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……

Dark Matter

Today things seemed to have taken a turn in the garden.

New leaves are unfurling everywhere and the ground is erupting with the promise of summer abundance.

           Peony ‘Molly The Witch’

Always the first peony to flower here and so welcome.

            Fritillaria Imperialis.

Always have to watch for lily Beetle.

        Epimedium Warleyense

 A lovely spring ground cover, with leaves tinged purple/red.

            Euphorbia Amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’

Not to everyone’s liking as it can spread, but the spring colour is stunning.

         Saxifraga Fortunei’Rubrifolia’

  Glossy, always healthy, green leaves with a deep maroon underside. An impressive plant all through to autumn.

         Acer….now unknown as I cut the original down and this is the graft that grows. I like it much better.

          A seedling Auricula not a good specimen, but I will keep it all the same.

I always get such a buzz from seeing all the new growth in the spring, it’s almost worth going through the winter for it….