Finally we have had some rain and the grass is coming back with the exception of the areas where there had been paths in the original walled garden. These totally dried out and will require some reseeding. This is the view I always post on my EoMV but for the end of August it is looking very green and brown as many of the flowers that normally would be at their best eg Dahlias are not out.
This is the same view this time last year!
You can see here how the dahlia, which should be about 100cm high and covered in red blooms has become dried up with the lack of water. Hopefully the tubers will be OK for next year!
This Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff together with Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ look good because they happen to be on automatic watering as the area is very dry being under the steps. 
This would have been a good colour combination with Rudbeckia ‘Dwarfs’ and Rudbeckia ‘Cherokee Sunset’ set against the dark foliage of Dahlia ‘Twyning’s After Eight’ but once again the dahlias have done nothing yet. Maybe the rain will bring them into life.
The roses have not repeated but there is still time.
Some areas have come through relatively well. Here Rudbeckia fulgida sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ seems to like the heat and Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ towards the back is full of blooms although we did water this.
This area is more like prairie planting but again the Dahlia ‘Fairfield Frost’ should be covered in white flowers and be at least 30cm taller.
Salvia ‘Cerro Potosi’ obviously likes the heat.
And similarly Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ looks very happy.
This is Cosmos ‘Cupcakes White’, a very nice Cosmos that I will certainly grow again.
Other areas look very dry and brown although Rosa ‘Alister Stella Grey’ is beginning to repeat.
The good news is the grapes are looking good!
and oddly the Wisteria is having a second flush.
Meanwhile by the compost heap I found this young grass snake. Maybe an off spring from the large one I photographed earlier.
| 2018 Gardening Hours | ||
| Week beginning August 25th |
Total 2018 to-date | Average per week |
| 30 | 647 | 19 |
The hours are beginning to add up. In August I have done a lot of hedge cutting. Particularly with Box the current view is to cut in August to help prevent blight.
This has been a difficult year with a cold grey spring followed by a very hot dry summer. I realise this is to be expected in the future as a result of global warming and we will need to adapt to this.
Do have a look at Helen The Patient Gardener’s blog where you fill find links to other gardens at the end of August. Thank you to Helen for hosting this meme.
Have just been away for two weeks following Hoby Open Gardens and it has been hot; very hot for England at 32 centigrade! And we continue to have had no rain of any consequence since the middle of May. 
We left a garden looking quite good but now it is crisp and dry. Our soil is a sandy loam and tends to dry out quickly but in an English climate this is usually not an issue..
The main lawn was the walled kitchen garden for a large house next door and the interesting thing now is that wherever there were paths in the original kitchen garden the lawn drys out fastest as you can see in the above.
The lawn on June 16th before the sun!
After a hectic week getting everything ready the weekend arrived and was a great success. Eleven gardens opened, included Glebe House, and in addition we provided lunches, tombolas, an art exhibition, plant stalls,a white elephant stall (ie a junk stall), a Pimms bar and lets not forget the cream teas. Our garden was one of the venues for cream teas and after Diane had made 250 scones we made almost £900 on the teas alone. Overall the money is still being counted but it looks like we have made almost £7500 which, for a village of just 100 houses, is excellent. The money is going to do some improvements in our 13th century village church.
The roses were stunning with Rosa Rambling Rector covering the old apple tree and Rosa Bobby James on the right just coming into flower. Probably one of the best comments was when one of the visitors said she always came into our garden to see the rose ‘Rampant Rector’!
The main pond had recovered from when it 
and there were no 
We only have one hanging basket and luckily it is on automatic watering so it just as good now.
The Delphinium Black Knight and Rosa ‘Iceberg’ made a great show.
This shrub always provides interest. It is Carpenteria californica with Rosa ‘Irene Watts’ in the foreground. Carpenteria californica is quite a rare plant in English gardens and it needs a sheltered position as it is rather tender.
June is peak season for poppies which self seed throughout the garden.
