Yep we finally got the heatwave a yes it was very hot, but thankfully not nearly as hot as it got down South. I tried to do any watering in the morning and most of the work before lunch time as I don’t do well in the hot weather. Just now in the garden it is mostly dead-heading and weeding and I have made the decision to get rid of the viola as they are an absolute headache. They are popping up everywhere and spreading like wildfire. It is going to take quite a while before the garden is rid of them. I will need to find some clump forming perennials to replace them rather than ground cover plants. There is/was a pink astrantia in a pot on the patio which I thought would do ok in the stumpery where we pulled out the viola but it had been totally eaten by snails! I will give it ago anyway and see what happens. I have given some hardy geraniums a chop back and left a few others still for the bees. I will chop those back shortly. The heavy, thundery, showers that came along with the heatwave have brought down most of the petals from the philadelphus, some roses and some poppies. Luckily I had asked Amy to put up some canes to tie in the thalictrum just in time so they stayed more or less upright.
Sadly when we moved the potted astrantia Harry found a New Zealand flatworm sitting near it. Now I have to pull all the patio pots out and check underneath them! Huge job.
The bees are loving the yellow thalictrum and the campanula and the foxgloves (when they can get into them). The foxglove below is actually a nice apricot coloured foxglove but the colour didn’t photograph well.
Snoozing snail in a foxglove.
The astilbe are in full flower now, as are the roses and the campanula (which I really aught to trim back). The foxgloves are always a joy but after the heavy rain and wind they are now all at a jaunty angle – this photo was taken just before the wind. There is a mixture of pinks, purples, white and apricot.
Foxgloves in the stumpery.
A couple of foxgloves however which are growing nearer the back wall are being shredded by the snails! The flowers are ok but the leaves are now only midribs.
The other plant which has succumbed to slugs and/or snails is the Scot’s lovage It did still manage to flower but I am not sure if I will keep it as it never does very well. However some wildlife likes it. The ladybird and some kind of longhorn beetle shown here.
Longhorn beetle and ladybird on Scot’s lovage.
We used to be able to have our dinner on a nice sunny patio, but with the increasing height of the golf course trees it gets very shady by 19:30 which in a heatwave is rather nice but I think I would rather be able to enjoy the sunshine a bit more on the patio in the evening.
Shady afternoon in the garden.
In the conservatory the Echinopsis eyriesii (only just found out what it is called) has had 2 flowers this year and the scent is amazing. It is always a shame the flowers only last a day.
Echinopsis eyriesii flowers.
And I treated myself to a couple more succulent plants – lets hope I can keep them alive.
Titanopsis calcarea and Haworthia cooperi v pilifera.
At the moment It is a case of keeping an eye on beasties, keeping things watered, and getting rid of unwanted plants that have become unruly.
They say we are heading for another heat wave – well not so far. Still waiting for some sunshine and warmth without that chilly wind. We have had yet more rain which at least means I don’t have to water the garden but we didn’t get enough to fill up the pond. It is baby frog time so they will enjoy the damp weather I am sure. I am so happy to see damselflies again at the pond. There were a few red damsels and the odd blue one too. I saw a couple who had mated and the male was holding onto the female with his grippers while she laid her eggs in the pond by some vegetation. A third one (probably a male) kept trying to butt in. There was also a lone blue one hanging about.
Single red damselfly.Red damselfly couple – female laying eggs.Male red damselfly clasping female.
I am still trying to get a good photo of a small copper butterfly but this one will have to do in the mean time.
Small copper butterfly on a variegated holy bush.
The red keys on my acer are tiny but very pretty against the bright green of the leaves. My next door neighbour has a large red acer which has bright red keys and they glow when the sun catches them.
Acer shirasawanum Aureum leaf with red keys.Neighbours red acer with red keys.
Lots of things are in flower just now and the place is absolutely buzzing with bees. However just gone over are the honey lilies, weigela, syringia, stonecrop, rhododendron, azalea, weigelia, aquilegia, hebe, saxifrages, forget-me-nots, and irises.
