Some plants in the garden have been flowering their socks off all summer. The roses and erigeron started in June and the fuchsias in July. The roses have had a short break now and then but the other two have flowered non stop for months.With all the torrential rain that we had so often over the summer, sometimes flooding the patio for hours at a time, I’m really amazed that the erigeron has survived, never mind flowering for so long.
Next to the erigeron is Fuchsia Delta Sarah, another plant that has flowered ever since July. I love this one with its blue ballet skirt and just look at those tiny feet with their red shoes!
Fuchsia magellanica alba isn’t really ‘ alba’ at all, more very pale pink outside and very pale lavender inside. Every spring this gets cut back rather hard because it grows so much in just a few months, ending up well over 6ft.
Fuchsia Whiteknights Blush grows to about 4ft after cutting back and is always absolutely smothered with delightful pale pink flowers all summer.
This might look similar to magellanica, but the flowers are a bit more chubby and the bush itself is a lot smaller. I confess I have lost the name, but at one time the Queen’s gardener was the only person in the country to grow it. I bought it from a Fuchsia nursery in North Devon who held the National Collection of Fuchsias. He said he had swopped it for 5 of his unusual ones with the gardener at Balmoral, quite a good pedigree then!
The light these days is much softer, not that we had much of a harsh glare from the sun this summer! With the softer light all the roses seem to be glowing, they really stand out. Rosa Bonica is by the back door and the first flower that I see when coming down in the morning, it has never been without flowers for 4 months now.
Iceberg has flowered this year as never before, there are 6 bushes in the bed leading to the circular lawn and I was seriously thinking about getting rid of them as they have never been very good, until this year that is! Maybe they have earned themselves a reprieve.
The climber William Morris is such a beautiful peach coloured rose that we have growing up the house at the back. It is rather vigorous and someone gets scratched every time he cleans the windows! A beautiful perfume is an added extra.
My mother’s favourite rose in the garden here, Brother Cadfael, which is a lovely pink that contrasts with the leaves which have a hint of purple about them. Mind you it could have been her favourite rose because she loved the TV programme ‘ Brother Cadfael ‘ the series about a medieval monk, I think in the Shropshire area!
The rose Sharifa Asma is in the front garden between the house and the garage. Managed to catch this one bespeckled with the early morning dew, the perfume that this one has is absolutely divine!
Gertrude Jekyll, where would we be without her! A truly fantastic rose with a perfume to match, all my David Austin roses were chosen for their perfume as well as their good looks! This rose is growing in front of a purple berberis bush and the pink of the rose goes beautifully with the foliage of the berberis, they are made for each other.
A truly lovely shrub rose, Buff Beauty, just flowers on and on and on all summer long, there are always some buds to pick for the house. This shrub rose was already here when we moved in but has been moved a couple of times, I think its happy where it is now so I’ll leave it alone from now on.
The weather has now taken a turn for the worse, with gales and torrential rain, thank goodness most of it overnight. Roads are once again flooded, not in our village fortunately , and railway lines closed due to flooding , sounds like summer all over again!! Leaves are starting to come down, with all the rain that we’ve had for months, all the trees have been able to put on a lot more growth with about 3 times as many leaves. Oh, joy of joys, that means 3 times as many leaves to sweep up when they all start falling!
What beautiful roses, Pauline! That Bonica must be lovely to open your door to, and the Sharifa Asma is gorgeous – I wish I could smell them all, too! I like the way you liken the fuchsia stamens to dancing feet – a great concept! I intended to get some erigeron like yours this year, but seemed to have bought a taller variety instead as the website had no pictures on – there was a lovely display of it at Coughton Court, around the perimeter of a fountain and pool. By the way, I am still having to put all my details in before I can post a comment, and I have to copy and paste your website address from my email alerts to get on your blog – is it always like this when a blog is ‘powered’ and not hosted by WordPress? Cathy
Cathy, I would say that Bonica’s only fault is that it doesn’t have any perfume, which I hadn’t realised when I bought it. The erigeron that I planted in the border promptly died (heavy clay) but not before it had set seed in the paving where there is sand underneath!
