Its that time of year..............................
By rolliekins
11 comments
Its alright for Monty Donn to tell us that his garden is vibrant but mines not. After the first green shoots in early spring and the planting of late spring, the colour explosion of summer and the harvest of tomatoes for the last few months, my garden is looking less than impressive. The greenhouse is devoid of tomato leaves and I’m so sick of eating the tomatoes that I can’t even summon up the energy to water them any more (I have more pasta sauce in the freezer than I know what to do with). Don’t get me wrong, I love this time of year, its starting to get colder and the nights are getting longer, there is something oddly warming about having the door closed and a little Jack Russell curled up on your lap by 8 o’clock in the evening but for us gardeners its also a reminder that it’s a long time before the first shoots of spring come through the frosted ground and yell ‘hello it’s me! You just wait until summer comes’ Until then we just have to sit it out.
As this is the first blog I have ever attempted to write, I will be shocked and dismayed if anyone finds it let alone reads it, so I will try and continue to write as more of a personal journal than anything else. As years advance and I become inevitably more forgetful, at least I can look back on this and have some record of my garden.
All I can say is THANK THE LORD FOR ASTERS!! My garden at least has quite a few flowering and combining that with the little clump of aconite and the clematis, that for some reason seemed to quite like being hacked back as soon as they finished flowering and are now better than before, it’s not looking too shabby. There are odd spots of colour here and there but nothing to the display that hurt they eyes in mid summer.
My obsession for the last year has been hemerocallis. I have way way way too many for my little garden and as I have over 80 now I had to have a little shuffle around to make sure they were well scattered. The problem with this is that I had to cut down all the leaves and so have bare earth everywhere. A couple of months ago all was lush and green. I am now protecting one single scape that appeared a week ago. I have no idea of colour or size as I purchased them on eBay a few weeks ago from a lovely lady who assured me that when they flower she will tell me the name of it. I am secretly hoping that it’s not yellow. The summer bedding is over and the leaves on the trees around my garden are starting to look like they are on the turn. It’s 18 degrees outside but feels like there is a chill in the air. None of my cats want to go outside. It makes me wonder how different this would have sounded if the sun had been shining. Why is it that during the summer it can be 18 degrees during the evening and the windows are open and you are still in a t shirt but in early autumn when it’s 18 degrees at 1pm you are inside in a jumper?
22 Sep, 2011
7 likes
Comments
what a lovely blog. and I agree some parts of my garden look awfl whilst others are shining due to asters. all my [7] hemerocallis are no longer flowering but the monardas, rudbeckia and jap anenomes are still doing well.
as for the 18 c conundrum, I dont know but it is so true :o)
22 Sep, 2011
What a lovely blog felt like I was sat down having a coffee with you listening instead of reading:)
22 Sep, 2011
Very good and interesting blog Rolliekins, I`m still persevering with my short sleeves as yet but that is sheer b....y mindedness on my part as the sun was shining, lol, I still have lots of colour at the moment except in my shady area which is to be expected at this time of the year. I forgot to get any Asters this year but absolutely love them so they are on next years list, I have lots of Nicotiana still, amongst them my Chrysanths are just coming into bud, the roses are still doing well, so hopefully I`ll keep a bit of colour to admire for a while yet..
I`ve just looked at your pics, you have a smashing selection there....
22 Sep, 2011
Here's a simple idea for people who want an all-seasons garden. Go to the Garden Centre each month and buy two things in flower each time.
22 Sep, 2011
Thanks Andrew, why have I never thought of doing that. (duh brain takes over sometimes,lol.)
22 Sep, 2011
now that is an excuse I will use to justify buying plants :o))) thanks Andrewr
22 Sep, 2011
Lovely blog Rolliekins, I too have given up watering the tomatoes, thankfully they've nearly all been eaten now, hanging baskets have done amazingly well this year and are still going strong so still quite a bit of colour, cosmos, helianthus, penstemon, potentilla, nicotiana, asters, salvias, are all still going strong, I've decided to grow even more annuals next year to fill the gaps when the perennials finish we learn a bit more each year in gardening don't we :-)
Look forward to seeing all your daylily pictures next year,and hope that scape gets a chance to flower :-)
23 Sep, 2011
That was a lovely read, Rolliekins and I do know what you mean about the time of year. I think my garden could be looking so much better if only the weather had not been so dreadful for so long. The occasional sunny day has not been sufficient to dry out the lawn to make it fit to walk on, so dead-heading, staking, amongst other things have gone by the board. I still have various roses trying their best, persicaria, lythrum, fox and cubs, chocolate cosmos, lantana, a gaura, a really elegant gladiolus (dancing peacock) and some grasses. But the effect is diffuse, not the full impact of the earlier months and not enhanced by the unmown lawn. Funnily enough, tho', a number of Spring flowers seem to be doing an encore. There are polyanthus and candelabra primulas, weigela and even my favourite clematis montana bearing new blooms - never known that before! Would just be nice to get out there for a while and appreciate their efforts.
BTW, what is a scape?
24 Sep, 2011
Send a bit of your rain this way Tuesdaybear :-), its been so dry here all summer I'm still having to water bedding, funny you should mention spring plants blooming I have a viburnum tinus in full flower and this year I found a self sown seedling of my montana clematis in a crack in the paving, managed to rescue it and its potted up and around 3ft tall now!!!!
Don't mean to butt in Rolliekins :-) a scape is the flowering stem of a daylily.
25 Sep, 2011
Thanks to everyone for their comments. Really didn't expect anyone to read it. Thanks to Simbad for clearing up the scape issue.
29 Sep, 2011
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16 Jul, 2011
Hi Rolliekins, I enjoyed your blog and it has made me think whats still shining in my garden, its a lovely sunny day up here in newcastle and there's still plenty colour in my gardens, The cosmos and Daliah's are still flowering in the front garden, I go for plants with beautifull leave's, reds orange's and yellows of the canna's, purple's and yellows of the phormiums and the bright red and acid greens of the Colius, The Hollyfern are also bright yellowy green fronds standing out in my raised bed, silver Brunnera (jack frost) golden sedge, yucka gloriosa, fronds of the Treeferns, Bright red begonia's are still in flower too, Only thing is, I can't plant my spring bulbs yet lol. I know it wont be long untill it all dies back but, for now im still enjoying all the colour my plants bring to my garden and in a couple of weeks ill probably be running around in the frost trying to plant the bulbs lol..
22 Sep, 2011