With summer only really arriving in September this year, flowers seem to have gone into overdrive, almost as if they want to make up for lost time. If we start with the Clematis Alba Luxuriens on the pergola, this is now putting out lots more fresh flowers, in spite of flowering for such a long time over the summer months when it was cold and wet.
Clematis viticella Mary Rose is up the same post on the pergola, usually they twine together, but this year each seems to be doing its own thing, one going one way and the other in the opposite direction.
Just one Hosta has decided to put out some extra flowers while all the others are finished and have been deadheaded.
My favourite Miscanthus is Malepartus. The flowers come through the most delicious deep purple, slowly shaking themselves free, when they look as if someone has been at them with a crimping iron. Eventually they fade to beige but to start with they are delightful.
One of my recent purchases to boost the food for bees and butterflies is Gaillardia Burgundy, hadn’t realised that spiders would appreciate it too!
Lovely little Tulbaghia flowering on the alpine scree looking almost spring like, one of the few late flowering bulbs that I have.
I think this is another late flowering bulb, a Watsonia, but I’ve forgotten which one, sorry! they obviously like where I’ve put them because they are increasing nicely, soon be able to move some elsewhere in the garden.
The plant of Fennel is by the back door so that it is handy for cutting for cooking during the summer months, soon we will be harvesting the seeds, also for cooking during the winter
Fuchsia Delta Sarah is now huge, arching over the paving, just enough room for us to get through, thank goodness.
Physostegia or the obedient plant is turning out to be a good bee plant, there always seems to be a bee visiting when I’m passing, now that there are more flowers open than when I took the photo!
Another wonderful plant for bees and hover flies is Angelica gigas. This is a seedling of a very deep purple one. Any seedlings that come up with green leaves are pulled out, they have very muddy looking flowers but I keep one or two that have purple leaves as the flowers should then be pink. I’m sure the bees don’t mind what colour the flowers are but I do! Seedlings have to be removed when small otherwise you will never get them out, they put down such a long, tough tap root. A large plant that needs plenty of space, I’m 5ft 8ins and it is much taller than me.
The back border by the woodland, brightens up at this time of year once Anemone hybrida var. japonica comes into flower. This is a nice deep pink one which shows up well in the shade, I did once plant a white on, unfortunately never to be seen again!
Rosa The Dark Lady has flowered and flowered and flowered! This is the best she has ever been, I’m assuming, thanks to all the rain. Not only looking beautiful, she has a wonderful perfume to match, just like a dark red rose should be.
Another plant that has obviously enjoyed all our rain is this dark pink Lythrum, it has either seeded along the border behind the dead oak or it has sent out runners, whatever it is, it has made a large clump or almost a drift of deep pink/purple. I think I will allow it to stay as I like the effect against the green grass.
Rudbeckia Goldsturm forming a splash of yellow, looking just like a patch of sunlight when the sun isn’t shining. Another super plant for bees and hoverflies.
My Lily in the front border is now just past its best and beginning to wind down but it has been fantastic for so long, since the end of July. The perfume has scented the whole of the front garden, I don’t think anyone can walk past without having a sniff. the bees like it too.
Inula helenium is another huge plant, well over 10ft tall which is at the far side of the pond. It did start out down near the greenhouse until it flopped everywhere and blocked the path. It was moved, but guess what, a root must have been left behind because it is still there! I think the only way to get rid of it permanently would be to paint it with something noxious which I’m rather reluctant to do, maybe I will have to build some sort of corset to stop it flopping!
Such a lovely smell when working round the Garlic Chives, these are used such a lot in cooking.
The wild aster which just arrived in the garden one year is also a magnet for all the bees. They don’t care that it hasn’t a fancy name and for that reason alone it is allowed to stay. I do have a few hybrid varieties, but the best for the bees are these wild ones.
Choisya ternata has decided to flower again, making a good splash of white in a dark corner of the back garden.
Flowering on the alpine scree is Sedum Matrona, I think I will take some cuttings of this to put in other beds. All the sedums are now flowering and are covered by yet more bees and butterflies, the whole garden is buzzing.
September has brought us some wonderful sunny summer weather, we had to wait a long time for it to come and we are really making the most of it, but in the mean time the rain has done wonders to the garden here, plants have flowered as never before and they have also grown far more than usual, we have noticed that even some trees are noticeably bigger with far more leaves than usual.
hi pauline, enjoy your lovely sunny weather, the flowers are gorgeous. i particularly like the photo of the Gaillardia with the spider, looks like a hat with a ribbon with a bow.
We are still enjoying the weather Catmint, though maybe not quite as much sun this week. I do like your description of the spider on the Gaillardia, hope it wasn’t waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting bee!
It’s been lovely to have a spell of nice weather at last. Everything does seem to have perked up. I love garlic chives too and the hover flies love the flowers. I like to scatter the flowers in salads just like you can with purple chives.
Every time I read your blog I see plants I’d love to grow. There are a few spots that need a bit of tweaking in my garden, so over the winter I’m going to go back through your posts for inspiration.