The stonecrop had amazing colours: bright yellow flowers, some green leaves, some purple leaves and some almost silvery with a coating of farina.
Colourful stonecrop.
I do love Pattie’s Plum poppy and there were a few planted next to the cirsiums but I only have 2 left. I don’t think they live very long so I need a few more.
In flower right now are: most of the roses, philadelphus, erigeron, purple clematis, nepeta, some hardy geraniums, briza grass, astrantia, some primroses, cowslips, lavender, foxgloves, deutzia, cirsium, thalictrum, orange geum and honeysuckle. The wonderful fragrance in the garden comes from the honeysuckle, philadelphus and deutzia. You do have to be closer to the roses to catch their fragrance.
Honeysuckle.
Overall the garden is looking good just now with a few areas that are dissapointing.
View from the patio mid June 2026
The damp area that runs along the side of the ramp just annoys me now. It looks great when the persicaria are up and flowering in august but until then it is just an eyesore and now the harling is split again and some persicaria is coming up behind it.
Persicaria coming up behind the harling.
Snails (I think) have demolished the 3 agastache I had planted behind the garage and have had a good go at the eupatorium and marigold on the patio. One marigold was totally stripped but I saved a couple by putting them on the patio table. I had used crushed oyster shells on the surface of the eupatorium pot but that did nothing.
In the conservatory 2 of the lithops have now split but the smaller one has not done anything this year so far. ( I have now found out that they should had have a pot of their own as they are not all the same species so I have given them a little pot each now.) I treated myself to 3 tiny new succulents when we went to the cactus and succulent show Saughton Park and how anyone can remember the names of these things is beyond me – I am still learning how to pronounce them. I have another couple in the post – who knew I would get interested in succulents?
Lithops splitting.3 new small succulents.
So the weather forecast for today was 90 – 95 percent chance of rain all morning and we didn’t get any!
Thundery storms, hailstones /rain – then sweltering heat! But soon there will be some respite from the heat with a little rain. So far this year the majority of butterflies I have seen have been the orange tips and speckled woods and one small copper (I think) and one red damselfly. Lots of little bumble bees and a few large bumble bees. The tadpoles have grown bigger and I have spotted a few newts. Thankfully I have noticed far fewer slugs this year.
The Jock Tamson’s Gairden (JTG) plants sale went well and most of the plants were sold. I had propagated too many bronze fennel but that is ok as any unsold will be used at JTG. At the sale I got talking to a lovely lady, Naomi, who, after blethering about our mutual love of gardening and plants gave me a few plants from her own garden to try. Thank you Naomi.
At the beginning of May we found more blanket weed in the pond so gave the pond a treatment of Aquaplancton which made it all look a bit cloudy. The tadpoles, frogs and newts didn’t mind at all although we did get some on some lily pads so they look a bit grey. I am still waiting for signs of the Typha I planted a couple of years ago and I planted a variegated iris just at the beginning of the year so I hope they will appear and flower this year.
Amy, my garden help, re-located a huge cyclamen from behind the garage to underneath the spirea where is should do well as it doesn’t get too moist there. We took out a couple of old limbs of the viburnam as it was quite congested and was resting over the purple acer so that some of it’s branches had died off.
Also re-located is the hardy geranium Mavis Simpson which hadn’t really got going in the stumpery so it is now beside the heuchera in the middle bed where it will get a bit more sunshine.
I noticed that there are flowers for the first time on the acer Shirasawanum aureum and they are so tiny but really show up against the bright, golden-green of the leaves. The flowers are produced in small cymes. Soon they will turn into a pair of winged samara (keys). A samara is a winged achene which is one dried, seeded, fruit encased in one wing.
Acer shirasawanum aureum flowers.
My purple acer, acer palmatum Dissectum Garnet (which is much older) has never flowered whereas next door there is a purple/red acer peaking over the top of the garage which already has the purple/red samaras . I have never seen the flowers on it, and it is getting pretty wide now, growing over both sides of the front of the raised bed and growing down to and along the ground now.
