Harbingers of Autumn
Thursday, September 29, 2011
A disappointing month weatherwise until the last few days of
tropical temperatures, but thanks to the autumn flowering plants we
have had rays of alternative sunshine throughout the Gardens. Chief
contenders for Plant of the Month are asters, cosmos, rudbeckias
and salvias which bring so much colour and end of season joy (with
just a quiet word for runner beans which have cropped fantastically
well).
The Red Border still showing plenty of colour with
heleniums, dahlias, cosmos,and asters
A quieter month for us with less visits but the garden talks
season has started. Time too to start cutting the firewood for what
some forecasters are saying will be another cold winter. If you
know our famous woodpile you would be amazed how much it has gone
down already but new supplies are coming in or have been promised
by our dear farmer neighbours. Incidentally on the Open Day we were
presented with a "Green Man" carved in an oak log we had given to a
visitor the year before. He (the Green Man!) stands proudly by the
front entrance welcoming all visitors to the gardens with his
benevolence and sporting a fine crop of ivy in the
traditional way. Given the amount of carving. painting and
varnishing it was a generous gesture and very much appreciated.
Weather
Cool, wet and very windy at times in the early part of the month
with 5 continuous days of rain mid month which raised rivers and
soaked the gardens, fortunately just after I had spread autumn lawn
feed so the lawns are looking brilliant (untiil I scarified them to
today) Fortunately no frost as there can sometimes be in September,
lowest temperatures because of all the cloud was 7C and until the
last few days nothing above 17C. Best in the current warm spell
21C. Not as hot as the blessed south east of England but very
welcome indeed. With just a few days of sun it is incredible how
the Autumn Bliss raspeberries have sweetened up - good news as
there are plenty more to come.
Garden update
Keeping on top of the essential jobs like dead heading, weeding,
gathering vegetables and fruit (a tremendous crop of Bramley apples
from our 2 mature trees) and taking cuttings of many tender
perennials such as salvias, verbenas, plectranthus, cistus,
helichrysum, brugmansias as well as hydrangeas in variety. It has
been too wet to gather much seed and I need to get busy on this in
the current dry spell. We have shallots and onions just about dried
off in the large polytunnel and ready for stringing and flageolet
beans for shelling and storing (sadly all my berlotti beans which
were fabulous last year failed to germinate from 2 sowings)
The picture I promised last month. Hydrangea paniculata
"Limelight" interwoven with persicaria "Red Dragon" (It is
a lovely combination but on reflection the pic does not do it
justice!! It is much better in the flesh)
The surfinia petunia hanging baskets which define the entrance
to Cilgwyn Lodge in the summer months are fading rapidly
particularly the new one we tried this year, a sumptuous blue but
which does not appear to have the vigour of blue vein which we have
grown successfully (up to 4 feet of fall in some years) and has a
wonderful fragrance which the plain blue one does not. We will have
to look for another partner for blue vein next year. The basket
which has done the best is one of last years baskets - honestly!
Not repotted just given masses of osmocote and Vitax Q4 on the
surface of the old compost and raided mercilessly for cuttings in
the spring it is a revelation of what can be done if you can
successfully overwinter these tender perennials.
The overwintered surfinia basket. I am going to try it
for a third year with lots of TLC. Please also note the newly
constructed wood pile under the verandah - 17 loads in my pick
up!
Garlic to plant next week in soil thst has not grown the onion
tribe previously to avoid this years problems of onion white rot,
and the last sowing of winter salad crops for the poytunnlels.
Green cavola kale sown just a few weeks ago is a lovely addition to
our daily salads with a very pleasant, mild, mustard taste.
Tomatoes have been good in spite of the lack of sunshine, with
Piccolo and Sungold the top performers and best tasting. Blackbirds
are behaving themselves and not stealing the crop as they did last
year, almost driving me to distraction. Moira has been making soup
regularly for Wales in the last few weeks!
All round a good year for veggies with most things doing well
especially carrots of which the variety Metro has been outstanding
- large and full flavoured carrots with a good degree of sweetness
- and little carrot fly. There is no substitute for regular
irrigation when it comes to growing vegetables and rain does it
best!
What about this for a display? Sadly not mine but the
Robinsons stand at Malvern Autumn Show
These are my red cabbage though - aren't they
nice?
What's looking good?
