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Lyn and Malcolms Garden Blog
September  2011

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September 24th
It has been a while since I last posted here.
It has been a very warm afternoon here today, but in preparation for the colder days to come I have put the heavy duty shelving up in the passage between our two gardens. That is where we store all the Dahlias and many other tender plants. We don't heat the passage, it is kept above freezing by the heat of the house, the shelving is on the house wall.
We also trimmed the large Prunus flowering cherry in Lyn's garden, just to keep it in shape, and Lyn has been cutting down some of theplants that are dieing down.
We did have time to sit and enjoy the sun as well.

We do have several 'grasses' in the garden, which help out at this time of year, and look particularly nice in the sunshine.
Miscanthus 'Morning Light'


Miscanthus  'Arabesque'


Stipa tenuissima


Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'                                                       Lyn tidying up a few of the plants
 

Dahlia 'Moonshine'


Begonia 'Apricot shades' in the hanging basket alonside the yellow Brugmansia


Persicaria orientalis


Rosa 'Chartreuse de parme' 





September 16th
A lovely early autumn day today, makes the garden so much nicer. Not that we have had much time to enjoy it, other than watering most of the plants.
We decided a few days ago to help out my sister with the reception, at her house, after the funeral of her husband.
She had received quotes for a buffet reception for 50 people of £750.
So we will be making a selection of buffet food ourselves and taking over extra chairs and all our plates, cutlery, tea making equipment etc that we use here on our open days.


Hibiscus 'Mauvelous' newbiscus series  which was quite late flowering this year, and is now in the conservatory with huge flowers.



Salvia buchanii  just a few flowers remaining.                                 Gerbera Everlast pink has flowered nearly all year.
 

September 15th
First cold night of the Autumn, last night, it got down to +3.6c. Still some great colour in the garden, helped by the sunshine during the day.

September 13th
Still some nice flowers in the garden, enjoying a break in the wind and with some welcome sunshine.
Pictures taken today.

Nerium Oleander                                                                                Hosta plantaginea 'Japonica' very scented late flowerer.
 

Begonia fuchiodes



September 11th
After the news last night that my sister had just lost her husband, after seven months fighting cancer, I have not much to say. Instead I have just been out and taken these pictures in the garden.

A second flowering of Clematis 'Dawn'                                              Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'                                
 

Bessera elegans                                                                                   Delphinium requienii grown from seed
 

Rosa 'Jacques Cartier                                                                          Salvia blepharophylla
 

Gladiolus murielae


September 9th
A reasonable day today quite warm although not much sun.
Late this morning we were both at home, and as the weather was dry, and it is supposed to be windy over the weekend, we set about removing the Clematis montana that we had growing up and through a 18 metre tall Silver Birch tree in Lyn's front garden.
Our double extension ladder only reached about a third of the way up the tree, so it was a matter of tugging away at the Clematis stems from the top of the ladder, without falling off. There is still some of the Clematis left in the top third of the tree which I can't reach, so will have to leave that to gradually rot over a period of time.
We had to remove the Clematis as it would have eventually killed the Silver Birch by excluding the light and the weight of the Clematis breaking off some of the branches.

The lower part of the Clematis montana, before we removed it.


Still some colour in Lyn's front garden.


September 6th
It stayed dry for the first part of the private visit yesterday, then as the rain started they all came in the conservatory for tea and cake.
So that is the end of the garden openings for this year, the total number of visitors is 876 on the two and a half open days and private visits, that is a new record for us.

Just as well the last visit was yesterday, not today, as it has been wet all day with gale force winds. I had tied the Brugmansias down and several other plants, so as far as I know there has been no real damage, apart from the shredding of the banana leaves. I haven't ventured into the garden to tidy up yet, will wait till tomorrow.

September 4th
There are twelve people arriving tomorrow morning on the last of our private visits, so two more cakes made this morning and a general tidy up in the garden after rain last night. The sun came out this afternoon which brought a gusty wind too. Hoping the showers will hold off till our visitors have left. Then it is downhill with the weather for the rest of the week, Autumnal the forecast said, but hey we haven't had summer yet.
What plants did we buy yesterday? here are a few. The others are not in flower so I can't show you a picture.

Campanula 'Burghatti'                                                                          Bessera elegans
 

Aster 'Coombe Fishacre'                                                                      Roscoea purpurea Purple leaved seedling
 

Salvia patens 'Oxford Blue'                                                                  Salvia patens 'Cambridge Blue'
 

September 3rd
As mentioned, we did get to the NGS open garden at Prospect House in Axminster Devon today. We were particularly interested in the Salvias of which they have a lot.
Almost the first salvia we saw we fell in love with. It was Salvia dombeyi, and of course they didn't have any for sale. 
We spent almost an hour there admiring so many salvias. We came away with four salvia plants.
During conversation with the owner of the garden, he suggested that the nursery at Forde Abbey may have the Salvia dombeyi. As we were only about five miles away we set off to see.
Unfortunately they did not have the Salvia, but we came away with seven other plants, not Salvias. We can recommend the nursery the prices are very reasonable.
We then set off to Lyn's friend Eve who had two sacks of plants that may be of interest to me, given to her by a near neighbor who had recently moved into the village and wanted rid of these plants. He had dug them up and given them to Eve.
One of the sacks had the leaves sticking out and were obviously Strelitzia Reginae. We pulled them out of the sack, only to find that they had been dug out without any roots left on them at all. The other sack had an Oleander inside which had some root, but as we have nine at home in the garden, we didn't want anymore. So we came away empty handed.


Just a few pictures of Prospect House Garden in Axminster Devon






The one we liked best Salvia dombeyi. Could be hard to find a supplier.



September 1st
Lyn's garden will have more plants to come into flower this month, and also some that have already flowered which will have a smaller flush.
Today was quite bright and ended up a lot warmer. A lot of plants still have good buds on, these will be helped to open with the sun and warmth.
We are hoping to visit another NGS garden this weekend, more later. And on the way back we may pick up some more tender plants, as if we hadn't enough already.

In Lyn's garden Heliopsis 'Summer nights' and
Lythrum salicaria 'Robert'                                                                     The lions head water feature in the Exotic garden
 

Also in the exotic garden two different Ricinus