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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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
There are a number of yew hedges in the garden. This is looking along the area behind the garden wall and when we originally moved in this area was effectively a small paddock. As it ran south west to north west when we had any degree of wind it certainly blow up this side of the wall. We put the yew hedges in to provide some shelter for any planting we did. Over the years they have grown into substantial hedges but of course they need cutting although only once a year.
Quite a difficult area as it gets little sun and on the right, in our neighbour’s garden, is a large sycamore tree creating even more shade. The wall is also about 14 feet high! Let me know if you have any good ideas.
Another hedge that needs cutting each year is a beech hedge with some hornbeam Carpinus betulus ‘Frans Fontaine columns. What is always amazing is the amount of growth that can occur in one year as shown above with the hedge cutting half complete.
The completed cut.
and another to my surprise a Great Crested Newt.
Glebe House Garden 