Apart from everything already mentioned it has to be the late
season performers together wth those early flowering plants that
having been cut back in summer after flowering, are sending up
another flush including campanulas, hardy geraniums, astrantias and
even some annuals like cornflowers and californian poppies. The
nicotiana cultivars too are lasting much longer than usual with
silvestris, alata, Lime Green, langsdorfii and knightiana, all
still flowering well. Repeat flowering roses are responding well to
cutting back and feeding in June and some are on their third flush.
The David Austin roses in the Koi Pond Border planted only last
spring have made terrific growth and we have been well pleased with
"Princess Ann" in an unusual shade of light purple, "Gertrude
Jekyll" and "Hyde Hall" having its best year since planting 6 years
ago, and one of the lesser known ones -"Spirit of Freedom" with
densely packed petals in a cabbage flower form is particularly
attractive and vigorous in an unusual shade of pale lavender. Not
so happy when it rains a lot as the flowers quickly waterlog.
Rosa "Sirit of Freedom". It's a lovely rose and
very tall at 6 feet plus
Asters are everywhere! From short forms to huge monsters like
the 6 foot tall Aster laevis "Calliope" and many New England
asters (the midew free ones) up to 5 feet. As to the New York forms
(the mildew prone ones) they are relatively clean this year and 2
of the best amongst a wide choice are "Madge Cato" and "Grey Lady".
Aster frikartii "Monch" has been in flower since July and is still
flowering its heart out, the lateriflorus group are just getting
into their stride, but the cordifolius cultivars are past their
peak with "Photograph" having excelled itself attracting many
compliments from visitors. Some lesser known forms are aster
pyranaeus "Lutetia", aster turbinellus, aster oblongifolius
recently acquired from the Derwen Garden Centre in Welshpool, the
marvellous retail outlet of Dingle Nurseries and a firm favourite
of ours, and aster amellus "Sonora" a bit more challenging to
grow than most asters so we are pleased it came through last winter
thanks to sharp drainage.
Aster "Photograph" an avalanche of flowers on one
plant
Colchicums are superb in a good range of varieties. They need to
be close planted with low growing plants to provide for some
support to prevent then from toppling over. Late flowering hardy
geraniums and ever flowering viola cornuta (from April to October)
are ideal companions.
Colchicum "Lilac Wonder" with geranium wallachianum and
hydrangea paniculata "Brussels Lace"
Colchicum "Waterlily" with viola cornuta
alba
Rudbeckias and cosmos are a bit like me, just go on and on and
on.......... See it isn't always a bad thing. In the case of
rudbeckia sullavantii "Goldsturm" you will know how much we value
this treasure because we chose it as the banner image for our
website from a large and distinguished list of competing
contenders. The reason we did so is because it epitomises all that
is best about hardy herbaceous plants (and don't get sniffy over
our choice because it is so common and dead easy because you will
have my namesake Bob Brown from Cotswold Garden Flowers on your
back). I don't know what rating he gives this plant but who cares.
It is a ray of pure sunshine from July to October. Neat and tidy,
it needs no staking, bulks up quickly, is easy to contain when it
spreads as it will do, every last piece you remove will quickly
produce a new plant, and the black boss of spent stamens remains
well into winter providing the perfect framework for hoar frost.
Oh, and did I mention it is bone hardy and "bombproof"? If you are
not growing this, WHY NOT!!??
Rudbeckia "Goldsturm" - seen it somehwere
before??
PS. Just checked Cotswold Garden Flowers latest
catelogue:Bob gives it 8 out of ten. That's good but could be
better!!
Annual rudbeckias look and behave more like perennials and there
are plenty to choose from mostly in the yellow spectrum, but now
including "Cherry Brandy" the first red form. The annual cosmos
which are tall growing and flowering in just a a few months from an
April sowing are a must for late summer/autumn borders in shades of
pink, white and all colours in between including many fine
picotees. It is great to see them so frequently in many gardens as
they are cheap and easy to raise and give delight when most other
plants are starting to fade
Cosmos, red rudbeckia "Cherry Brandy"and dahlia "Karma
Choc"
As to salvias I have previously got a bit carried away on this
item - but why shouldn't you when writing or talking about plants
you love? - so I will just leave you with some pics of my current
favourites including Jimi's Good Red again. Sorry- tall and red
with shiny green foliage it is a two fingered statement to the
onset of winter. As Dylan Thomas urged us all to do in that famous
poem "Rage Rage Rage against the dying of the light"
An out of focus Jim's Good Red -
sorry!
Salvia patens "Guanajuato" the blue one and salvia
involucrata ""Hadspen" the pink one
both overwintered last year!!
