Six on Saturday

 Growth is slowing down remarkably but there are still treats to enjoy around the garden.  I love the early morning light catches the large cobwebs, and casts shadows as it filters through plants.  I'm taking cuttings and in my mind wondering whether I can move plants to better places. I'm expecting Jim who gathers together us SOSs will have some seasonal musings and delights from his garden.  We join up together there where we can see what others have been getting up to this week.

1. A few butterflies are flitting around the blooms and this Small Tortoishell Butterfly didn't want to go far from the many blooms on the Allium senescens ssp. montanum var. glaucum.

Small Tortoise Butterfly on Allium senescens ssp. montanum v. glaucum

If you know how small the heads are on garlic chives you can understand how small the butterfly is here, with its body much the same size as that of the two other insects here.  Are they bees?

Small Copper butterfly on Garlic Chives flower

2. I seem to be falling in love with grasses, and this Panicum virgatum 'Sangria'  now in the ground close to the Pittosporum Tom Thumb makes a good combination and I love the way it sways in the slightest breeze. The tips are just starting to redden, and from the description I am looking forward to its gradual reddening as the weather gets cooler.

3. So what did I manage not to resist at The Rare Plant Fair a couple of weeks ago?  For a start just as I was thinking I had finished with my purchases I caught a glimpse of the top of
Miscanthus nepalensis with the light shining through.  It was on The Special Plants Nursery stand and since I have never been disappointed by choices made by the owner Derri Watkins, I thought to give it a try.  Growing to 40 inches it is the perfect size for my small garden.  As it is a new plant by that I mean young, and it is not said to be hardy in the coldest winters, I have decided to over winter it and have moved it on to a larger pot, rather than plant it in the ground. It also goes under the name of Himalayan Fairy Grass, just how cute is that!

I also bought from that stall a label pen, and a Pelargonium which will make its debut another week.

4.I was pleased that another favourite grower Rob Potterton was there and enjoyed catching up with him. He had some delightful things and I came away with three lots of bulbs: Iris Alida, some very special Crocus heuffelianus 'Shock Wave', and Crocus speciosus 'Oxonian'.  The special crocus and the Iris are now planted up in half pans, and the 'Oxonian'  autumn flowering crocus  are now in the ground.  The garden is really full and to get them in meant digging up a tired clump of Origanum Bristol Cross, but taking several nicely rooted bits from the edge to grow on in the quickly emptying veggie area.  

Crocus speciosus 'Oxonian' planted

We have a troupe of young blackbirds, and I am hoping this covering of twigs will entice them to cultivate the ground elsewhere! The soil had already been spread across the gravel path before I put these precautions in place.

5. I've managed to empty out two pots in which shrubs have been growing for some time.  Just arranging or rearranging plants around the garden is one of my favourite seasonal gardening activities.  The Sorbaria Sem is finally released into the garden and the Tree Peony too has found its spot. Underneath the shrubs many of the Cyclamen hederifolium are in flower.

Cyclamen hederifolium

6.  Hylotelephium formerly called  Sedum erythrostictum ‘Frosty Morn’ has been an asset to the garden for several weeks. Its creamy white edges on light green leaves are topped by it large pinky white flowers.  Its colour was not dulled nor turned brown even with the rain and cold.  During this warm and sunny week it is another favourite with the butterflies and bees.

'Frosty Morn'

I hope that the weather will continue to give me time to go various other gardening tasks this coming week.