Unsurprisingly the garden is looking rather sad in places. The drive bed, above, is looking better than most, with an ongoing second flush from Rosa Snow Goose, as well as some new planting below. The strap like leaves are from Sisyrinchium striatum, which I’ve moved from the swing beds where they were taking over. It was an early ‘In a vase on Monday‘ post which alerted me to how well the rose and Sisyrinchiums go together and so now they’ve been moved to live together, rather than just appearing fleetingly in a vase.
The downside of digging all the Sisyrinchiums out of the swing beds, is that they are now looking very bare. And that’s not the only reason; I also dug up the large Euphorbia wulfenii Characias from each bed, as neither was looking well, and I pulled out the ‘only-two-apples’ apple tree which was starting to shade the right hand bed and looked rather incongruous amongst the perennials. On a positive note, all the space has allowed me better access to plant my bulbs, so hopefully things will start bouncing back soon (quickly crosses fingers…)
The grass bed hasn’t yet had any autumnal clearing, and whilst the Stipa teniussima at the back are looking rather tired, the Nasturtiums at the front are in very rude health. Consequently I’ve left them alone for the time being, but sadly, the last few flowers on the nasturtiums are rather buried by the generous foliage.
Some of you may remember that I want to clear some, if not all, of the fox and cubs from this bed as they don’t really flower for long enough to justify their position, but that work is also yet to be done – and I think I need to get rid of all that nasturtium foliage so that I can even see the fox and cubs.
I’ve also done some clearing in the small veg patch, which is now back to just the raspberries, the diving lady (who has new bulbs planted in her pool) and Nimbus.
I’ve also cleared the exhausted Cosmos Purity from the troughs, but have left the stocks at the back. They are getting rather leggy now but I just love their scent and forgot to plant any new ones this summer, so I’ll have to hope they survive the winter and reflower.
As well as clearing, I’ve planted some more Alliums (Purple Sensation) in this bed as their numbers seemed to have dwindled this year, so I gave them a top up. They should follow on from the two Narcissii, Minnow and Segovia.
The raised beds I used for cutting for the first time this year still need clearing, but there are a few Antirrhinums clinging on, as well as one sentinel Zinnia.
I think I judge these beds a success. Of course I would have had bigger plants and consequently more blooms if I’d planted in the ground, but I just didn’t have the space, and this is a relatively out of the way position so it didn’t matter that the whole effect wasn’t very cohesive. I’ll definitely use the space again, but will need to replace the compost for next year.
Meanwhile the shady bed continues to look good in its monochrome way.
Aside from the beds, I’ve also been planting up lots of pots with bulbs. The one below is one of a pair which sit outside the greenhouse. I’ve lain strips of rose prunings across the top to discourage marauders, and they seem to have worked so far.
In the greenhouse I have Iris reticulata ‘Gordon’ bulbs just starting to show their green shoots
and the cuttings taken last month are also putting on some new growth. Certainly not 100% success, but definitely lots of new babies to tend.
And lastly, a couple of sights more applicable to much earlier in the year – still a few blooms on my Plumbagos,
and yes! more Tomatoes Sungold ripening. The question is, where am I going to put all my tender plants if the greenhouse still has tomatoes in it?
With many thanks to Helen at The Patient Gardener for hosting the end of month meme. Please visit her website to see how other bloggers’ gardens look at this time of year.