Wildlife and countryside
Red Admiral and Tortoiseshell butterflies much more in evidence
lately and a few Small Coppers but no sign of any Commas or Painted
Ladies which I am resigned to not seeing this year. A few large
dragonflies in the warmer weather but nowhere near the numbers seen
in previous years.
Small tortoiseshell butterfly on aster frikartii
"Monch"
There has been an incredible amount of badger activity in the
field adjoining the Lodge in the last couple of weeks, Huge swathes
of the field has been turned over in the nocturnal quest for worms
and other soil dwellers and although I go out late I have yet to
see any badgers. Next morning the field is full of birds looking
for any tasty morsels left behind. The corvids: crows, ravens,
magpies, jackdaws and jays gather in huge noisy numbers and at
times the skies around are like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's
"The Birds". It's not all tranquil fun living in the
countryside!
During the storms earlier in the month there were reports that
manx shearwaters, sea birds rarely seen inland, which are summer
visitors to the UK, had been blown off course on their autumn
migration back to the south seas, a distance of 13,000 miles. They
were sighted as far east as Llandovery the area where we live, 60
miles from their breeding grounds in Pembrokeshire. This story
reminded me of a similar event in the late 1970's when I found a
manx shearwater in the garden and had to resort to my "British
Birds" book to identify it. Once identification was complete I had
to decide what to do with it. As it was strong and apparently in
good health I took it down to the River Towy nearby and released it
over the river and it immediately made a course downstream to the
estuary. I often wonder if it completed it's long journey to the
south seas. Probably in hindsight it wasn't the best thing to do
but at the time I couldn't think of anything else. It was however
an unforgettable experience in the strangest of circumstances
Visitors and visits
We wrapped up the main group visits season (20 in all) during
early September with successful visits from Cardiganshire
Horticultural Society, Llanwrtyd Wells Gardening Club and
Carmarthenshire Fuchsia Society, just before the bad weather
started. These and a few individual visits in the month meant that
we were able to send a cheque to The National Gardens Scheme for
£4,800 from 994 visitors - by far and away our best year of the 12
years we have been opening.
In 2012 many of our regulars know that because we are having a
conservatory bulit some time in early summer we will not be having
a published Open Day. We still however will be in The Yellow Book
for 2012 for By Appointment visits once the work has been
completed. The nursery will remain open from May to September for
plant sales so please, in advance, just give us a ring or send an
e-mail to confirm we will be here.
We have done 3 talks already to Kidwelly Gardening Club, Newport
Gardening Club on the coast in Pembrokeshire in the most marvellous
venue overlooking the sea with a full tide and a brilliant sunset,
and our own local Club in Llangadog for an open meeting which 3
other groups attended and fabulous refreshments afterwards and in
between there was a bit of talk by yours truly entitled "Designing
with Perennials - Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden" with lots
of new slides which I have been working on for some time. For a
first outing it wasn't too bad but there are some modifications to
make before the next outing to Pembrokeshire when I will deliver
the talk again in late October, A couple of other talks booked on
different subjects in October. See Nursery, Talks and Teas
elsewhere on this website for the full details of all our talks -
we still have plenty of free dates until the end of March.
Last week we went on our usual trip to Malvern Autumn Show which
seemed smaller than usual with less plants for sale. Visitor
numbers appeared to be less too - the current financial climate
seemed to have a bearing on the show. The nurseries in the RHS
Halls however put on great displays of autumn colour and veggies
with the Edrom Nurseries stand full of gentians a real show
stopper.
Plenty of full bags as the day draws to a
close
Edrom Nurseries magnificient stand of gentians - best in
show again to match the cypripedium orchids in the Spring Show
(see May News)
Just a note for your diaries. Hergest Croft Gardens, Kington,
Herefordshire is putting on a 2 day plant fair and apple event on
15 and 16 October from 10.30 am to 4.30pm both days. Go to www.hergest.co.uk for
more information. This is a regular autumn event but usually only a
one day show so this year promises to be something special. Our
friends Sylvia and Tony from www.shadyplants.com will be there
selling their usual great range of shade loving plants and Tony has
a large range of ferns just desperate for new homes!
Hergest is one of our favourite gardens, a lovely place with
fabulous autumn colour, some great plants for sale and the most
important ingredient of all a really good tearoom! A lovely day out
before the winter closes in around us and the clocks go back.
UGH!!!!!!
Finally and on a real autumnal note, I woke
earlier this week to see from the bedroom window these tiers of
cobwebs on the large yew at the entrance to the Paddock Garden. A
really breathtaking sight - just like lace on a crinoline. Nature
does it best!