Purple acer palmatum disectum Garnet in the raised bed.
The clematis montana is doing well but has now started to pull off the support at the top. We are soon to start work on the garage roof so it isn’t the right time to do anything about it.
Clematis montana on the garage wall.
Below the clematis along the back of the garage wall is only a narrow border so it can be tricky to get it to look good. I am trying out nepeta Junior Walker, hardy geranium Vision light pink and silene coronaria on the left hand side just to see how they do. So far the cats have been stomping all over the nepeta so I have had to put an upturned basket on it for protection and this has done the job.
The middle bed is coming on nicely just now with the hebe in flower and the other plants are looking colourful. There are are a few different colours of foliage in the middle bed with silvery white, dark green, bright golden-green, bronzes and purples which can make a lovely palette.
Colourful foliage in the middle bed.
When viewed from another angle.
Layers of colour.
The new fronds of the athyrium otophorum var. okanum fern look like a right old tangle but they always open up perfectly.
Athyrium atophorum var. okanum tangled looking fronds.
I am so happy that I finally bought some geum Mai Tai as they look so pretty next to the rose and fill up that gap nicely. I did spot another geum right in front of the rose which was looking huge and healthy and wondered what I had planted but it turned out to be a weed (wild geum urbanum) so it was pulled out but now there is a bit of a gap in front of Gertrude Jekyll.
The damp corner where the geums are thriving.Geum Mai Tai.
I bought and planted three verbascum Peach champagne last year and only one was in flower at the time (buttery-yellow colour with purple in the centre). However I was not prepared for the colour of the emerging flowers this year. The first two to start flowering started a deep dusky pink, then went peach and finally to the buttery-yellow colour. The last one to flower bypassed the pink stage – it started out peach. Hey ho.
I thought I had bought the wrong verbascum. Pink instead of yellow.Verbascum Peach Champagne changing from dusky-pink to peach colour.Finally the right colour on the Verbascum Peach Champagne.
The red peony is looking good right now. Normally when they are looking their best we get a deluge of rain which knocks all the petals off.
Red peony (unknown variety).
The poor old witch hazel had to be taken out as it was indeed totally dead. It didn’t take much pulling and it was very wet at the base. I am now looking for another large shrub or small tree for that gap. There are a few more gaps I could fill in the stumpery but otherwise it is looking fine.
Stumpery at the end of May.
It is so nice to work in the garden just now with the warmth of the sun and the gorgeous scent of the syringia that fills the air.
Syringa Josiflexa Belleicent
The view from the patio right now. Over the grey winters we have in Scotland I really miss seeing all this glorious, lush colour. Of course it will all change over the next month.
We had a pretty wet and windy start to April but now there is a lot more sunshine around. There is still a chilly breeze though, and with clear nights there is still the chance of frosts.
Sadly the Duddingston Kirk Garden Club has ground to halt now but the good news is that Jock Tamson’s Gairden (JTG) is taking over our annual plant sale (May 2nd in Duddingston Kirk manse garden). I have loads of seedlings and cuttings to take along for sale so a lot of my time has been spent tending to them. Right now that means hardening them off by taking them all out during the day and bringing them all in again in the evening. Once the plant sale is over I should have a lot more room in the conservatory and the patio tables.
House plants for sale 2026.Plants for sale 2026.More Plants for sale 2026.
In the conservatory the cactus bumps have flowers on them which I didn’t expect. I thought the bumps would have to get larger before they flowered. Hey-ho. Oxalis triangularis is just starting to bloom now with its very dainty flowers and dark purple foliage. One of my neighbours brought some old pots that she no longer wanted and would I want any? I spotted this deep red one that goes really well with aeonium Voodoo now that it has its deep red, summer colours.
Old mother cactus flowers.Oxalis triangularis.Aeonium Voodoo in a dark red pot.
