It is almost time of me to start sorting my plants out in the gravel area at the back of the house. Some will come into the conservatory which is just kept frost free over the winter, some will be wrapped in fleece and placed under the arbour in the corner and some will spend the winter in the greenhouse. A few will be fine out in the open, without protection.
The Eucomis will go into the greenhouse, along with the Hedychium Stephen that was in this group while it flowered.
The Aeoniums and Echeveria will come into the conservatory for the winter.
New plants waiting to be planted outside. Eucalyptus gunnii, Heuchera Rio and Ceratostigma. These will be planted in the space left when the Euonymous was removed, but I must improve the soil first.
Astelia Silver Shadow will be wrapped in fleece and the Nerine will over winter in fleece under the arbour.
More to be wrapped in fleece, another Astelia Silver Shadow and Melianthus Major.
The corner which was full of wild crocosmia will be home for a few pots of shady plants. This plant is a Fatshedera, a hybrid of a Fatsia and an ivy.
A few pots still waiting to be planted up, I keep finding them round the garden or maybe they are breeding!
More Echeveria to come into the conservatory and the Covolvulous cneorum with the cordyline Torbay Red, will be wrapped in fleece and over winter under the arbour.
It is the winter rains that do as much damage, if not more, to some plants as the low temperatures. With the ivy and honeysuckle over the arbour, not much rain gets through, so plants will stay a lot drier, plus they are sheltered from the frost in this corner of the garden.
By next summer I hope that this area will be looking a lot more colourful. I intend to plant tulips, alliums and lilies in the square grey pots as well as some cascading bedding, so hopefully with more plants in front the grey planters will magically disappear. Silver leaved plants that I have grown in the past have rotted away over the winter, I’m hoping that this time they will survive! Note to myself – buy some more fleece!
How is my variegated Yucca coming on, now that it has started flowering? I think it is now almost at it’s prime….
The flower spike is amazing, easily as tall as me, we now just have to hope that the frost doesn’t arrive too soon!
Autumn arrived by the end of September, the leaves are now falling fast and furiously, every day more are added to the back lawn and there is work to be done raking them all up!
Has autumn reached you yet?
It certainly has. The autumn rains for sure!
Your yucca really is most impressive.
Some of the showers yesterday were torrential weren’t they Jessica, we went for a little walk in the village and got caught in one, it didn’t last very long but thank goodness we found a fir tree to shelter under!
The yucca is really amazing at the moment, such a statement in that part of the garden.
my posts of bulbs are breeding too. Bit daunted sorting out years of neglect as the pots are overrun with thugs – with the treasures I planted difficult to find.
I know what you mean Diana, pots full of weeds and no sign of the original occupant! Hopefully I will have them sorted soon, then I can start next year with a fresh lot of bulbs and plants.
Leaf fall hasn’t really started here yet, but it was cool and yet yesterday and certainly felt more than a little autumnal! You sound really motivated and ready to get all your pots sorted out – well done! I am looking forward to seing what you do in the shady corner where the fatshedera is – I love to see a bit of wall!
The shady corner will just have some ground cover planted there Cathy. I have some Geranium lancastrience ( we used to live in the NW so I planted one to remind me of home!) which don’t know how to behave, they can go there I think. A couple of pots can be planted up with shade lovers, to stand on the gravel in front.
Autumn seems to arrived here suddenly after a heatwave – so it’s been quite difficult to get used to it over the past few days. I recently acquired an aeonium for the first time and I’m determined to keep it over winter; over the years I’ve lost all my other succulents. The yucca is still looking wonderful.
Cooler temperatures are very noticeable now Wendy, although the sun is still nice and warm. My Aeoniums are now quite old, I keep taking cuttings which over winter well in the frost free conservatory.
