September left with a great hurrah with some beautiful warm sunny days and autumn has arrived with a real mix of weather but there is still lots of beautiful colour in the garden. At last my Salvia Hadspan have flowered and whilst their pink stems pick up the pink from the neighbouring echinaceas when not in flower there is true delight in seeing the tall waves of cerise pink in the flowerbed this month.
A trip to Longacres was in order last week, I have a client who has recently invested in a robot lawn mower. It is a great piece of kit but I’ve found that it doesn’t cut right up to the edge of the lawn so it was time to invest in some edging shears which can be used standing up to give my back a break. These seem like a great alternative and I’m looking forward to using them this week.
Whilst there, it was great to see so many healthy plants available. Autumn is a prime time for planting, the soil is warm still and it gives plants the opportunity to form a decent root system before winter kicks in and the soil cools down. There was a great range of perennials, shrubs and 9cm plants in store. Buying the plants small like the 9cm pots is such a cost effective way of gardening when you have a large area to cover. This has been the main way I have built up my plants over the years. Depending on the type of plant they can either be planted out now or potted on and kept sheltered over the winter until they have a good root system and fill 1 litre or 2 litre size pot and planted out in the spring.
As it is such a good time to plant, autumn is the time to rethink those flowerbeds that just don’t work and move plants around as needed. This week I’ve cleared a flowerbed of Oenothera lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and replanted with Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’. In light sandy soil the gaura had self seeded and created a great block of flowers which the bees have absolutely loved over the summer but it has smothered other plants as a result. My client loves the ‘Bowles Mauve’ for year round interest so new plants were put in with space for them to flower in the spring, hardy geraniums moved to form a lower layer and a phlox moved to balance out the display. No doubt we’ll still be weeding out the gaura seedlings in the spring and I moved as many existing plants to other more suitable parts of the garden so as to not waste them. In another garden, making the most of someone else clearing out their garden I spent a morning planting out Convallaria majalis ‘Prolificans’ lily-of-the-valley and Pachysandra terminalis ‘Japanese spurge’ underneath some silver birch trees to help give some ground cover which I’m looking to see how they develop next year.
One of my favourite plants this month is Liriope Muscari. They are perfect for that corner of dry shade. Slow growing and easy maintenance with just a trim in the spring to take off the old leaves they slowly fill out to create a block of green with purple flowers in the autumn. I planted a couple out the front of my house earlier on in the year and they seem to be getting on well in an area that is filled with beech tree roots by my front door, so I was pleased to be able to buy a third plant (yep we’re meant to plant in threes aren’t we…) to add to the collection. Historically an incredibly difficult area to get anything to grow I’m really excited to see a plant that looks healthy and like it is enjoying the spot it is in.
October is the time to buy spring bulbs, still too early to plant tulips but buy before stock sells out as it quickly does. There aren’t only tulips available but also hyacinths, iris, gladiolis Byzantium, daffodils, and so many more. This year I’ve gone bold again with my colours to give the garden a splash of energy in April. Then of course there is always the restock of iris reticulata needed after the squirrels find the bulbs in the tubs each year.
With the warm weather ahead this weekend I desperately need some time in my garden to get through my list of jobs of turning compost, emptying leaf litter ready for this year’s leaves, mowing the lawn, and weeding. Perennials aren’t cut down until spring to provide habitats for wildlife over winter but I need to fill my garden waste bin before it gets emptied for the last time in the foreseeable future… at least I’ve have all the beautiful asters to enjoy whilst I’m out there.
