It’s a late post today, the forecast is for showers this afternoon and there were some gardening jobs that had to be finished off. I was very happy to have plenty of rain this week and the water butts are now full again. Everything is looking very lush and about to burst forth into a froth of colour. I am becoming slightly impatient as the roses have been promising to burst forth for a few weeks now. But I have managed to put that impatience aside and enjoy what is moving along in the garden.
One
I’m giving myself a little pat on the back for managing to overwinter the scented leaf pelagoniums in the greenhouse. Probably not a difficult task in truth but when I tucked them away for the winter there was a great sense of trepidation. Well they made it and the beautiful flowers are emerging. This one is ‘Pink Capitatum’.
Two
Unfurling majestically in the garden is the geranium ‘Phaeum’ which I also noted is happy enough in its spot to start self seeding. Self seeders are much appreciated when a new garden is being stocked.
Three
Also self seeding very happily is astrantia major. I moved some of these over to the north facing border, amongst the geranium sanguineum ‘Album’ and had plenty left to share some with a friend.
Four
One of the first plants I put into the garden was zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Crowborough’. A beautiful arum lilly that I was hoping to enjoy for many a year. It came to nothing for two years. Today I noticed these tiny leaves and also the most likely reason for its coming to nothing – slugs. I am thinking I might dig this up and treat it to the luxury of a well protected pot.
Five
Nearby I noticed the new leaves of rodgersia aesculifolia coming through. It is being crowded out by a clump of siberian irises that need to be taken in hand once they have flowered.
Six
The nasturtium seedlings are ready to be transplanted. I’m not going to pot these on. They will go straight into their own designated space in two batches, just in case there is a late frost.
Looking at the small things in a garden keeps us going until the big adventure of summer arrives! To see what else is opening up in gardens around the world go to The Propagator’s page for all the links to this weeks #SixOnSaturday 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!
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.
The first stage has been completed. The grass has been turned in on itself and will miraculously turn into loam. I know, optimism. It will soon be buried with a mixture of topsoil and mulch which will prevent regrowth and suppress weeds. Even more optimism. These ideas have been taken from the ‘no dig’ principles advocated by Charles Dowding. I hope they will work. There is a deadline for the work to be completed as the new rose and the tulips need to be planted during November. Next post coming soon then!
n20gardener 