As you can see the hedges had not been cut. Actually we ran out of time, however, the current thinking is that it is better to cut box hedging a little later to help prevent blight.
We do enlist friends to help and Chris pointed out that the tree looks like a chicken!
The weather this spring has meant everything is a bit late. Further more once things came out they seem to go over very quickly. This time last month the tulips were bursting out but now they have all gone. However, they looked fantastic for a couple of weeks. Likewise the alliums seem to be going over quickly and now at the end of May the roses are looking great. Interestingly the above average rain we have had has resulted in many of the flowing shrubs putting on great displays and the lawn has never looked greener.To the left of the pond the main rose is Rosa ‘Shot Silk’. It does not repeat well but is usually the first rose in the main part of the garden to flower. 
The rose that normally has the accolade of being first is Rosa ‘Madame Gregoire Staechlin’ which is also out at this moment. Again not a repeat flower but gorgeous never the less.
To the right of the pond is Rosa ‘Alister Stella Grey’ and Rosa ‘Crown Princess Margareta’. Rosa ‘Alister Stella Grey’ is a fantastic rose, flowering through the summer into Autumn Rosa ‘Crown Princess Margareta’ has the most beautiful peach coloured flowers.
Else where next the the big pond is another beauty, Rosa ‘Fantan Latour’.
Not really a climber but no one told it! It had covered the whole of this wall although the flowers tended to be near the top so we cut it back very hard to just above the Choisya ternata and it has returned a great display.
To the right of the main garden behind the urn is another favorite, Rosa ‘Alchemist’. Well named as the flowers start of gold a slowly change to cream.
Another view towards Rosa ‘Alchemist’ with Aruncus dioicus is the middle ground.
Not all the roses are climbers. Until last year we thought these were Rosa ‘Irene Watts’ and as a result of my blog there was an extensive conversation which resulted in us finding out that they are in fact Rosa Pink Gruss an Aachen. Apparently many rose nurseries have been incorrectly supplying Rosa Pink Gruss an Aachen as Rosa ‘Irene Watts’. What ever the name they are great roses.
Near by by the back door we planted Lonicera periclymenum ‘Scentsation’ to give off a scent as we step out of the house. It is great to see it coming into its own.
I am sure Allium Christophii are planning to take over this part of the garden!
Two different globe Alliums always put on a good show under the pleached lime hedge. However, you can see the effect of the winter on the lavender where several plants have died! In addition to these losses we have also lost some salvias and a Euphorbia ‘Mellifera’.
The border to the right with the Allium Christophii and some very large Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.
Looking closer you can see Rosa ‘Mutabilis’ starting to flower.
The Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ looking great climbing into Rosa ‘Sombreuil’
The border to the left of the main lawn was planted up with grasses etc last year and is beginning to develop although we need to do plenty of weeding here.
On the edge of this bed Geranium ‘Patricia’ and Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’ provide a great mix of colour.
There have not been many perfect sunny days so far in 2018 and I was lucky to be part of a private visit to 
This was the first time I had visited the nursery and I have to say the stock looked very healthy and was extensive.
Part of the propagation shed full of hellbore stock.
Our guide explaining the process of pollination and selection. I had heard that they were trying to develop hellebores which held their heads up. However, this is no longer the case as they found that, with the open flower upwards, they suffered from the rain etc. They now concentrate on flowers whose backs have more interest as it is the backs that are most viable from above.
As well as the hellebores, the private visit included a tour around “John’s Garden”. John’s Garden is the private garden of John Massey, owner of Aswood Nurseries. It is situated behind the nursery in a canal-side setting, in the lovely open countryside of South Staffordshire. The garden has been developed since 1998.
We were lucky to have John taking us around. He is an encyclopedia of plant knowledge and a great guide which made that garden come alive. He explained about transparency pruning and the importance of respecting a tree’s natural shape and form. The garden has a lot of shrubs that have been pruned in this way and I am sure any gardener would find this interesting.
