This garden has a long history of growers. The very first owner here was a prize winner for a plate of three raspberries and the second owner was a committed fruit grower. When I came along the fruit growing had taken priority and the borders were being taken over by weeds and grass. There are still plenty of weeds and fruit bushes around but flowers are gradually being reinstated.
One
The monthly long border shot. This year I have gone for two smaller wigwams of sweet peas. I planted out the early sowings last weekend. On the left ‘April in Paris’, a white variety and on the right ‘Midnight Blues’. I now have a gap where the large wigwam went and although I have some annuals lined up to fill the space I feel the need for an evergreen shrub to give more form to this end of the border. The delphiniums are shooting away and with storm Hannah blowing through I need to get out there and do some tying in. In case you are wondering, the bamboo cane is there to remind me not to step on the emerging echinacea ‘White Swan’. Roses, geraniums and knautia are also making good progress, ready to take over from the tulips and euphorbia.
Two
The left hand end of the north border. This used to be home to a stand of blackcurrant bushes and in turning over the soil for the nth time I found a label: Ben Tirran. Four of those bushes went on to new homes so I will pass on the information. The others have been found temporary homes elsewhere here. So this end of north border was ready to plant up this year. First to go in were two hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris, climbing hydrangeas for the back fence. Last weekend I planted 23 geranium sanguineum ‘Alba’ and six anemone ‘Honorine Jobert. I have two more geraniums waiting to go in once the front row three of pittosporum tobira ‘Nanum’ arrive. I’ll fit the last two geraniums in around them. The black pots along the back row are representing 10 melica altissima ‘Alba’. These are proving elusive at the moment and I am hoping I don’t have to resort to a well known but more expensive on-line supplier. I am following a plan from Joe Swift – Five plants for a deep shade border – as published in Gardeners’ World August 2018. I also have some seedlings of astrantia major to fit in and finally I plan to add snowdrops for some early interest.
Three
At the other end of the north border the Choisyas are opening up. This can mean only one thing. The days are numbered for the ailing one. For the moment I’ll enjoy the scent and the green and white colours.
Four
Patiently waiting to fill the space soon to be vacated by poorly choisya is a skimmia ‘Kew Green’. Most descriptions use the very attractive phrase ‘no need to prune’. The scent is described as’ lilly of the valley’ and it does well in shade. Sounds perfect.
Five
I was lucky enough to inherit a greenhouse, old and needing some glazing repairs but it looked wonderful to me. I put in some automatic openers but the frame on one side sticks in one corner and I haven’t solved the problem. Last week the frame gave way at its weak point – the glass. I made a temporary repair with some left over plastic and clingfilm but storm Hannah has curled her lip! I am hoping the local company that helped out with the glazing last time will come to my aid again.
Six
The sowing of tomatoes for the greenhouse are coming along well. Time to move them on I think. That will encourage me to get that window repaired.
The weather has changed dramatically. Cold, wet and windy. I am grateful for the rain as already the water butts were getting low. Fingers crossed that the wind isn’t too damaging, there is so much blossom around now. I hope your garden stays safe and don’t forget to take a look at Mr P’s blog for more news from SOSs around the world.
A persicaria – labelled as ‘pink’ so I can’t add any further information. It goes some way to my getting persicaria into the garden but I am on the hunt for some of the dark red ones. I planted it next to the salvia ‘Blush Pink’ bought earlier in the summer and I hope they will be happy soul mates.
I singularly failed to record the other great gardening activity of the weekend which was the apple picking. It was a smaller crop this year, both in numbers of apples and size. Some were little bigger than a golf ball but as they all go for juicing they were all picked. In about a week I will know how many bottles this year’s harvest produced. The bent double apple tree of a few weeks ago is now nearly horizontal so I took a picture of that!
Every week I think about including this Cleome ‘Senorita Carolina’ in the six but for some reason it stays on the sub’s bench. This week it makes it into the team. I really don’t know why it has taken me so long, it’s been flowering like this all summer. The real colour is slightly less vibrant than captured here. It’s a tender plant so if the winter is anything like last year I shall probably lose it.
Just coming into flower is the Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’. Earlier in the year its poor leaves were scorched by the sun but as the season moves on it’s site is more in the shade where the splash of white shines through.
Given the size of the apples this year I was surprised and impressed by the persimmon fruits. They are much larger than last year and although I am not a great fan of the fruit I do enjoy their orange colour as they ripen in November.
