September 2024
Hello Everyone
I am going to break a few rules here so that I can tell you all that I want to say, and catch up on the last two months. So that my writing corresponds to the photos that I'd like to share, this is the September newsletter.
Like many people there has been a long spell of flu, Covid, and then the gentle reawakening to the garden and what it continues to offer. There is so much to enjoy on walks around the garden, and many lists of things to be done.
On my list of things to do for September was to divide Clematis Wyevale. I enjoyed this plant for many years in an herbaceous border, then lost it. The only other place where I had seen it growing was in a garden called The Five Senses on the shores of Lake Geneva. I wonder if any readers grow this?
We have been planting new things, moving plants to better positions, such as fritillaries out of pots and into the ground, and it was excellent conditions for it this September as temperatures were still cool and we had rain showers, which is the best way to let new plants settle in.
Photo 1: The sign of the arrival of September is when the box elder trees come in to flower at the end of August. Acer negundo var. violaceum produces these gorgeous shrimpy-pink tassels which sway in the breeze. It was one of the first trees that I planted here in 1993 and two more were added about ten years later.
Photo 2: Photos often help me with my planning and I do think that the Cornus pumila domes in the far centre of the photo, need to be shifted.
Photo 3: The handsome crepe myrtle tree looking down on pond reflections. This tree is pruned so that much of the cinnamon bark can be seen. It’s much admired and easy to grow. I found that it took about ten years before the cinnamon colour came through.
Photo 4: A dwarf variety, this was one of my favourite narcissi this year.
Photo 5: Colour combinations and plant forms have been planned from the inside out as well as from the outside. Here, one of the williamsii hybrid camellias is framed by complementary colours inside.
Photo 6 : From Tasmania, this small tree has unusual, beautifully scented flowers. It is growing in a back corner of the garden where it use to be a scruffy dead end. The area was cleared and this tree is loving its spot. It flowers at the end of August and the beginning of September. It is Atherosperma moschatun.
We have been potting up plants which are often admired by garden visitors and there had come a time when these needed to be lifted, divided and replanted, so we have a small collection of plants from the garden for sale.
And today I’ll pick more coral peonies for friends and vases.
Best wishes to you all,
Margaret
