November this year has been wet and mild resulting in the weeds and grass still growing, even the drop of temperature earlier this week was short-lived and we are back to mild temperatures for the time of year and fog. Whilst I’m not so keen on the continual dampness the fog does add to the real autumnal feel which is nice as there are less fallen leaves in the garden this year due to the removal of the majority of the willow and some of the large prunus.
The hardy exotic border and new seating area remains my favorite part of the garden and I hope the plants are hardy enough to come through whatever this winter throws at us. I am hoping that it will be a mild winter and the plant will have another year to establish before they have to cope with prolonged cold.
I am surprised at how lush the garden still is. The Rose Border (formerly the Cottage Garden Border) is filling out and I am hopefully for a good display next year when the roses, aquilegias and geraniums start to flower.
I worked through the Big Border last week, weeding and cutting back. I want to move the Cotinus to the corner of the border in the foreground and I need to build up the log edging of the path but aside from that the border should look after itself now until the hellebores flower in the early spring. I will cut the hellebore foliage back probably in late December.
The other end of the Big Border. I have also tidied up the border on the other side of the grass path and as I mentioned last week this is an area I want to tackle next year to make the planting stronger, it can’t get any weaker! I have finally got the start of an idea of what I want to put in here and it won’t surprise you to learn it is foliage based. I have a hankering for a dark-leaved banana or maybe as Rusty Duck has suggested a hardy Hedychium and this has led to me deciding to extend the hardy exotic planting from the slope behind but with plants that appreciate a little more light.
The other end of the border I am talking about which has been much shadier but I suspect will be lighter now due to the willow being cut back so drastically. The planting here is predominately foliage based so I think I will finally be able to make the whole border work rather than it feeling like two halves.
The next area due an autumn tidy up is the original woodland border. Again it will be interesting next year to see how the shade has been affected by the tree work. I think I need to do a little re-jigging just to stop plants swamping each other but I need them to reappear in the spring so I can remember what I had planned to do. However, I am very pleased with how the changes I made to the back of the border have worked out this year adding depth and interest as well as height.
Going down in scale the spring/patio border is at one of its low points in the year. The late summer interest is well over but hopefully come early spring there will be lots of color from snowdrops and other bulbs. Saying that I have a sneaky suspicion that I meant to add more bulbs this autumn and if so I have failed to do this.
The staging is still working hard and currently supporting the collection of pots planted up with collections of various alpine plants and the hardy succulents. It is also hosting all the pots I have emptied of dahlias. Last year I planted these up with tulips which were OK but I think I want to add some more permanent plantings in them so I have decided to leave them empty over winter.
Finally the hardy succulent trough has been more successful than I ever anticipated. The various sempervivums have bulked up and filled out. However, I will be happier once my amateurish concrete repair mellows a little.
As ever any one is welcome to join in this monthly post and use it how they wish. Some focus on one area of their garden and others the whole garden. All I ask is that you link to this post in your post and leave a link to your post in the comment box below so we can come and visit you.
