End of Month View September 2010

(This post comes with apologies to those still struggling to garden in a drought, as these photos all show how rain-drenched my own garden has been these past few days…)

The ‘End of Month View’ meme, started by Patient Gardener (thank you!) has been great for helping me focus on getting my garden in better shape. My pond border is in a state of transition – much like the season I suppose. The right hand side still looks OK, with the Miscanthus really coming in to its own…

…though truth be told, detailed inspection of the back of the newly planted border section demonstrates that I planted everything too close together. Again. Though in my defense, I was completely poleaxed by how much growth the Stipa tenuissima and Knautua macedonica put on in just one season from sowing the seed. It probably needs re-planting to give everything more space again.

Fortunately the section of border immediately to the right has plenty of gaps where the monster Cleome ‘Violet Queen’ were.

The left hand side of the pond border is less pleasing, as it has gaping holes where things have been moved or removed. I’ve already written about moving the Veronicastrum from its previous home between the Miscanthus and Eupatorium. The clump of Molinia on the left hand end of the bed will also be reduced come next Spring, making yet more room. I have seedlings of Rudbekia ‘Goldstrum’ and Rudbekia ‘Rustic Dwarf’, together with Achillea ‘Moonwalker’ and Achillea ‘Cassis’. I only hope they are as successful as the Knautua macedonica. So far the Geum ‘Cooky’ seeds are refusing to show – I may have to shift them to the propagator. It’s all a bit of an act of faith – or a dream – at the moment. In my head it looks gorgeous!

Once the rain has stopped I have lots of crocus and narcissus bulbs to plant in an attempt to brighten up the bed in early Spring. One thing I do plan to treat myself to from a nursery is a Persicaria, possibly ‘Firetail’, or perhaps Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’. Something to give reddish-plum accents, but I can’t find seed for either.

I know it’s not the end of the year yet, but I want to introduce a second area of focus to my ‘End of Month View’ posts, the Magnolia border. It’s the next area I need to tackle, and this being an ideal time of year to move and plant, it seems to make sense to start covering it now rather than waiting until the New Year. This is the border that I moved the Veronicastrum to, and where I have planted the Cyclamen I wrote about earlier. As its name suggests, this border is dominated by a Magnolia stellata (you can just see one of the lower branches in the picture above), which is spectacular each Spring, but which is in dire need of pruning. It’s become enormous, and is directly outside the kitchen window. The bed stands between the main entrance to the back garden and the decking area under the pergola, and although I like an air of mystery in a garden, so that you don’t see everything at once, the Magnolia is currently stealing too much light from the kitchen.

This border also contains a Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’, which with great trepidation we pruned hard back this Spring. It had been living in the shadow of a hebe that had grown too big for the space and a Choisya ternata that had become diseased, and had become very lopsided. Happily it seems to have responded well, so in a couple of years it should be back to being a beautiful feature (though I confess to being irritated by the green of the young foliage).

This border is also home to my Hydrangea quercifolia, one of my favourite shrubs. This was only moved here last Autumn, its previous home had become too shady for it to thrive. As you can see, there is plenty of space for me to overfill with lovely things. The idea is for this rather shady border to be all whites, blues, pale mauves and purples etc., so I am planning Aconitum, Aquelegia and perhaps some foxgloves to go with the Veronicastrum, Sweet rocket and Astrantia major ‘Hadspen Blood’. As ever, a lot will depend on what seeds develop into lovely plants, and how much I decide I can cram in – after all, I can always thin it out later…

P.S. An appeal for help from you wiser and more experienced gardeners. My RHS books claim that Astrantias flower early to mid summer, where as various other sources claim they flower until August. Mine certainly don’t flower that long, they tend to stop by late June – what’s your experience? Second question, I found a couple of seedlings when I was clearing the Magnolia bed of the annuals that had been packing it out this year. Friend or foe? I have no idea whether this is a welcome visitor or yet another weed I need to get used to recognising…