From my garden , Six on Saturday - 19 October 2024

We have had rain: lots of it, a couple of days where for part there has been sunshine, but we have had no frosts.  How do I know for sure you may ask? The little nasturtium plants which sprouted up, once some top growth from early flowering perennials was cleared, are still standing well, turning their leaves as the sun travels from east to west.  I only mention this as I wonder whether there will be observations about the weather when I and several others link into Jim's post. There you will find how to join in yourself should you wish.

For now here are six random musings or observations this week, mainly chosen as some time during the week I ventured out and caught something on camera. As friends who came to lunch on Thursday observed: there is still a lovely amount of colour in the garden.

1. For the first time I have planted autumn flowering Crocus speciosus Oxonian.  It was rather a gamble as to where to plant the bulbs which I bought from Pottertons at the Rare Plant Fair in Wells only a few weeks ago.

  

Crocus speciosus Oxonian

There was a big clump of Origanum Bristol Cross which was getting rather congested, that got dug up to make way for the Crocus.  At the same time Squirrels are finding any softish piece of ground to burry their nuts, so the lovely twigs from a Magnolia that I had in the house as 'dried plant' material were retired into the garden to form a cage which also helped to keep the blackbirds off that area.  They have rather suffered in the pouring rain, but a couple of days of less rain and some sunshine drew me into the garden to admire them. 

2. One of my favourite areas in the garden is the gravel garden as it is there that I place plants apart and this doesn't look strange, in the sense that the current trend is to have full borders.  I used to volunteer at the Elizabethan gardens in Kenilworth, and learnt that back in those days, the 'exotic' plants were so precious that they were placed separately so that each precious plant could be admired.  My gravel garden functions as a place to appreciate the forms of plants.  This week the Allium thunbergii is probably the top star of the gravel garden.

Allium thunbergii Ozawa

3. And because I grew this Cyclamen myself from seed, this plant in the gravel area gives me even greater pleasure.  The pattern and richness of the leaf alone as it emerges and the relief I feel that it has survived another year, is exhilarating. There were two small tubers of Cyclamen graecum subs. candicum a little too close together, in the picture below it is to the left, a little out of focus, and yesterday I dug it up and moved it to a better position, which I hope will be successful. Looking at the root it was has the characteristic thickened long root. It is advisable to grow this one in a glass house, and since I don't have one but only a sheltered garden, I am delighted that it survives.

 4.  I just need to get close to this plant to look into the very small blooms to be amazed by the complexity of the petals.  It is a Knapweed, and in any case I love the wild ones too, but this plant is small and just the right size for the garden.

Serratula tinctoria var. seoanei

With bright light and a drop in the wind, a good close up was possible.   

5. By the conservatory, from where I can sit and look at the garden,  there are some rose bushes, and despite not having given them the care they ought to have had, they are giving a fine display. This is Rose Grace which I keep dead heading almost daily. I probably showed these a few weeks ago, but they have continued to give a lovely apricot warm glow even on the grey days.

6. New England aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Purple Dome' is standing up to the rain and wind and I particularly like it as it does not require any staking.

Today I am off to attend the HPS meeting and am looking forward to hearing  Paul Cumbleton's talk ‘A Growing Addiction: Bulbs from the Winter Rainfall Area of South Africa’.