The weather this September continues to be very variable. One day the sun will be out with temperatures around 20c, perfect gardening weather, the next will be grey and wet all day. 
What ever the weather Autumn is certainly setting in now. Looking down the garden the day after the grass was cut there is already a carpet of leaves forming.
Else where the Euonymus alatus ‘Burning Bush’ is looking fantastic with its Autumn foliage.
The usual EoMV across the garden has not changed that much from last month. It does look a bit duller but I think this is mainly the lack of sun for the photograph!
In more detail the corner bed on the left has been really successful with the Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ continuing to put on an excellent display. The dark leaves and white flowers of Dahlia ‘Twyning’s After Eight’ off setting the yellow flowers of Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’. 
Last month I said I had been disappointed with Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and several people said how much they valued this plant. 
Now I take back my words as you can see what a great plant to have in the Autumn border. However, due to its size good staking is definitely required.
Almost lost in this corner is Achillea millefolium ‘Terracotta’ together with the magenta of Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ . A great demonstration of the value of complementary colours. With so much large herbaceous planting it is easy for smaller plants to get lost. We will be giving some thought to how to make more of the front of the border.
The main rose bed is to the left of the wall. The roses are coming to the end of their blooming period. 
However there are still some beauties to see. This is Rosa ‘Anne Boleyn’ a very reliable rose around two to three feet high, a great perfume and repeat flowing. What more could you want?
The view across the lawn to the right hand part of the wall. From this distance it looks very green but there are some points of interest to explore.
Another good repeater is Rosa ‘Mutabilis’. When it is windy this rose always gets hit. It has been stripped twice of its flowers this year but it keeps coming back. It is planted as a climber on the wall and as it is a bit tender seems to respond well to this..
As well as the Rosa ‘Mutabilis’ above , Salvia involocruta bethellii continues to perform.
Another Autumn favourite, both for insects and flowers, is the Sedum although in this case I have no idea about the variety. Sedums must be one of the easiest plants to grow and propagate and as such end up being slotted into gaps without recording what they are! We always do a ‘Chelsea chop’ on these which seems to give strong stems and less flopping. 
At the end of the bed on the right is Cotinus ‘Nottcutts Variety’. Normally a very dark variety.
It is clearly not well. It looks like Verticillium wilt. The RHS website gives the following information.
Verticillium wilt is caused by the soil-borne fungi Verticillium dahliae and V. albo-atrum. Both infect a very wide range of garden plants through the roots and then grow upwards in the water-conducting tissues, causing wilting of the upper parts due to water stress. Wilting is mostly seen from spring until autumn.
Plants affected include Chrysanthemum, carnation, aubergine, potato, tomato, cucurbits and strawberries. Woody plants are also affected, including Acer, Cotinus, Rhus, Berberis, Catalpa, Cercis and Rosa, but the full host range is very wide indeed. Conifers are not affected.
See RHS Verticillium wilt for more information. It looks like I will be removing this and we will have to rethink what to replace it with.
The Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’ by the pond has really grown a lot since last month and is looking stunning. We already have many cuttings of this in the green house as insurance against a hard winter.
| 2017 Gardening Hours | ||
| Week beginning September 23rd | Total 2017 to-date | Average per week |
| 17 | 794 | 20 |
Between the rain showers work in the garden includes; finishing off some hedge cutting, removing specimen weeds that are always growing, repairing a blocked fountain and mowing the lawn. The moss in the lawn has become very severe in places so it looks like I will be doing some scarification soon.
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This is the view I often centre on in my EoMV, looking across our main lawn to the old kitchen garden wall.
The same walls and border looking diagonally across the lawn. 
And looking along the other diagonal. Originally the kitchen garden wall extended across the lawn to form a kitchen garden enclosed on three sides and open on the fourth where there was probably a hedge. 
The late summer border is starting to look very full with many of the herbaceous plants growing very tall and needing plenty of staking to prevent them falling across other smaller plants.
At the corner of this bed is one of those lucky combinations of colour with the soft pink of Geranium sanguineum striatum, the dark red of Osteospermum ‘Tresco Purple’ and the red of Salvia ‘Cerro Potosi’. The white/pink osteospermum is a very hardy osteospermum my mother gave me but as we do not know the variety and so we call it Nancy’s osteospermum after my mother!
The tall plant is Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’. This was only planted in April this year and has certainly grown well. However, “the jury is still out” on whether it stays. Yes the flowers are there but many are covered with the green leaves. Maybe the flowers will be more prominent later in September. We will have to wait to see.
The star of the border continues to be Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ 
The leaves of which are absolutely fantastic. These are grown from seed and as such are only a few pence each.
Coreopsis ‘Redshift’ a new plant this year at the front of the corner bed. Lots of flowers but seems to flop very easily.
I found this caterpillar making great speed across the lawn. It was about 3 inches long with two pairs of false eyes and a small horn on its tail. At first I was fooled and thought it was a snake! A bit of research identified it as probably an elephant hawk moth caterpillar.
The other corner of the wall has a green oak pergola to provide a seating area and some shade. The rose growing up the pergola is Rosa ‘Blush Noisette’
This year I could only prune half the vines back as a pigeon had decided to make a nest in the vine. 
This week two chicks hatched out and are doing well but the vine remains un-pruned.
Looking back from the pergola to the corner bed.
The end of the wall on the right has a very sad looking Cotinus ‘Nottcutts Variety’. Normally it has very attractive dark coloured foliage but this year it seems to be dying! The foliage has gone dry and brown and is spreading through the shrub. Looks like this will be coming out soon.
This is the bed to the right of the view above. You can see one of the penalties of going on holiday….the box hedge has not been cut yet! 
Behind the urn we planted some Artemesia. This is the first year it has looked the part with clouds of little white flowers.
The dry heads of Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’ needs to be removed as they make the border look like autumn. However the day lily Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’ looks good against the Cotinus ‘Nottcutts Variety’.
The Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ beautiful lilac blue balls would look good any where but against the dark foliage of Dahlia Bishop of Auckland they look great. A self set Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott’s ghost’ was presumably planted by Miss Willmot!
Phloxs have been grown well this year, this one is Phlox paniculata ‘David’.
Agapanthus remind me of 
This border is a bit disappointing. The dry weather seems to have resulted in the roses stopping earlier than normal and, as I said above, the dahlias have not been as good this year.
The bright yellow flowers are Achillea filipendulina ‘Cloth of Gold’ and should continue to flower through the autumn.
The nice Osteospermum is Osteospermum ‘Tresco hybrids’ but is not hardy in Leicestershire so I will take cuttings shortly.
The large leaves are Ricinus communis impala with Clematis ‘Wyevale’, the blue flowers on the right.
A very striking Ligularia ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’
A Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’ with some specimen weeds in the background.
Looking back towards the pergola the border I was disappointed in does not look so bad after all!
And this view caught my eye.
The Virginia Creeper which needed controlling earlier in the year is now coming into it’s own with a magnificent display of colour.
The Hydrangea petiolaris is having a final fling although the flower heads will stay throughout the winter.
Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ looks great at any time of year but into autumn it really sings
and with the light shining through the leaves it becomes magic. One of the best shrubs/small tree for year round interest.
And Euonymus alatus Burning Bush is living up to its name.
Even this Cornus alba ‘Sibirica Variegata’ is trying not to be out done before it stars in the winter with its red stems.
The Mahonia is giving a display and
Cotinus ‘Nottcutts Variety’ looks great throughout the summer but in Autumn the dark red leaves just add to the event.
Ricinus communis impala looks fantastic
Glebe House Garden 