I’ve been painting gloss work at home; door frames galore and literally mile upon mile of skirting – or so it seems. I’ve also grown increasingly annoyed, irritated and badmouthed at a new laptop. A new laptop that won’t connect wirelessly to the net. I’ve tried so many ‘
IT solutions‘ but it still won’t OBEY me. Next up is solution 36 – hurling it against a brick wall. So what with painting, a sulky laptop and a couple of novels that were physically impossible to put down, there has, I’m afraid, been a bit of a gap since my last post.
The days are whizzing by and we’re hurtling into autumn with no brakes. STOP! Please. Despite writing a few weeks ago how I was relishing the prospect of autumn, I have now changed my mind (a gardener’s prerogative) and am savouring these long, hot and hazy summery days.
Turks Cap Lily growing in the possibly mythical and …
I have built up a logjam of photos over the past few weeks – my computer is groaning under the weight of them all.
… certainly mysterious Priory Fern and Turks Cap Lily Boat.
So here’s a quick splurge to free up some disk space.
Mina lobata
I hadn’t grown Spanish Flag (Mina lobata) before.
Technically it’s a perennial but not in Sussex, where I grow it from seed and treat as an annual. I’ve been impressed by how easy it grows and the sheer amount of flower, and at how pretty it is. I’ll certainly grow it again next year.
Dahlia ‘Dark Spirit’
Normally, my dahlia tubers sail through the winter wrapped in newspaper and stored in a cool, dry place. But this year I lost about a third to fungus. I suspect I hadn’t dried them out as well as I ought to have done. The ones that did survive were potted up and nurtured to a height of six inches or more before planting out into the new ‘Tropical’ bed. Otherwise, I find planting the tubers directly out into beds results in an almighty battle with slugs and snails. It’s the same if I leave them in the ground overwinter (heavily mulched against frost, of course). Planted out when they are of a size and a little more robust seems to afford them some protection. That and organic slug pellets.
Dahlia ‘Fire and Ice’
I did lose some varieties of dahlia altogether though – which is sad but an excellent shopping opportunity next spring!
Dahlia ‘Smarty’
This is a tall elegant dahlia with no two flowers the same.
Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ is just so reliable and so darn cheery. Couldn’t be without it; here growing with linaria.
A combination that I’ve really enjoyed (sunglasses required) is Achillea ‘Cloth of Gold’ with the vibrancy of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.
Far, far more muted is Hydrangea Kyushu (the only hydrangea in the garden – apart from the climbing, Hydrangea petiolaris) and Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.
Here, shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum – a glorious name, which is reason enough to grow it) against a backdrop of Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’.
The amount of self-sown flowers has been wonderful this year. I think that is down to an absence of late frosts in May. This Cosmos sprang up on its own accord in one of the kidney beds – with errant Stipa gigantea seedhead.
Also self-sown is lovely Cosmos purity
and Zinnia ‘Red Spider’.
I’m not a huge fan of fuchsias but this hardy Fuchsia molinae just drips flowers at this time of year. Here growing up against Zebra Grass (Miscanthus zebrinus) and above Ajuga reptans ‘Braunherz’. The latter is brilliant ground cover with loads of blue flower spikes in spring. All three plants went in during late 2008 and are now well established.
Like the dahlias, I find it a battle to get Salvia patens up and out of the ground without a titanic life and death battle with slugdom. This is one of my favorite perennials though so worth the trouble. That blue – wow.
I should be able to show you a photo of my favorite salvia, S. ulignosa, growing in this spot in the kidney beds. Sadly though it was one of the plants I lost during our last, severe winter. You’ll have to use your imagination. Thanks. A real shame as it’s a tall stately plant that flowers for yonks, and the flowers are of such a pretty pale blue. I was still willing it to emerge long, long after it was obvious it was dead.
And finally (I’ve still got an awful lot of gloss work to do and a laptop to beat into submission) the badly named toad lily (Tricyrtis formosana). I was given a pot of this gorgeous, if unusual, beauty and I’ve split it again and again to increase my stock. It’s only just come into flower in the past few days, is happy in shade and just invites close study.
