End of month view – September 2016

Not a great deal of colour in the garden now, thank goodness Verbena bonariensis (above) and the Pink Flower Carpet roses (below) can be relied upon!

Sadly, plants I mentioned in last year’s September post that I wanted to increase, I seem to have fewer of, namely the Aster frikartii ‘Monch’ and Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Heavenly Blue’.  I never did take cuttings last year, so perhaps I’ll add to the list of cuttings I’m hoping to take next weekend once the daughter’s out of the way!

One plant that is finally making a bit of a show is the Nicotiana mutablis at the back of the bed.  This was planted out late but is now providing some height and colour at the back of the bed, but is not quite as widespread as I’d hoped.

In the Grass Bed the Ammi visnaga ‘Green Mist’ and Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Fizzy White’ have largely run out of steam and instead the Nasturtiums and some self seeded Cerinthe have taken over.

In the Mid Century bed there are still a few dark blooms, but it’s the Acacia, Acacia baileyana ‘Pupurea’ (centre) that’s really taking off.  I’m slightly concerned as to what to do with this.  In theory this can reach 8m x 6m which really isn’t what I want in this bed.  I’m wondering whether some judicious pruning can keep it more shrub sized?  I do love the almost metallic foliage.

To the right of this bed you can see a huge inherited clump of Asters, shown closer below.  However in this photo you can also see the numerous weeds seeded in the pebbly path –

and even more below.  After trying and failing to move some larger Verbena bonariensis plants to the back of the Swing Beds, I deliberately left the small seedlings here with a view to moving them ‘later’ and now they’re as big as the ones I failed to establish.

Hopefully, if I plant them later in the year, the weather will be kinder than the scorching summer and I can weed the paths and plant some height at the back of the Swing Beds with one stone, as it were.

At the other side of the garden the Dahlia Happy Single Date is still going strong, (although a bit mildewed) but there is little else of interest here now.

The tray of succulents is still looking good, but they, of course, cope so much better with neglect!

There are some other good pots – these lovely Pelargonium ‘Surcouf’ (another one on the cuttings list)

and the Dolichos lablab ‘Ruby Moon’ seed pods are just astonishing.

Over in the Veg patch things are mostly coming to an end.

The Chard stems are glowing in the sunshine, but the leaves are very tired and tatty.

And in the Rhubarb/Strawberry bed there’s just one beautiful Agapanthus bloom.  Oh, and after saying I’d move the white ones out of this bed and into the Greenhouse beds, guess who forgot to mark the relevant plants.  Doh!

In the greenhouse there are still plenty of tomatoes, this one, Marmande, tastes fabulous, particularly cooked.

I haven’t planted many seeds, but these Erysimum definitely need to go out.

And to finish, the apple tree.  In the eight years we’ve been here this tree has never produced anything more than conker sized what I thought were crab apples.  And now, suddenly this year, not only are there dozens of fruits, but many are almost proper apple sized.  Shame they don’t taste of much!

With thanks to Helen at the  Patient Gardener  who hosts everyone’s EOMVs.