September 2022
Hello Everyone
It’s a warm sunny day as I write. What confusing weather we have had this month. A friend visited yesterday and took some photos which she has generously let me use in this newsletter. It is always interesting to see how others view a garden.
As we’ve had a lot of cool damp spells we’ve been able to continue planting out. A group of white trilliums had spread well over the pathway which we use to access a valve for the watering system (we have our own well) and so we are moving the trilliums to a better spot. In these times of the need to focus more on plants that like hot dry conditions, we have been fortunate that we have been able to extend our woodland area considerably under well-established trees and newly planted ones. The new woodland area should be completed by next spring. Where a willow shelter belt existed on the northern boundary, I had it removed, and a smattering of trees were planted in a random way: zelkovas, the bird cherry tree, and in one corner which is exposed to the nor’westers, the rugged-looking Garrya eliptica, a tall-growing shrub which produces long off-white tassels.
The original vegetable garden area is now becoming a place for me to grow more dahlias, zinnias and perhaps some antirrhinums, along with the existing penstemons. Now we have irises flowering in that area, where I will also plant vegetables for summer salads.
Photo 1: The wisteria is in flower right along the kitchen window. Photo by Clare Gleeson.
Photo 2: Cornus ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ trees in flower in the rock garden. Photo by Clare Gleeson
Photo 3: A spring array of flowers including aquilegias, rhododendrons and bergenias. Photo by Clare Gleeson
Photo 4: Cornus and maple trees. The weeping tree, a nyssa, is starting to burst into leaf today.
And for reading I am looking forward to Seed to Dust which arrived in the post this week. It was recommended to me by a reader of The Gardener’s Journal.
As I write more roses will have started to flower, and the bird cherry trees which I planted two years ago are putting on a stunning display of very sweet-smelling racemes of white flowers.
Best wishes to you all,
Margaret
