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...

😱