Sorry you are still having problems, I got in touch with my son and he says that your computer should now recognise my address. We changed to WordPress when someone else was having problems and since then it has been ok until now. I do not understand the workings of a computer, all I know is how to write my blog, my son is now in China so can’t get in touch with him for a while!
Your roses and fuchsia are all so clean and beautiful. Unfortunately, fuchsia are not hardy here.
Not all fuchsias are hardy here Carolyn, usually just the ones with long narrow flowers, I was very surprised to find that Delta Sarah is hardy with its huge flowers. The stems all die down to the ground each winter and get cut back in the spring, to start over again.
Pauline, your roses are wonderful! I love so many of them. I’m interested that R. Iceberg has done well for you in your wet, wet summer; Climbing Iceberg was one of the only plants already planted in a garden I am working on in Umbria. The soil is heavy clay, there is no irrigation and the client does not live in the house all the time so no-one is there to water when maybe it is needed. Iceberg flowered amazingly for a long period in early summer and has thrown out huge new stems, so it is obviously a rose that can do well in drought conditions, may I venture to say that yours did well this year not because of this wet summer but because last year was dry, hardening the wood – something I think is important for roses. Christina
Sorry Christina, but I think I have to disagree, last summer wasn’t much better than this one but anyway, surely any wood that had been hardened would be cut away when we prune in Feb/March, the flowers are growing on wood formed this year.
Lovely photos of your roses, Pauline – I’m in support of your mother over Brother Cadfael, both the rose and TV programme, I love a bit of a medieval mystery! I spotted a beautiful plant growing out of the bricks of the walled garden at Capel Manor where I’m studying Garden Design. I didn’t know what it was, only that it was very pretty! I now know that it’s erigeron so thanks for that!
Glad to be of help Caro, the erigeron seems to like places with very little nourishment. We have 2 containers that the previous owners concreted onto the walls of the balcony and I have never known what to plant in them as they couldn’t be watered when we are away, I think I now have the answer!
We too enjoyed the TV series Brother Cadfael, the rose is a nice reminder.
Hi Pauline,
Most of my roses are taking a break at the moment, but I do have a couple in bloom and a few more with buds on them so hopefully will get some more before it’s too cold.
Erigeron is another plant I’ve had no success with; considering it’s supposed to be so invasive or pops up everywhere, I’m quiet offended it’s decided my garden is unsuitable. I had a few small plants that bloomed and seemd to be OK but suddenly gave up the ghost. And I’ve sown plenty of their seeds and not a single sprout popped up 🙁
I didn’t have any luck Liz, sowing the seeds of erigeron, I think the answer is to squeeze them into a crack somewhere and forget about them! I hope I can move 2 small plants to pots on the balcony where they will be thoroughly neglected in poor sandy soil, it seems that is what they seem to prefer!
That erigeron is one of my favourites Pauline – I bought it many years ago when it had a different name. It is possibly the longest flowering plant in the garden but is a bone of contention here as himself sees it as a weed and tries to zap it each year. I am always amused whenever I see it for sale as it is invariably relatively expensive. Your roses look beautiful. I had not considered that the extra growth on the trees will mean more leaves to sweep up! Wish that you had not pointed it out 🙂
I don’t think the erigeron was expensive Anna, I’m just glad it survived by seeding into the paving. I should have known really that it wouldn’t like my heavy wet clay even though I had improved the drainage. Sorry to have mentioned all the leaves that we will have to deal with in a few weeks, just think instead of all the lovely leaf mould that we’ll have in a years time!!
I love William Morris…. it is going on my wish list!
And I do so wish I could grow some fushias as hardy! Perhaps someday I will be able to keep a larger specimen alive in a sheltered spot… or maybe just in a large pot 🙂
William Morris is a pretty rose WMG, just a bit rampant! I wish I had put it up the pergola and not on the house by a window. It is a fast grower and quite a job to keep it tied in to its trellis, but I have to forgive it when I cut some flowers for indoors and smell the perfume!
My hardy fuchsias survived a few nights down to -15 C a couple of years ago, I was very worried until I saw them sprouting from the base the following spring! The hardy ones tend to have long thin flowers, I was so surprised and pleased when Delta Sarah proved so hardy.