I have ready for them. Fingers crossed that it is sunny enough.
Cutting back plants after flowering really can work. The alchemilla mollis which were sheared to the ground have come through again and at this time of year they look beautiful with their dressing of early morning dew.
This is Geranium ‘Brookside’. It roamed through the garden in early summer, knowing no boundaries and so cutting it back when it finished flowering caused me no stress. The plant needed to be tidied up. This week I noticed it was flowering again.
Also starting up again are the seedlings of Nigella, love in a mist. I have a carpet of them which I should probably be thinning out and sharing around the garden. But I might just leave them all here to keep the weeds down and see how they come through next year.
In the greenhouse I have managed to keep a tray of foxgloves and echinacea pallida seedlings alive and it looks like some potting on needs to be done. Temperatures are on the up next week so they I hope they will put on some good growth once moved into a pot.
Encouraged by the good example of others I decided to try some winter vegetables. I rescued a tray of rainbow chard and perpetual spinach from certain death and planted them out a few weeks ago. The pesky slugs made straight for them but they have pulled through and growth looks good.
Last November I planted out bare root roses in a new border and Darcy Bussell is still flowering. I am impatiently waiting for the roses to become fully established but even in the first year the flowers have been rewarding.
From the Albert 1er gardens just off the Promenade des Anglais. A great selection of tropical plants, all of which were unknown to me except under the vague heading of palms or cactus like things. This one did have an information board close by so I can tell you it is Asparagaceae Dasylirion Longissium LEM. or Totem du Mexique. Frost resistant to -12 degrees apparently.
From a sun baked border at the Musee Matisse in Cimiez. A mixture of the familiar and the exotic.
I have long wondered if I should incorporate some grasses into the garden and I love this combination. Does anyone knows what the planting is? I don’t think it would fit the scale of my garden but it was so light and feathery that it did go on the ‘in my dreams’ list!
More beautiful grasses and ? I hope the photo is clear enough for you to put forward suggestions.
A riot of colour to end on. I wish I could get my garden to look like this in September! Maybe this is the result of good deep borders and planting for height. Something for me to consider.
n20gardener 