It is the time of year that the vine weevil grubs are chomping their way through plant roots so we have given the whole back and front garden, patio pots, conservatory and the plants for sale, a nematode treatment. This at least keeps them at bay. I just need to keep the earth moist for the nematodes to do their job.
I love wandering around the garden at this time of year spotting all the new shoots and being thankful for the plants that have come through the wet winter. The emerging fern fronds (fiddles) look especially nice and they are all very different. My favourite one just now is the very hairy looking Polystichum polyblepharum. I love ferns!
Polystichum polyblepharum fern.
All around the garden are little purple violets that have just spread wherever they want. I do have to keep an eye on them or they would just take over. The same goes for the ajuga and the periwinkle.
Viola riviniana purpurea (labradorica)
As for the forget-me-nots well they are popping up everywhere too. The rain seems to have washed them down to the edge of the borders. And under the rhododendron is a patch of dicentra formosa ‘ bacchanal red’ which has to be kept under control or it would spread everywhere. The yellow erythroniums are needing dead-headed now to prevent them seeding everywhere as I already have 3 large patches of them. One patch is under the crab apple which is now blooming away. It hasn’t produced any more branches to the back of it so it is going to be drooping heavily to the front once the blooms have been replaced by the heavier crab apples. I have to keep an eye on Harry otherwise he would just hack it back! Although someone of FB told me about a method call Notching which can induce the bud bellow the notch to start to branch so I may try that next year and see what happens.
Erythronium yellow.Crab apple tree Malus Sylvestris Evereste.
The berberis is in full flower now and if you peek up the right hand side of the garden you can see it with the white spirea flowers in the background and a few yellow tulips behind it and just in the foreground are the narcissi actaea pheasant eye. Most of the narcissi have gone over except for a few Segovia on the patio, the small narcissi pipit in the stumpery are still in flower. Narcissi Pipit are always the last to come through.
Berberis and spirea.
The view from the patio just before the cherry blossom fell and the narcissi had gone over,
Before the blossom all fell and the narcissi ha gone over.
Most of the tulips have gone over but the ones in mum’s planter are still in flower. They look nice next the narcissi Segovia and the pink silene Flos-Jovis Peggy. The wild garlic looks pretty too.
Silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.Unknown tulips with narcissi segovia and silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.Wild gar;lic, allium ursinum.
Just beside the conservatory door to the patio is the skimmia japonica which has a really nice scent when in flower. It is just about over now.
Skimmia Japonica.
Somehow I have managed to have anemone coronarai Bordeaux popping up in pots in amongst the plants I actually planted in the pots. I don’t think they seeded themselves there so I must have re-used to compost that the anemones came from to top up the pots? Gardeners World had a bit about an anemone grower who said the corms get bigger with age but that you get the best flower from the smallest corms – well I never knew that so I will keep that in mind.
And remember the marsh marigold being eaten by something – well I found the culprit and it totally demolished the plant! Bloody wood pigeons! This may also be the creature that has broken a few of my nepeta plants. I have found a lot of broken off stems but nothing eaten. It may well be a cat too as it is also known as cat mint but we get lots of cats in the garden and only this year has there been a problem. I have had to put upturned baskets over them to protect them. Such a pain. But now, I am off to enjoy some sunshine while I can.
Ahhh sunshine at last – it makes such a difference. The birds are singing and there is lots of colour and fragrance in the garden now. In the stumpery the sarcococca and the winter flowering Lonicera fragrantisima are smelling lovely, as is the viburnum in the raised bed and the skimmia japonica on the patio. In the front garden it is the mahonia giving the very strong scent.
MahoniaEpimedium sulphureum
The leaves on the possibly dead witch hazel have finally tuned brown and shrivelled up. There are flowers appearing everywhere now. The epimedium sulphureum out the front is covered in tiny yellow flowers and although the big yellow daffodils have gone over, the bright yellow mahonia is taking the spotlight. The white periwinkle under the front hedge is covered in flowers and the odd little grape hyacinth is still hanging in there. Out the back the pieris is looking good with all its little white bells, all the hellebores are in full flower now as are the fritillaria, some tulips, some narcissi, berberis, corydalis, wood anemone, pulmonaria and pink flowered heather. The hebe always has a few flowers open.
