Pictures speak ... back garden, early Autumn

Planters and containers looking fresh in September

Mid September already and how the time flies! After having some nice days in the garden during the week, with some reasonably good weather over the past weeks, I thought it was timely to do another pictures speak post, capturing the early Autumn look of the garden, the richness of the flower colour and we really are a the point of growth maturity for the year for many plants. Soon we'll see the autumn colours becoming the most prominent feature. However, for now I'm enjoying the final 'hurrah' of flowering for 2015. 

Mid-September back garden

Plenty of foliage interest

Clematis 'Warszawska Nike'

Now I know I've mentioned it before (many times I hear you say ... Lol) using the best compost you can get at the start of the season really does benefit the plants through out their growth period, with only supplements of liquid or other feeding, and this shows at this time of year. This doesn't mean I can sit on my laurels, or any other plants for that matter - watering, deadheading, etc. is still needed to keep colour well into autumn. 

Crocosmia 'George Davidson'

As you can see from the picture, after a couple of hours tidying, the back garden area looks well. Although there is not as much flower colour now, there is a nice combination of foliage, with the bamboo providing movement and sound in the breeze we experience at this time of year. The tortoise enclosures still feature on the lawn area, although we'll but these aside soon as tortoises go for hibernation. Also, you can see the table has various stems on it - I'm in the process of harvesting seeds, Lupin and rocket here. Some other plants of interest include Clematis 'Warszawska Nike', which is still flowering and Crocosmia 'George Davidson' looking smashing in a couple of locations in the garden. 

"This doesn't mean I can sit on my laurels, or any other plants for that matter - watering, deadheading, etc. is still needed to keep colour well into autumn." 

Some plants going for R&R

In tidying one of the container areas, I've extracted a good number of plants that have provided great colour through the later spring and summer, that are now going for some rest and relaxation, and well deserved too. the shrubs will be potted on later in the year, and the herbaceous plants will either be split, or potted on depending on size, effect I'm looking for, etc.

Copper tape working very well on Hosta

Rudbeckia shining brightly

Now you know how 'interested' I am in controlling slugs and the damage they can do. Well, the Hosta 'Moonstruck' pictured is in a pot, which I put copper tape around when I potted it at the start of the year, and wow - the difference between this plant and other container grown ones! On the most part, the foliage looks so fresh, and un-holed ... ! I definitely will be using more of this next spring. 

Autumn flower border

This is the third of my picture speaks blogs in 2015. The first was in May and the second in July, and both of these have concentrated on what I call the 'back garden' area. There are other areas of the garden, which I write about, such as the production garden, the front garden, the purple/ blue bed and the driveway flower border. So I thought I might share an additional picture of the driveway flower border. This border was a bit of a disaster in spring, and after a good clean up gave great colour and had an only 'white flower' effect in August, so it's interesting to see September interest coming through with Sedum coming into it's own, Crocosmia flowering, a tub of warm Cosmos 'Phoneix' shining and some of the roses looking like they'll put on another flush of flowers too. 

So, while I'll continue to look for inspiration, the work will continue with plenty more to do. The production area is getting a good make-over, the greenhouse has been revamped and harvesting continues as crops are ready. All this however, will be covered in other posts over the coming weeks.

Happy gardening.