Yes WW, we too like the chive flowers in salads, at least I do, someone else doesn’t like salad at all! Thanks for saying my posts can inspire your planting, I think we all learn from each other and pick up ideas from each others posts. Thats part of what I like so much about blogging and the messages we leave for each other, its wonderful being able to talk about gardening without people think how strange you are!!
It seems strange you are only now getting your summer Pauline but you must be thrilled with the showing of lovely flowers. They’re all wonderful, but Watsonia particularly shouted out to me.
We are pleased PBM, it is lovely to have some sun and warmth at last. I’m amazed that the Watsonia likes my garden, they should have it well drained, I planted it with lots of grit so must have got it right thank goodness, as they are now multiplying nicely.
This was a lovely post to dip into, Pauline – such a lot of colour. Lots of background info about the plants too, and some plants I haven’t come across. I have only discovered inula this year, and yours is certainly a monster, isn’t it? The Clematis viticella Mary Rose is new to me, and very lovely, as is Rosa The Dark Lady. Thanks for sharing these.
Thanks Cathy for your kind comments. The clematis Mary Rose is quite an old variety, from Tudor times which was thought to be lost to cultivation until discovered in a garden here in Devon at the same time that Henry VIII’s warship, Mary Rose, was raised from the seabed, it was then re-named. The flowers are only small but there are so many of them that it is very colourful.
I’m so happy that you are enjoying some summer weather at last! Your rose could also be flowering well because it was hot last year; roses like their wood to be hardened. You can snip of some of the flowers of fennel and dry them. They are wonderful sprinked on roast potatoes, they also go well with mushrooms and pork. Christina
Thanks for the tips about the fennel Christina, sounds lovely, will certainly try them. I’m afraid I don’t remember it being hot last year, we just don’t seem to have hot summers any more unfortunately, our nice weather seems to have come in March and September for the past few years.
I was thinking about whether to buy some Sedum Matrona or another variety, and your photo has decided me. It looks like a great colour. So does that Angelica, but I know I wouldn’t get to the green seedlings in time, so I’m resisting that. Tap roots in clay are not fun to deal with. All your flowers are looking lovely.
Glad to have been of help Lyn, with regards to the Sedum, I agree, it’s a lovely colour. Don’t be put off the Angelica, it isn’t too bad keeping everything under control and the flowers are worth it. If I miss any seedlings I don’t want, they just get chopped to the ground and they die eventually!
You’re going to want to keep an eye on that physostegia… It will take over a flower bed in a hurry. I have some in the dry white sand that isn’t out of control, but in a normal garden? Give it an island bed where it can be controlled. Maybe group it with showy primrose and Japanese anemone…
Yall have some more monarchs over in Dorset you might wanna get over there with your camera…
Don’t worry Stone, the physostegia has paving on one side, grass on another and I’m already chopping the other 2 sides to keep them under control!
Many thanks for the link about Monarchs, fantastic that they have been seen so close, I have ordered some milkweed plants so if any come over next year they will have somewhere to lay their eggs!
Ah, another inula for my collection – I’m not familiar with helenium. Such wonderful plants for late August. I grow ‘magnifica’ and another whose name I’ve lost. I envy you the September sun and your late colour. There’s almost none in my garden now – but then it’s firmly a June garden and not designed to be anything else!
Helenium was given to us Kininvie, one year when we were staying at a farmhouse in Kent for a holiday and I admired it in the garden there. A bundle of roots was given to me as we were leaving and my plants here are the result. From the weather forecast, I see it is raining for you yet again, hope it stops soon for you.
Your garden is full of wonderful blooms! I love that photo of the spider stretched out over the Gaillardia. This really is a wonderful time of the year, when the rain is (usually) plentiful and the temperatures are moderate … perfect for gardening!
Yes Deb, a few rain showers mixed in with our sunshine is just what the garden and gardener ordered! The sunlight is much softer now, and as it comes slanting through the plants, the colours are beautiful, as you say, a wonderful time of year, must enjoy every minute!
Your September garden is looking delightful Pauline – we seem to share the same love of September flowers. I am, however holding you and this post totally responsible for the Miscanthus Malepartus which found its way into my shopping bag last week 🙂
Madness, especially when I all-ready have a Miscanthus Kleine Fontane!
K
Oh Karen, what a responsibility! I think Malepartus has the most beautiful of all the grass flowers, such a deep purple, then when you think its finished for the year all the leaves turn a delightful butter yellow, what more could we want! Enjoy!!
Your September garden looks full of sparking sunshine Pauline. The wet stuff has certainly made things grow with gusto including the weeds. Coming back from holiday I noticed that a number of astrantias and geraniums are flowering their socks off again 🙂
Plants have grown like never before Anna, trees and shrubs have far more leaves than in the past, all the more to sweep up once they start falling!!
So many pretty things… love the white clematis and I am looking up the watsonia, which is new to me. Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden!! I enjoy getting to read along with you.
Not so many flowers out now WMG, everything is slowing down and even finishing for this year. I enjoy wandering around your lovely garden too!