Pieris forest flameBerberis darwiniiTulips in the sun.Wood anemoneNarcissi Actaea with only one eaten so far.Narcissi Segovia in a pot.
There used to be three wood anemone plants there but now only one is left. I have a few little ones growing in a pot so once they are a bit bigger I will plant them out.
I learned the other day that the beautiful colouration on fritillaries is known as tessellation – a geometric pattern and they don’t have petals or sepals but instead has tepals like tulips and lilies! They come in completely white versions, pale, darker and very dark version and I have every variation in my garden somewhere even the pure white ones.
Pale coloured version of fritillary.Dark purple version of fritillary.
I t hasn’t all gone according to plan though as it looks as though the choke berry shrub has died and the beautiful flowering cherry (Shiroto Mount Fuji) is not looking very happy. One whole limb is dead and I think it is very waterlogged and there may not be anything I can do to bring it back.
Cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji with one dead limb.
The geum mai tai, which is in a sunny position, is looking lush whereas the orange flowered geum, which is in a more shady site, has been eaten down to the leaf margins. One of the huge cyclamen out of a row has rotted so has left a large gap in the row. There are smaller ones that I can put in its place but I am not sure why that one rotted yet none of the others did – they are all planted at the same depth and are slightly proud of soil level so they shouldn’t get waterlogged in theory.
Something – possibly pigeons – has been eating the marsh marigolds.
Eaten march marigold.
In the conservatory my ponytail plant has 3 branches and one of them suddenly dropped all of its leaves and I don’t know what to do about it. I do know that it is pot bound and that may well be the cause but it is welded into that very large pot so it probably wouldn’t come out without damaging it further.
Ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).
The good news is that in the conservatory my seedlings are doing ok and hopefully they will be big enough to sell at the plant sale in early May. Our Duddingston Kirk Garden Club is folding but the Jock Tamson’s Gairden will be taking over the plant sale.
Mid March and it feels like we are still in winter. Rain, more rain, wind, frost, tiny bits of sunshine then more rain. The patio pots are all still water logged but most of the plants look like they have survived although some are covered in moss like the red astrantia. But I am hoping the astrantia will soon pop up through the moss.
Moss taking over the astrantia.
The crocuses that were eaten when they flowered in the trough last year have survived as I put one of the seed tray lids over it this time. They looked great in the little bit of sunshine that we did get.
Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’ in the sun.
Most of the hellebores are in full flower now so here are a few:
In the stumpery: the small white erythronium are almost flowering. The pulmonaria are looking lovely with their spotty leaves and pinky/mauve flowers. The tortured hazel looks a little half and half as the side that gets the most sunshine has the most catkins on it and the shadier side is looking a bit bare. Even the dead witch hazel that is still clinging onto it’s dead leaves has some colour – the leaves look almost red. There are some very fragrant flowers now on the sarcococca and also on the winter flowering honeysuckle.
The best news is that we spotted the first lot of frogspawn on 6th March this year and the other day I counted at least 30 frogs and loads of frogspawn – at least 11 clumps! And even better than that- Harry saw loads of newts in the pond at night (he counted at least 10 but they move really fast so getting a photo was tricky).
Frogs and frogspawn 2026.Frogs and newts.
The mouse plant that we are trying to get rid of in the raised bed came back with a vengeance so Harry dug down and got most of the soil out of that corner. Before we put and soil in there we will wait and see if any more reappears. We have already waited over a year to get rid of this stuff. Right next to that area is a small clump of tete-a-tete narcissi and at the other side a clump of hardy geranium so I am hoping the mouse plant will not appear in amongst them.
Tete-a-tete narcissi next to the dug out hole.
