And ‘Sew to Bed’

The garden is now 90% put to bed for the winter, just the last remaining few bulbs to plant this weekend weather permitting.

A review of the year starts me going off on tangents thinking about next season. Things that have done well and quite a lot that have now been pottered up for sale or binned. Pottered up for sale doesn’t mean that I am selling someone a rubbish plant, just something that doesn’t fit into the scheme of things. I often grow things that I have bought or have been given only to find that the colour is wrong and cannot be placed anywhere else or it might outgrow it’s allotted space. These would always be labelled as such.

So , what has done well this year ? Well my spring highlight was my blue poppy flowering for the first time and as we speak the plant is still looking green and fresh.

All the Roscoea have done really well and a couple have only just stopped flowering.

Another first for me this year Gladiolus papilio ‘Ruby’, bought two seasons ago and has given me four spikes of flower.

Verbascum ‘The Bride’, grown from seed this year and producing large self supporting spires of the most beautiful flowers, even now in mid November they are still flowering well.

And a stalwart of my autumn garden, Chrysanthemum ‘Jessie Cooper’ the only chrysant’ I grow but boy is it a beauty. Decease free, long lasting in a vase, still flowering now.

Saxifraga fortunei, really worth the wait to see all this mass of frothy white stars.

Whereas the roses were pretty poor this year, the Auricula have done very well along with iris and day lilies. The spring bulbs looked great but with the usual problem of Spanish bluebells which increase faster than I can cope with, weedkiller will be my last resort. The Autumn colour has been phenomenal this year with all of the Sorbus colouring up and producing berries, lots of the climbing roses bearing hips. My Ginkgo and twisted willow are now the only trees that are still to fully colour up. So as the last leaves drop the big sweep up starts, the seed catalogues are already filled in, seeds chosen and plants ordered from Nurseries. My workroom beckons, all this inspiration from trips out and things I’ve seen fire up the juices, so watch this space……

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Autumn

Over the past few weeks we have had some really warm unseasonal weather. This has prolonged some of the summer display making the garden seem more like late summer than late autumn.

Agapanthus

This Agapanthus was taken out of a very pot bound pot and planted, against some peoples advise, into the ground. It had not flowered for years and I was fed up with having to take this and 5 other pots of Agapanthus into the shed every winter. So kill or cure. To my surprise it has flowered non stop, now maybe I caught it when it was going to flower anyway, but flower it has and I am still enjoying them now.

Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’

All the Salvias have done well this year, putting on lots of new growth and flowering still. That is except Wendy’s Wish, which is only just coming into flower now, and very welcome too.

Verbascum

I have never known the correct name of this verbascum but it has been a weedy seedling around the garden for years popping up in cracks and crevices. Last year I decided to save seed and grow it properly. The result has been amazing, each plant having several stems of metre tall flower spikes. The flowers have beautiful pinky/purple blotches followed by attractive seed heads. Now I did use to think that this was V’ Chiaxii but it’s the markings that have thrown me. What do you think….

Saxifraga Fortunei ‘Blackberry and Apple Pie’

Why the name I don’t know, but such a stunning plant. Just coming into it’s prime this is going to add some more interest to the small white garden…..

…along with Saxifraga Fortunei….

….and Fushia ‘Hawkshead’….

a lovely pure white hardy fushia, chopped to the ground each spring and growing not too tall as it is growing along a path and is probably a bit restricted.

Chrysanthemum ‘Jessie Cooper’

A stalwart for me has to be this gorgeous Chrysanthemum ‘Jessie Cooper’. It never fails, with a couple of ‘Chelsea Chops ‘ during the summer it makes an imposing statement at this time of year with loads of cutting material and very long lasting in a vase.

Aster laevis ‘Calliope’

One for the back of the border, with maroon/black stems and leaves growing to about 180cms. Although I have over the last few years been doing a ‘Chelsea Chop’ on this too and it seems to help keep it in bounds height wise.

Fushia Paniculata

And to finish my autumn display. Fushia Paniculata, now I am reliably informed that the fruit of the fushia is edible but tasteless, that aside I am pleased with this plant as it was a bin end from a N/T garden at the end of the summer. Having never grown it before I was pleased with the amount of flowers it produced and with the fruit as a bonus, looking more like a blueberry than a normal fushia fruit. Seeing this in large garden displays has inspired me to take lots of cuttings as I think this would look great sitting along side the leaves of beetroot and possibly chard…… the steroids are kicking in …I’m beginning to plan again with gusto… watch this space…..