The Bride

It’s not very often that I champion a plant but today I feel this needs a star. Verbascum Chaixii ‘The Bride’ isn’t the sort of flower where you would go ‘WOW’, it’s the plant that is there as a filler quite unassuming, it’s just there. On closer inspection though it is quite lovely.

I love the reverse of these flowers, after opening from deep pink buds they keep a trace of the pink ,looking like strawberry ripple ice cream. The centres are also the same shade as the buds.Growing to around 90 cms tall, easily grown from seed, hardy and is still flowering now. Grown en masse they are making a welcome addition to my rose bed alongside asters, astrantia and verbena bonariensis.

Enjoy your garden before the frosts get hold….

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Cooling Down and Hotting Up.

As the garden starts to cool down, taking on it’s stunningly beautiful autumn colours, my workroom starts to hot up. Filled with inspiration and enthusiasm I now feel the need to make, make, make.

But first possibly a final look at the garden before it goes to sleep. My neighbours beautiful Copper Beech looking at it’s best, won’t be long before the whole lot falls then I’ll be out there raking leaves. The only problem with these is that they take far too long to break down into leaf mulch.

I have a habit of not throwing anything away even bits of wood. These tend to be placed around the pond as hiding places for newts and other small creatures. These lovely bits of wood then often produce fungi which to me are as beautiful as the flowers around.

Some years I may see none at all but this year seems to be a good one.

A general view of the bottom garden, this is where we removed the g/daughters playhouse from. You would never have thought it had ever been there. Lots of autumn colour in this area asters, cyclamen,phlox and a couple of grasses. In the background the rusty leaves of viburnum opulus.

The ever welcome flowers of saxifraga fortunei. Flowering really late in the season and looking so delicate you would think that the cooler nights would kill it off.

And still we have roses. This one being Rosa Macmillan Nurse a very pure white flowering right up till the frosts. Papaver rupifragum still flowering it’s socks off. Behind is a pink hydrangea now turned a lovely dusky deeper shade.

So as a taster from the sewing room. A piece of fabric bought possibly last year from Best Fabrics Castle Donnington, just enough for an autumn inspired bag. Thinking about the softer colours this barrel type bag has two side pockets and an internal one, I was going to use some pale leather on it but working on the hoof I change my designs throughout my making up process and decided against it.

Bag handles made. Fabric not leather.

Internals done, bag base stiffening in place.

As a fastener for the sides I had two studs left over from when I made my leather weekend bag last year. Finishing off the sides nicely.

All labelled up…..

…and ready to go.

Still have a few jobs to do in the garden, several bags of tulips to go in, plants to move and the whole garden to mulch for the winter then it’s time to start making all those things I’ve been planning. Bring it on…… Sue

Red Alert

The last few weeks have seen my garden take on it’s autumnal hue. Red seems to be the theme this month.

The hardy fushia have at long last started to bear lots of flowers, after struggling with yet another unknown virus or bug.

Even the stems are a brilliant red.

The blackbirds have had all the blueberries even after I had covered them, canny creatures. I will still grow these shrubs if only for the fantastic late summer colour, looking good with an old aster, very double with a lost label. Possibly Violet Queen but looking a little too double.

Crocosmia are not everyone’s cup of tea but this is a gorgeous deep orange red with huge flowers ,Crocosmia Mrs Geoffrey Howard. Crug Plants North Wales.

So far the hips on Rosa glauca are holding on, it won’t be long before they look quite squishy then the birds will have them.

One for the boundaries of the garden as it is very thorny and a good burglar deterrent. Pyracantha maybe common but the wildlife love it.

Saxifraga Blackberry and Apple Pie, lovely maroon splodged foliage another few weeks and it will have a mass of frothy cream stars.

Have been growing this Sarracenia plant in the wrong place for 2 years. It wasn’t looking too good so I decided to look it up. It was in a totally wrong place, it needs full sun and to be sitting in rain water, hey presto I have a thriving plant. I think I will keep it in a pot now and bring it into the conservatory for the winter.

All the salvias have done well this year flowering from late spring and still many to come. Salvia Microphylla, along with Hot Lips and Wendy’s Wish plus two more lost labels.

Actea Alba. I love the contrast of the vibrant red stems with the pure white berries. The seed germinates well and the plants light up a dark shady area.

And ending with the letter Z we have Zauschneria californica ‘Glasnevin’ such a mouthful for such a small flower. Making an impact at the side of the top pond this is a welcome plant for this time of year, forming a short thicket covered in tubular bright red flowers. This gets cut down to the ground every year and comes back singing…..

After many years of gardening and trying to plan for all of the year it’s nice when some of the things you do come to fruition, having said that, we as gardeners are never satisfied so come next autumn things may look a little different. That’s the challenge we love……..