With a bit more sunshine the rest of the narcissi out the back will bloom while the large yellow daffodils out the front garden are flowering away and the mahonia it just about to bloom. I can’t wait to get out and enjoy the garden without having to wear about 6 layers of thermals. I have just got over a horrid cold and am still struggling to keep warm even in the house. On the plus side – I haven’t seen any huge slugs yet this year – it is only a matter of time.
The weather has been a mixed bag over June: some hot sunny days, some overcast muggy days, showers and wind, but on the whole not too bad.
The hebe has had a trim to keep it a neat shape and to dead-head the flowers. The tree heath (Erica arborea ‘Estrella gold’ ) has had a good chop as it was shading out some other plants a bit too much. The deutzia ‘Mont rose ‘ has finished flowering now and has had the old flowering stems chopped. I will have to give the mock orange (Philadelphus) the same treatment as it has just finished flowering. As we have had a reasonable amount of rain I can put down some more mulch to help retain some of that moisture. A few of the hardy geraniums have had a chop (later than the Chelsea chop time up here in Scotland) as there is a lot of damage on their foliage caused by the geranium sawfly (Ametastegia carpini). The tiny holes eaten all over their leaves look like lace work. They don’t appear to damage the flowers though so I will just have to tolerate them.
The Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ is not looking great and I might just ditch it. The slugs have really gone for the ones in the stumpery and the only one that isn’t too bad has an upturned hanging basket over it to stop the pigeons getting at it. I have had to move the new heucheras from the back area of the garden to the bed that gets a little more sun. Again the slugs have really gone for them so I will need to give them a bit of protection until they get going.
Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ damage.
I have been finding a lot of mushrooms in my latest batch of multi-purpose potting compost which can be very unsightly in amongst the pot plants, even in the house plants that I topped up with it. I don’t normally buy Westland multipurpose but my usual compost was unavailable. It is horrid stuff with huge lumps of wood and other bits and bobs in it, including small stones and bits of plastic, and it doesn’t retain moisture well. I will NOT be getting it again. The mushrooms were easily removed so the pots don’t looks so bad but the mycelium will still be in the compost.
Mushrooms found in compost in a pot of poppy seedlings.Mushrooms in compost with poppy seedlings.Mushrooms found in the compost of a house plant.
There are a few gaps in the borders just now so I am moving some of my potted plants from the patio into the borders to fill in some of these gaps. These small terracotta pot filled with succulents can cope in this area but I have larger pots with ferns in the shadier areas. I do have to remember and move them again before any bulbs come up in spring time.
Terracotta pots with succulents under a berberis.
I have removed a lot of the violets in the stumpery because, although they create good ground cover, they had loads of seed-heads about to pop, and they are competing with the ajuga (more ground cover), and covering over some of the self-seeded honesty.
Another good ground cover plant which is flowering away now, and the bees love it, is the Campanula garganica ‘Blue diamond Adrianic’ . I should probably cut it back a bit once it has gone over.
Campanula growing around the base of garden steps.
There are loads of pollinators about and they are loving all the the flowers just now: agastache, campanula, cirsium, astilbe, achillea, roses, alchemilla, giant cowslips, geranium, foxgloves, catmint, lavender, heuchera, verbascum, ragged robin, astrantia, bisort, marigolds, cistus, honeysuckle, spiraea, and thalictrum. I planted 3 yellow thalictrum from the same nursery at the same time only a few feet apart and one is growing way taller than the other two, and has more purple in the stems. I love the fluffy, yellow clouds of flowers that the thalictrum produce and loads of pollinators love them too. It is normally covered in them but not when I took this photo apparently!
Fluffy, yellow clouds of flowers on thalictrum.Astrantia
The wet corner is looking good just now but the rodgersia has not flowered this year. I think it is too shaded out by the huge royal fern. The soil is clay and there is a down-pipe just above the rodgersia. The fern and weigelia are covering the rodgersia.
Wet corner of the garden.
The moss roses and ‘Munstead wood’ rose have finally begun to flower and are looking great, but I still can’t believe how many roses I have had, and continue to have, on ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ – it is such a good do-er.
