Primrose Jack in Green
Autumn has decidedly arrived although not the crisp dry Autumn that I prefer, instead it has been a bit gray and quite damp leading to soggy piles of leaves to collect; many have already been collected.
I have noticed that despite the lower light levels there is still interest in the garden mainly from the various asters. I think the smaller flowers add some real texture although I want to add some of the larger and brighter flowered asters next year and maybe some more rudbeckias to lift it all.
The first job was to weed the slope where the Hardy Exotic Border is and plant a mass of mixed daffodil bulbs. I am conscious that many of the plants will die back over the winter and I don’t really want a large bare area so I am hoping the daffodils will add some spring interest and color until the main planting reappears. As my garden is quite small I need to make ever area work as hard as possible. I am trying to adopt the idea of layered or succession planting as advocated by Christopher Lloyd and also David Culp but of course although I understand the logic and purpose putting it into action isn’t as easy as it appears. I think you really need to understand the plants well and I haven’t quite got there. To help me out I am thrilled to have signed up for a study day at Great Dixter next June.
A small achievement was finally sorting the area in front of the shed and fence. This has been a bit of a dumping ground since the shed went in over a year ago and has been irritating me for some months. My son plans to put a wood store here, the shed is his workshop, but he is so busy it is well down his list of priorities so I decided to take charge. It is amazing how much things are improved with a quick tidy up, a thick layer of gravel, a bit of fence paint and a few pots. The little auricula is far too small so I need to find one of my other pots to go here. I am thinking maybe a pot of bedding cyclamen.
Elsewhere I planted out the shrubs I bought at the Hergest Croft plant fair last weekend. The Hydrangea Merveilla Sanguine at the top of the slope to add to the foliage interest. I was told it needs good moist conditions and maybe at the top of a slope isn’t the best place but the soil is very heavy clay based here and doesn’t seem to dry out too fast so fingers crossed.
More bare soil but this is where the dead acer was and I am quite pleased with how it is coming along. I have added a Leptospernum myrtifolium ‘Silver Sheen’ and Berberis seiboldii which is quite electric at the moment and should be wonderful in a year or two. Also planted out today is an unnamed double hellebore and some bedding cyclamen. There are lots of spring perennials under the soil here at the front of the border so I have added the cyclamen for interest until I am reminded what is here and where it is!!
I thought I would show you a border I replanted just over a year ago – The Japanese Fern Border. A grand title for a small area alongside the patio which admittedly has other perennials other than ferns but they are all from Asia – apart from the stray Welsh Poppy in the back there. The ferns have really filled out and it looks lush and full and makes me smile.
Just for Yvonne I have include the Primrose Jack in Green at the top of the post which I look at when I sit on the bench.
