September round-up

It's the end of September already!

Not sure how that has happened but the amount of work now needed in the garden is enormous and I'm verging on the panic attack every time I look at my list. So instead I'm going to round up my favourites in my garden in September - and breathe!

Rudbeckia

So lovely in the sun, I had to replace mine this year - they got so radically slugged very early on that they gave up the ghost!

Aster

Such pretty star like flowers, I really need to add some more Asters to my garden. That's another thing to add to my list (don't think about the list!)

Sedum

Glorious colours and beautiful splashes of happiness. Whether low and creeping or tall and statuesque I can't get enough of these winners.

Schitzostylis

I know, we're not supposed to call it that any more but that's what it is in my head. ( I think they are Hesperanthus now, but I may be wrong) Delicate and powerful at the same time the coral version does well in my garden and now I have some pale pink too. Next year I hope to have pictures of that doing equally well.

Canna Lily

Glorious dark, purply leaves and fiery orange flowers. Sadly they always grow so tall that the flowers can't really be seen because they are up in the Olive Tree! You have to stand by the wall and look behind the Olive. They must be found a new spot next spring.

Clematis Armandii 

I know it's a spring flowering clematis but mine has repeat flowered in September for the last 3 years. There aren't as many flowers as in the spring but quite a reasonable showing considering it is September, and the fragrance is back too.

Japanese Anemone

Gorgeous, invasive, floppy, rubbish in a vase, but again gorgeous. I keep threatening to curtail my Japanese Anemone population because they are taking over and not responding at all to polite containment. But then they flower and my resolve wavers...

especially when they mix with my favourite Verbena Bonariensis!

Astrantia

Grown by me from seed (still alive and doing well - almost unheard of!) they've been in flower since June and are still going strong.

All of the above are hardy and easy to grow - they can cope with a level of neglect (life gets in the way of gardening quite often in my world, not to mention the weather and the slugs!) and I wouldn't have a September garden without them.

Now that all looks quite colourful and summery, particularly when the sun's out, but autumn is most definitely here and things are dying back.

But as one thing fades another comes to take it's place.

The Hostas may be colouring and subsiding but the Arum Italicum is just starting to push it's fresh, patterned leaves through.

Now, back to that terrifying list...

😱

Summer visits - Rosemoor Gardens

Mid August and the weather was patchy but the first RHS Rosemoor Flower Show in Devon was advertised so the Daisy duo packed sun cream, waterproofs and woolly hats (just to be on the safe side) and set off!

I have never been to Rosemoor before so there was a lot to see, what with the extensive garden, the show and, of course THE SHOP, so we decided to start at one end (left) and work to the other (right).

First was the Queen Mother's Rose Garden...

which was chock full of, well, Roses obviously but in a slightly old fashioned 'Roses only' way. 

It reminded me of a neighbour of ours when I was growing up who had a Rose bed - the Roses were in straight rows, nothing else was allowed to grow and the bare earth in-between the bushes was kept pristine.

Don't get me wrong, the Roses themselves were fabulous and there was a huge variety but I like my roses offset with other things and bar a couple of Clematis covered obelisks there was nothing else.

The long borders were more my thing...

towering mixtures of texture and colour.

Fluffy Stocks, etherial spires of Veronicastrum backed by faded globes of Echinops one side, and tumbling, ragged Shasta Daisies, more Veronicastrum and airy Verbena Bonariensis on the other.

Some were mixed colours and some were monochrome...

some even had Roses in!

Then there was the hot garden, absolutely at its best in August.

The colours were extraordinary...

With waves of Verbenas and Crocosmias...

great splashes of Heleniums in every hue...

spiky Lobelias...

frilly Monardas...

mixed with clouds of Golden Rod, towering Sunflowers...

Dahlis, more Lobelias and, again, even more Roses.

It was like an artists palette when the artist has been given every tube of hot colour that exists and just has to use all of them.

Then on to the vegetable garden and again the texture, leaf shape and colour was spectacular.

Stately Sweetcorn, elegant Cavolo Nero, and dark Curly Kale set of with bright Nasturtiums and gentle Borage...

colourful Squashes and Gourds dripping from frames above Rainbow Chard, and not a bit of slug damage or a weed in sight!

However they are not totally pest free!

Apologies for the fuzziness but I was on full zoom. He's a cute little thing isn't he and I have to admit there was a smattering of glee when we spotted him - it wasn't all as perfect as it seemed.

Through tunnels hanging with more Squashes we went, to the cottage garden and on to the Flower Show site.

Now the flower show wasn't quite what I expected but there were 20 nurseries exhibiting, each had a stall full of plants and had created a small show garden to display their wares. They were quite mixed so here are my favourites.

Millwood Plants - I very much wanted to sit on that bench, although to be fair it looked quite hard to get to!