Loads of roses on Gertrude Jekyll.
I have in the past regretting planting certain plants and one of them was lily-of-the-valley. They look and smell absolutely gorgeous but they spread like mad and invaded all of the back border and the raised bed. They got right into the roots of other plants so I had to be ruthless and take the whole lot out. I would like to keep just a pot of them in the conservaorty for their lovely scent. In spring I planted out some Allium hair bulbs as I was curious about the flower heads. They look like little aliens with tentacles but when I asked facebook how far apart I should plant them everyone said that they regret ever planting because they spread all over the place! It certainly doesn’t say that on the RHS site but now I am wondering if I made the right choice, and don’t want to make the same mistake again, so I have just put them in pots so I have easy access to them to dead-head before they produce seeds. That is the plan anyway.
Allium hair flower head just opening.
And now the heat wave is over so back to normal for the time being – thank goodness as I don’t do well in the heat. The heat makes me breathless but It helps my arthritis, however it wreaks havoc with dry eyes, nose and mouth, and my eyes are now sensitive to the light which means I have to wear amber tinted wrap around sun glasses in bright sunshine. I already wear a large brimmed hat and sometimes even a nose protector! What must I look like? I get bitten by some beasties just underneath the brim of my hat and these bites are incredibly itchy to begin with and make little red blotches all across my forehead. They are not midge bites -I can hear the zzzzzzz of the midges coming and their bites are raised. So I wonder what July holds for the garden?
Late September and the beginning of October signifies the start of the autumnal, foliage colour changes that I adore. The weather is chilly and damp with a few sporadic sunny spells. This is when some of the greens of summer change into gorgeous russets, bright reds and oranges, deep purples and buttery yellows. Last month the enkianthus foliage went from green to bronzy purple, but this month they have gone bright red just before they fall.
Enkianthus bright red foliage
The golden foliage of the Acer shirasawanum aureum take on red tinges especially if the leave are in the sunshine. In autumn the develop red stems and veins before they go brown and fall.
Acer shirasawanum aureum in the sunshine.Acer shirasawanum aureum red veins, stems and tips.
Another tree/shrub that gets red stems is the viburnum and the darkish green leaves take on a purply colour. It sporadically flowers all year round.
Red stems and leaf colour of Viburnum X Bodnantense Dawn
The fuchsia is still flowering away and there are still a few flowers appearing on the honey suckle nearby. Once the flowers go on the honeysuckle they develop bright red berries much loved by the birds. The leaves on the honeysuckle in the raised bed are still green whereas the leaves on the honeysuckle on the patio have taken on purple tones. It looks good next to the purple flowered hellebore (the only one flowering at the moment) and the bright yellowy green of the Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ grass.
The dainty red and purple flowers of the fuchsia growing across the pathway.White honeysuckle flowers.Bright red honeysuckle berries next to red unopen flowers of the fuchsia.Honey suckle with purple leaves next to a hellebore with purple flowers.
Soon the purple leaves on this acer will change to a bright red red colour but for now it goes well with the purple of the sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’
Sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’ in front of Acer palmatum dissectum ‘garnet’
On the patio, in a half barrel, is a small cherry tree, Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji that has lovely green leaves during summer until they take on a peachy yellow colouration before turning bright orange just before drop.
Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji autumn colouration beginning.Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji foliage colours of orange, peach, yellow and green..The cherry tree foliage colours darken just before they fall.
The witch hazel (Hamamelis inter Diane) leaves also go from green through bright yellows and oranges and the bright reds.
Hamamelis inter Diane bright orangey red autumn foliage.
The persicarias are still flowering away, as are the astrantias, gaura and a few roses, even this little foxglove. It may look a bit odd but it is kind of resting on it’s shoulder.
Foxglove flowering in October.
As much as I am loving these autumnal colours I am already looking forward to the spring colours so I have been planting a few more bulbs. There will be some in the garden, some on the patio and a few in the conservatory. The recently revived indoor cyclamen have lovely fresh foliage and I expect to see flowers fairly soon.
