Well it has been a bit of a soggy September so far, with the odd glorious day just to remind us how it can be! Not too wet to work though so we have been kept busy as ever in the garden.
We have lots of veg still coming along and I am trying to pick some cut flowers for sale by the Gardeners cottage when I can too.
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Posies for £1!
We have been trying to keep on top of the deadheading to extend the flowering season further at this time of year. In our frosty walled garden we don’t tend to be earlier than most gardens so we try and hang on and be later than everyone else here. The season has been a bit short with a combination of heat and rain shortening flowering / cropping times.
The Dahlia’s we are bulking up are looking good at the minute (between rain showers).
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Dahlia ‘Blue Bayou’
We have made an effort to plant more late flowering plants and some of the plants have reached a size to put on a nice display, such as the dark leafed, yellow flowered Ligularia with the Crocosmiia ‘Solfatare’ by the pond.
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Ligularia and Crocosmiia by pond
We also have groups using the garden this month, including users of our Holiday Centre for Disabled and Special Needs people who came in for a bulb planting session.
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Celebrating a job well done!
We have been busy bulb planting ready for our winter gardening and snowdrop open day for the NGS next Valentines day. So a big thankyou to our visitors for their donations which have paid for the bulbs.
We have been struggling to keep on top of the maintenance of the wooden features in the garden due to the fact it is such a damp site. I am pleased to report that through our Santander grant and both a generous discount and donation of 3 benches from Robert Dyas we will be replacing some of our benches in the garden with recycled plastic benches from the Winawood range in the following weeks.
The Garden is still looking for more volunteers to help us keep the garden looking tidy, doing everything from harvesting produce, deadheading, weeding to painting metalwork. The volunteers come in on either a Monday or a Wednesday and generally do a 2-3 hours each. Please contact us if you are interested.
While every effort is made to keep up with our maintenance it is difficult to be on top of everything so apologies that one set of small steps on the terrace is closed while we repair the woodwork.
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The right hand middle set of steps on the terrace are closed for repairs.
I did however manage to take advantage of a good weather day to repaint the peeling handrails up the terrace steps and the musical instruments to keep these going for hopefully many more years.
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Nice to see the newly planted tree lupin by the freshly painted railings coming into flower too.
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The ‘sub-tropical’ border by the shelter in the garden is still looking good. The Californian Tree Poppies are still flowering and the ornamental grapevine on the back wall has gone a rich purple, which the newly planted Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ complements. The Paulownia or ‘Foxglove Tree’ in this bed is coming on and we have just added Phormium ‘Platts Black’ to break up the solid green of the massed Romneya planting in this bed.
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The Paulownia will be coppiced to restrict it’s size and make the most of the dramatic large leaves in this border.
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Japanese Anemones under the apple tree on the terrace are complemented by self sown Feverfews. Sometime the best plant combinations in a garden are those that make themselves, keeping a garden fresh and interesting from year to year.
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Self set lime green Nicotiana in with the Kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ are a case in point!
We are planning on kicking off October with a grand plant sale! Our herbaceous borders are in need of division so the idea is to split the beds and then offer generous bare root clumps of perennial for £2-£3 / clump. A great and economical way to fill the beds in your garden. Date and times will follow, keep an eye on our Facebook page for more details!
I hope we have once more tantalised you with a glimpse of the garden this month, do make time to come and visit us again or even volunteer in the garden!