Another late, ‘warts and all’ EoMV of a garden largely untouched (and largely unchanged) from a month ago.
I definitely feel I’m losing the plot – and probably not just gardening wise. Luckily, in the shot above, the freshly mown lawn suggests a better cared for garden than is currently the case!
Luckily also, the mild weather here means I haven’t yet had any real frosts and Pelargoniums such as this ‘Choun Cho’ continue to flower.
The vine, which was rather brutally detached from the decking when it was replaced earlier in the year, has been reattached and is surprisingly putting on some attractive fresh growth.
Whilst the Veg Bed has still not been cleared (and there are plenty of nutty ‘Pink Fir Apple’ potatoes still to dig) I did have a massive cut back of all the bay shoots around the Diving Lady so she can be see out again.
Either side of the swing the two Swing Beds are now almost completely devoid of colour, with just a handful of Salvia blooms remaining,
but in the middle, draped across the swing arch, the Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ is looking like a pretty but very overgrown fringe.
The Grass Bed has been mostly cleared of dying Zinnias but this has again exposed all the missing Stipa Tenuissima plants which used to line the back of this bed and were sadly lost last winter.
The Mid Century bed still has the odd rose flowering and another Salvia, but little else except a random Nicotiana (middle front) which has popped up unexpectedly.
Below you can see that the Silk Tree – Albizia julibrissin ‘Ombrella’ is looking a little peaky. I’m hoping she perks up and next year provides rather more than the solitary bloom she provided this summer
Round to the western end of the garden takes us past the last of the flower carpet roses and the inherited Nerines.
At this side of the garden I’ve finally cleared the decaying Dahlias but the bed is still clogged with leaves from the ‘over-the-road-oak’.
In the shrub planted Oak Bed I stumbled across these Hamamelis buds. I think it’s ‘Arnold’s Promise’, but don’t think I’ve ever seen him this early before.
Looking much better than either of the beds is the oft-featured tray of succulents. I wonder when I’m going to need to get them under cover?
Finally, into a very untidy greenhouse. A bit of a hack through the tomatoes ended up with these as collateral damage.
As last year, in the late part of the growing season we’ve had a bad infestation of whitefly in the greenhouse so (unbeknown to me) having seen them advertised online, the OH ordered some biological pest control and these cards arrived and were hung up while I was away in the week. I’ve just taken a moment to look the product up and I think it’s possible the parasitic wasps which are supposed to target the whitefly won’t hatch unless it’s an average of 17 degrees and sadly there’s not much chance of that now!
On a more positive note I did finally get around to taking some Salvia and Pelargonium cuttings,
so hopefully I’ll have more plants like this, S. ‘Love and Wishes’ (3rd place in the RHS ‘Plant of the Year’ in 2015) to play with next year!
With thanks to Helen at the Patient Gardener for hosting EoMVs.