I am still waiting for rain, but fall temps have finally arrived. There is still a lot to do in the garden for fall, planting and transplanting. I am frustrated, because I really can’t do much until rain comes. With the temps into the 50s we will need to move our tropicals inside soon. We don’t have a greenhouse, so all my tropicals, as well as those plants that can’t tolerate winter rains, come into my husband’s office for winter. His is the only place in the house with good lighting for the plants. Lou is not happy about it, but I keep telling him if I had a place to keep these plants, his office would not become a jungle every winter. He keeps saying he will build me one, but he forgets as soon as the plants go back outside in spring. I think I need some more tropicals to make my point!
We all need somewhere for our tender plants over the winter Deb, maybe you could tell Lou that your plants are keeping him healthy! It has been proved that plants in the work place improve the health of the people who are near them! This is such a busy time of year, almost as busy as spring.
Sorry, but I can’t work out what EOMV stands for? Did a search on the internet and it came up with ‘Enhanced Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle’! Somehow I don’t think this is correct. Love the Lutyens bench, you really did a good job there Pauline and very informative hearing how you overwinter all the different plants. The Fatshedera looks lovely. Here autumn is well under way with beautiful colours on the trees and somewhat cooler temperatures, but like Deb we need more rain before I can think to start moving plants around.
Sorry Denise, but could we try End of Month View?!
I’ve just been washing the two benches prior to covering them for the winter, we are very pleased with how they turned out and are looking forward to next summer already, when there should be a lot more colour in this area. I also went to the local garden centre this morning and bought a lot more fleece, so the plants should be nice and cosy this winter.
Our colours haven’t really started yet on the trees and shrubs, I think we might need to be a bit cooler for that to happen.
You do have such beautiful plants. I’m forever finding planters around the garden too. Your Yucca is magnificent, how sad I am to have lost mine. It sure is getting chilly now, as you say, the leaves are a falling, it’s a big job clearing them but nice all the same, I love walking through drifts of dry crunchy leaves.xxx
Thank you Dina,It wasn’t until I started to get all my pots together, that I realised how many I had ! This week is certainly a lot cooler, a reminder to get jobs done before the frost arrives.
We had frost on cars on monday morning which I was quite surprised about but soon warmed up. There is a definite nip in the air now. Yes time to start protecting a few plants. I’ve not that many to move thankfully. Could do with tidying the greenhouse a bit first. That Yucca is looking very regal. Gorgeous.
Frost already, heavens Annie, that’s early! I brought pots into the conservatory today, like you you, I now have to tidy the greenhouse to make room for some large pots and space to start sowing seed for next year. I love the Yucca, I think this years spike is the best ever!
I do like your collections of pots and planters as well as your ideas for both panting them and then adding seasonal colour to these areas.
So glad you like what I have done so far Kate. Everything is wrapped up or put away now, so nothing new will be happening until next year. The greenhouse is my next job, a lot of tidying to do so that I have room then to start some seeds off.
It is always interesting to read your plans; you are very organised with sorting out where your tender plants will go. I also have more tender plants that I will need to find space for in the greenhouse, it looks large and empty at the moment but soon fills up! I think you are quite right to fear the wet more than the cold; many plants survive quite hard winters here but it is rarely wet and cold at the same time! I also want to have more pots planted up for winter and summer around the terrace – I have lots of tulips to plant!!
Thank you Christina, I try to be organised but it doesn’t always work out that way! The greenhouse is rather messy by the end of the summer, so I must get in there and sort it out so my few dahlias , the eucomis and hedychium can go in and keep out of the cold. The greenhouse has bubblewrap all over the inside, so the plants under the benches with fleece over them, should be frost free and survive.
I must plant the pots by the front and back doors with winter bedding, I really mustn’t leave the old dead summer plants there any longer!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Aeonium in pots. I have seen them growing in the ground in California, where they become enormous.
It’s the only way we can grow them if we live in a frost area Jason, we have to bring them in otherwise they wouldn’t survive the winter. In the very SW corner of England and in the islands off the coast there, they have wonderful large specimens growing outdoors, but the rest of us just have to enjoy small ones!