Brookfield Plants who had some gorgeous miniature Hostas - it's a good job they weren't selling galvanised baths ready planted like this, I would have struggled to resist.

Pheasant Acre Plants who rocked a very retro 1950s vibe I thought with their riotous Glads and Dahlias.

Various purchasing occurred but more of that later.

Then on through the Plantsman's garden to the other side of the garden where we allocated ourselves a well earned break...

with cake obviously, very much needed cake by this time!

Then refreshed we wound our way back through the exotic and mediterranean gardens...

through lush glades and beautiful woodland...

to the shop.

Yes, it took a while but we left with a very modest carrier bag full, yes just one - each - obviously. One between us would just be ridiculous!

My favourite purchase which came from the Flower Show was a miniature Eucomis, Eucomis Vandermerwei. It's teeny tiny, the flower spike is just 10cms high and it has the most beautiful crinkly edged and blotched leaves.

 I do love a good plant shopping spree!

I have slightly mixed feelings about the RHS. I think they can appear rather snobbish and exclusive sometimes and even a bit stick in the mud occasionally, but no-one can deny they do do a good garden. It may have been super manicured and rather depressingly unachievable but it was absolutely stunning.

The cake was good too.

😋

Summer Visits - Abbey House Gardens - Malmesbury

It's always good to start a garden visit with some naked wrestling men(!?!), so the gardens at Abbey House Gardens were off to a good start!

.

The lovely house appears buried in its garden, clothed with climbers and creepers it almost disappears into the greenery yet it is very present throughout.

The garden divides into two halves - the formal flower gardens at the front of the house and the natural valley garden behind. The formal knot garden greets you first...

with impressive clipped and regimented Yew hedging, neat Box edging and formal pathways.

 The Well Garden

The shaping and contrast planting was like a rich tapestry.

And here and there there was a blast of glorious Lilies...

whilst all around is the presence of Malmesbury Abbey.

The House and garden were built on the grounds of the Abbey and indeed part of the garden is on ground that used to be under the other half of the Abbey.

The Lady Chapel Garden uses Yew hedges to trace the outline of the lost section and now has Rose beds instead of congregations.

Drenched in August sun is the best ways to see Roses.

and the riotous colour mixed with serene references to the ancient inhabitants...

a serene monk with his feet deep in Violas, and elsewhere there are ancient stone coffins found during the construction.

 Just outside the Chapel garden was a lovely sunny upper lawn with a husband sized deck chair surrounded by more roses on one side...

and an assortment of purply loveliness on the other...

Erygerons, Asters and ragged Poppies...

and the company of a large Tortoise enjoying snoozing in the sun just as much as the husband!!

 Yew corridors led to other garden rooms past the spire of a contemporary fountain....

to a glorious sunny herbaceous border garden

Full of Verbascum and Roses...

Echinops, Solidago and Stocks...

and delicate silvery Sea Holly and Agapanthus.

The darkness of these corridors created such a gorgeous contrast to the sunny open spaces.

Then we found the herb garden!

With a circular 'cloister' around the outside and raised beds based on a description in a 9th century poem. They were full of fragrance and buzzing bees...

Salvias, Lavenders and Geraniums.

The cloister tunnel was covered in Clematis...

which scrambled up over mature trained fruit cordons creating a green glade casting delicate shadows perfect for contemplation.

Lots of varieties of Apples, Grapes and Pears and even a sprawling Mulberry Tree.

As if this wasn't enough garden for one house through a dark arch was the entrance to the valley garden, with a meandering path down the steep side of the valley down to the bottom to the monks fishing ponds and the River Avon...

... and the odd little temple!

It is a shady glade filled with Camellias, Rhododendrons, Maples, Hydrangeas together with existing native woodland plants and trees

The house looked very different from this angle, high and imposing.

Paths wound through woods and clearings, over bridges...

 and through wonderful swaying grasses...

 with views up and down the meandering river and ponds.

On the way back we spotted the gardeners To-Do list which looks terrifying!

and some sculpture following the theme of the wrestlers (my lizard's bigger than your lizard!?!)

Back we went up to the tea room which is set around a raised pond and fountain...

with very impressive carp and some huge sturgeon which eluded my camera!

and some much deserved tea and cake!

For more information about the gardens and opening times visit their website here

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Malmesbury, the weather was kind and the town and gardens were delightfully 'English', charming and very pretty.

On my return I spoke to my mum - keen to share my find. Mum is a boundless font of garden information and needless to say already knew about it. However she was a bit quiet as I was raving about it, only to then tell me that the garden is well known in the area for the owners being rather keen on gardening in the nude!! 

And then I found the 'clothes optional' days on their website!

😐

Slightly relieved that the only nudes we saw were bronze!