By Somhairle
Renfrewshire,
Scotland 
How was your garden this year?
Having discovered a problem with an azalea this morning it had me reflecting on the year it has been in the garden. In honesty, I cannot remember having had such a poor year - even worse than the one following the severe winters of 2010/11.
I have lost so many plants last winter it is impossible to determine how many have gone. Even hardy things such as poppies and lupins have all gone. And not just that, but new plants that I have planted in Spring have failed to develop well either.
If you look at this picture of a border at the front of my house taken last year, very little survived. Today I have just removed some more dead poppies. The lupins, poppies have all gone. The blue flowers which I think were campanulas and the pink ones at the end of the border next to the crocosmia - all gone.
Last winter was very wet and very, very windy. The spring was not too bad and we had a sunny May and June. So much so that daily watering was required. The summer has not been great and temps have been between 15C and 21C mostly.
How have others found this year?
14 Aug, 2016
Answers
I am like you, Hywel. Hopefully the autumn provides some colour and the opportunity to get in some new plants and prepare for next year. I just hope we do not get such a wet winter again.
14 Aug, 2016
It has certainly been a somewhat weird year for weather, Somhairle. March was mild, but April and June were wet and chilly. In July, things improved (wet and warm) and August has been hot for the last two weeks. Consequently, plants have flowered at odd times, but overall established plants have grown much bigger than usual. There is no obvious explanation.
14 Aug, 2016
Your border looks very pretty - hope it looks this good again next year. It certainly has been a strange year - not much good for anything but snails and slugs here. I've had two perennials completely destroyed by them.
14 Aug, 2016
been a good year for weeds !
14 Aug, 2016
And now we have a forecast of dry, warmish weather for this week ahead. So, back to the watering each day! Only a couple of days ago, we had gale force winds and torrential rain.
You know, I have been trying to grow a patch of grass since May and I cannot get it to take! I have seeded it 3 times now. The last time I mixed some compost into the surface. Each time I do it, the rain is torrential and I think the seed rots. :(
14 Aug, 2016
April and September are the months often recommended for sowing grass seed so maybe try again then? You could also try suspending black thread over it in some sort of web which discourages birds from landing on it and eating the seeds.
15 Aug, 2016
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Your border was pretty last year. I hope you can get it back like that.
I have found that this summer we've had very little sunshine here - lots of thick dark clouds and mist but not much rain really.
As a result everything seems to have grown very straggly and there are few flowers. It all looks very green.
I am looking forward to the autumn when I hope we have some better weather and more colourful plants :)
14 Aug, 2016