Well it hasn’t been very warm this August and we have had quite a bit of rain. There is even more slug damage – the echinacea have all suffered. I just have little spikes instead of leaves, and any leaves that did manage to grow got snail damage! I caught the culprits in action so no question of who did what. I did think that the hairy leaves might just put the critters off eating them – oh how wrong I was. I tried them in the garden, then in pots on the patio, then in pots on the patio table.
There is still plenty of colour about, still in flower are: roses, Japanese anemones, verbena, selinum wallichinum, nepeta, erigeron, fuchsia, persicaria, gaura, astrantia, cyclamen, agastache, viburnum, water lilies, and even some foxgloves are still flowering. Going over now are the purple loosestrife, oregano and lavender. There are little carpets of purple flowers of cyclamen in various places in the garden.
Large white flowerheads of selinum wallichinum.Tall white persicaria.Tall red persicaria.Tall pink persicaria flowers.Pretty astrantia flowersDainty white, butterfly-like flowers of the Gaura.Cyclamen flowers.From the patio, end of August 2024
As autumn approaches (rather quickly) there is colour in the berries of the rowan, holly, enkianthus and honeysuckle. The foliage of the enkianthus is turning a lovely purply/bronze colour that looks great with the heuchera solar eclipse.
Bronze coloured foliage of enkianthus and it’s green berries.Heuchera solar eclipse bronze and lime green foliage.Fern with purple ribs and purple tinged frond ends.
The fern here has purple ribs and purple tinges on the frond ends that go well with the deep purple foliage of the heuchera next to it. There are still young bronze coloured fronds popping up in some ferns in the stumpery.
Bronze coloured fronds of the rosy buckler fern.
It is almost time to plant the narcissi and crocus so I did a quick check on the stored ones and found that some of the narcissi had some mold on them so they had to be chucked. The little oxalis palmifrons bulbs had very long shoots already and were becoming a bit soft so I chucked most of them out and planted the few best looking ones (ever hopeful). The cactus in the conservatory had another gorgeous flower on it just for one day – the fragrance was fabulous! Also in the conservatory I started to water the indoor cyclamen after their summer rest and the leaves are coming through now. There is moss growing at the base of the tree fern in the conservatory and as I was spraying the fern I thought the droplets looked good on the moss sporophytes.
Sprayed water droplets on the sporophytes.
I have made a few decisions about the ground cover plants in the stumpery: the sweet woodruff is rather rampant and is covering up other plants so that will be coming out (perhaps I can leave some behind a large log and just keep it in check), the violets are getting every where so some of them will just get ripped out, the same goes for the bugle. The lovely little creeping fern. Blechnum penna-marina, is becoming a bit of a thug and it’s rhizomes are intermingling with other plant roots so I will keep some in a large pot. It has got all tangled up in amongst the saxifrage and it has taken a while to untangle it all.
Blechnum penna-marina coming up through the saxifrage.
The dogwood that has been struggling in the damp corner beside the ramp has been moved to the stumpery where it should have more space. The large fern just kept flattening it where it was. The jobs for the weekend are putting some Blanket Answer in the pond as for the fist time ever we have blanket weed. Horrid stuff! Plus the usual cutting back, dead-heading and keeping up with the weeding. I suppose I ought to do some work in the front garden too.
We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad. I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet). I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least. Slugs have never gone for these in the past! And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads. One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process. A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa. On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath. I haven’t found any other slug do that.
Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stoneLeopard slug on water lily padSpanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.
We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt). Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.
Eft (baby newt)
On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.
Pinkish-brown grove snail Cepaea nemoralis)
In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil. The fly had gorgeous green eyes. My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.
Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).Common frog-hopper
I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around. I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others. Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees. There are also fewer wasps and flies around. Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential. Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far. The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year. However there is still plenty floral colour about. In flower now: hardy geraniums – especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.
Hardy geranium RozzaneView from the patio
In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums. The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.
