I suspect that someone has stolen a week from September. It was only August the other day, where has the month disappeared to? We have had some warm sun but also chilly nights. There has been the first frost in this shorter than realistically possible month. As August ended it was still summer, yet as September ends we are definitely in autumn. The equinox has been and gone and the season has turned. I am struggling to keep up with so much change.
In the driveway the glorious pin oak, one of my very favourite trees, is turning.
I looked back in my records (yes I keep a garden journal, I am that obsessive) and I have had this tree four years now. It always seems to take a year or two for a tree to really settle in and then by year three or four it really starts to grow. This tree has started to grow properly now.
It remains a complete delight.
The Knot Garden remains not a complete delight but I have given it a trim so it looks more ready for winter. I have spent the last year thinking I must do something with the front garden yet I remain in stasis until the muse slaps me around the face and gives me a clue as to what I want to do.
The border by the front door is dominated by this fuchsia magellanica white form of some sort. It is a vigorous shrub and actually it is too large for the space. I trim it back fairly often but it hangs over the path in an annoying fashion. I have this shrub in various locations so to remove it is not to lose it to the garden, yet I still hesitate from digging it up. (stasis or is in inertia...)
Around the back to the Courtyard Garden and despite the generally dry weather the moss is starting to encroach. This needs removing. The plants generally are doing really well, the rhododendron luteum at the back is colouring up and covered in bulbs. The small prunus kojo no mai, at the front, is also looking its autumnal best. Best of all I have kept this alive for more than one year, this is a personal best with this tree. What is not doing so well is my Edgeworthia Red Dragon. I had to move the pot the other day and it has decided to die right back as a result. I'm not sure why, I have checked for vine weevil and could not find any. It is a puzzle and I hope it recovers as I am hugely fond of it.
I am very pleased with hydrangea 'Diadem' I bought earlier this year is making me very happy. This was a very good purchase. I need more hydrangeas and this one encourages me further with this aim.
The Pond Border shines in the autumn sun, it was a glorious day when I took these photos. You will see at the rear of this border it is overwhelmed with perennial sunflowers. This plant is fantastic this time of year and definitely garden-worthy; but if you look away for five minutes it romps around trying to take over all the space it can find. I will mercilessly reduce it to about one quarter of what is is now over the winter.
I (probably foolishly) planted some into the Prairie Borders. So far it is being better behaved there but I will keep an eye on it. I love the blondeness of the grasses this time of year. I leave the skeletons of the echinops standing until the spring. They give height and also shelter for insects.
I planted this Tamarisk fairly recently and it is still small. I have wanted one of these since the very first time I saw one. I know they get quite big so I will have to keep an eye on it, but for now I look at the pink flowers and smile.
Talking of smiling at plants, the white mulberry tree has done well this year and brings me joy.
and talking of joy, I discovered heliotropes this year. I will be bringing this one inside soon to try and keep it over the winter. The scent is just divine.
The hedges are full of rose hips this year, more than usual I am sure.
and the signs of next years cerinthe and nigella are already there.
I stood for a while liking this view with the grassy knoll on one side and the Prairie Borders to the other. The eye is led towards the Dancing Lawn under the eating apple tree.
Around to the Four Sisters and the (slightly shady) Egdeworthia crysantha is looking very good. Buds are forming on it ready for the spring. I will be watching it anxiously over the winter as usual, but it is really quite big now so I get more hopeful that it will survive in this sheltered corner of the garden.
The Stachyurus bought earlier this year also has buds forming.
and the Carol Klein acer has berries on it. I got so excited by this, I have never noticed seeds on this tree before. Then I looked closer, and lifted the fallen hawthorn berries from the tree...... sigh.
The greenhouse is looking quite full. The nights have turned a little chilly so plants have moved indoors. The banana is only resting in the greenhouse as when the nights really get cold it will have to move into the conservatory. It is getting rather large now and the conservatory is small so this might not be a sustainable way of keeping it for many more years.
My first aubergine is getting larger, this is so exciting. I know I need to stop admiring it and actually eat it, but I am just in awe that I managed to grow one.
In the veg borders, the marigold and tagetes border that did not really work as I wanted is looking quite pretty. There is a crop of cerinthe forming on this border and I have sown a meadow mix around it, so maybe next year it will be more pleasing to me.
The raised planter has also been fairly disastrous this year. Largely because I did not plant it up as I thought I was moving house (I will stop mentioning that soon, promise). I did sow some nasturtium seeds and they are now flowering as are a couple of the dahlias from last year that have survived my neglect.
I end as usual on the pond. Yes, truly, this is the pond. We have still had very little rain and it is not a lot more full than it was in August. We need more rain and as I write this there is a vague promise of some maybe at the end of the week. I hope that it appears.
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.