Looking both ways along the pond.
This was one of the rare bits of sunshine looking across the garden and I will be honest in this photo it looks almost identical to the 
But looking a little closer we can see many alliums and tulips already making considerable growth.
Similarly in this bed but it also highlights the climbing roses that will need to be tamed in February. (I know it is a bit late but I am sure they will survive.)
Elsewhere spring bulbs are starting to put on a show. This bed is largely snowdrops and aconites. 
Here the snowdrops and aconites mingle with some really beautiful Cyclamens (variety not known) and an Iris Histrioides Katherine Hodgkin. This really is the essence of spring.
This bed is more designed with Yew balls under planted with Hakonechloa macra. In spring clumps of snowdrops come up to extend the interest in the bed.
Aconites and Iris Reticualata bring real colour to the spring beds.
As I said we have had some very hard frosts, -7 c at times and the Euphorbia ‘Mellifera’, a plant that has marginal hardiness in this area has not enjoyed the cold. I think it will be OK but has certainly been knocked back a bit.
Other jobs completed have been the potting up of around 80 dahlia tubers. These had been drying out in our garage but have now been potted up in potting compost and are crowding into the green house. The above photograph is from 2017 but you get the idea. Around the end of February I will start watering them and with any luck they will produce great plants for planting out around the end of May when the frosts should have finished. In addition there has been more clearing some of the dried herbaceous plants from last year.
For those of you who remember this huge Crambe Cordifolia we said at the time that although it looks spectacular it was crowding everything out and we planned to move it. Well that was one of the jobs we have done so we can cross it off the list! The roots were over 60cm but I have replanted it elsewhere and I expect it to sulk for a year and then take off again.
The five new trees of Sorbus aucuparia ‘Autumn Spire’ also arrived and needed planting in the area behind the high wall. This almost completes the Design Challenge I mention last year and I will do a blog on this later in the year.
Rudbeckia ‘Herbstone’ grows to almost two metres at the back of the border but does need staking to stop it falling on other plants.
This circular bed (stone edged bed on the 
Rudbeckia fulgida sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ should always have a place in the August border.
At first this looked like a new plant formed when a Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ decided to climb up a Foeniculum vulgare ‘purpureum’. 
I always grow some Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ from seed each year starting them off in the greenhouse and planting out when the dahlias go in. The leaves are fantastic architectural additions to any border but note that they donot overwinter here. 
There are many different Dahlias in our garden This is one of my favorites, Dahlia ‘Bishop of Aukland’.
This is Phlox paniculata Uspekh a plant I saw on a garden visit and just had to have for its strong colours.
Colour combinations are important in the garden. Often it is the plants themselves which seem to combine in good ways. Here we have Achillea ‘Credo’ with Salvia greggii ‘Emperor’, as close to complementary colours as you can get.
Here Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ is absolutely stunning but look closely a Cerastostigma willmottianum ‘Forest Blue’ has got into the picture. Complementary colours again!
And other day lilies have also done well, here is Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’.
A shrubby clematis, Clematis ‘Wyevale’, comes back every year and has a long flowering period.
Cone flowers, Echinacea purpurea, are loved by insects and look fantastic in the garden.
Osteospermums have a long flowing period and look great. This is Osteospermum ‘Tresco Purple’ which is hardy in some places but so far not here so I take cuttings every year.
Sowed a bit late but this Rudbeckia came from a packet of seed described as Rustic Dwarfs Mixed and has produced some stars. I will try getting Rudbeckia plants from seed every year now.
Another plant from seed is Cosmos, this is Cosmos versailles tera and produces some very strongly coloured flowers.
This is new to me, Maurandya ‘Magic Dragon’. 
Another climber, Clematis ‘Jackmanii’, has been doing great things although this year has not produced the best from clematis which I suspect was due to lack of rain through the spring.
Last but not least, Anemone ‘Honorine Joubert’, a great plant not least because it copes with shade well.
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.
Glebe House Garden 