A sucker for vivid blues in the garden, it saddens me to see vibrancy of that colour drain from the hydrangeas and the bog sage as autumn progresses…
Read moreDay 293: foxglove on a wall
Plants that are generous with seeding themselves about can divide opinion, particularly when their munificence gets them branded as weeds…
Read moreDay 292: Cape flower
Just as we’re in the process of planting bulbs for next spring’s display, we’re reaping the benefits of those we planted earlier in the year…
Read moreDay 291: Peruvian lily
If you’re going to grow the Peruvian lily, or alstroemeria, you really need to commit to it…
Read moreDay 290: Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'
Since it seems to be a year when persicaria wins the prize for the genus I blog about most often, I might aswell sneak another in before they all go to sleep for the winter…
Read moreDay 289: Fastsia japonica 'Spider's Web'
I’ve long been a fan of the fatsia – false castor oil plant or Fatsia japonica, to give it its full names, both common and botanical…
Read moreDay 288: Cercidiphyllum japonicum
If you find yourself in need of a giggle one October, you could do worse than loiter behind the katsura tree by the nursery tables at Great Comp…
Read moreDay 287: the dying of the light
A soggy kind of grandeur settles over the flowerbeds during October…
Read moreDay 286: Parrotia persica
Parrotia persica, otherwise known as the Persian Ironwood, is one of those plants of whose features I can’t quite decide upon a favourite…
Read moreDay 285: the essential edge
Having inadvertently become a champion for a kind of wildlife-friendly, slightly chaotic look to the garden, I feel a confession is in order…
Read moreDay 284: tweedy tones
Into the second week of October, and it’s getting tweedy out there in the borders…
Read moreDay 283: Darmera peltata
If you’ve always had a hankering for a giant rhubarb in your garden, but are lacking the space that the wonderfully prehistoric-looking Gunnera manicata would demand…
Read moreDay 282: Amsonia illustris
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that some plants are just closely guarded secrets – amsonia, or bluestar, is one of these…
Read moreDay 281: Euonymus europeaus
The fruits of the European spindle tree (Euonymus europeaus) always steal a march on the foliage…
Read moreDay 280: Symphyotrichum turbinellum
Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
‘Aster’ was so much easier to get your North and South around, wasn’t it? Still, Symphyotrichum it is these days (for at least the Michaelmas daisy types), such as S. turbinellum, though aster will do just as well in all but the most pernickety* of company. This particular aster is a favourite, appearing on the scene right at the end of the growing season to floof out the borders with joyful clouds of small, lilac flowers with yellow centres. It’s a strong grower and somewhat top-heavy so, on all but the poorest of soils, it’s going to need staking, unless you give it a particularly severe Chelsea Chop at the end of May which will give you shorter and even later-flowering, but sturdier plants.
*talking of pernickety, should this have an ‘S’ in the middle? Only across the pond from where I sit, apparently, where our North American friends decided the original Scottish dialect word needed a little sibilance to make it zing.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
Day 279: a face full of spider web
If there’s a way to walk down the garden on an autumn morning without getting a face full of spider web, I’ve not yet discovered it…
Read moreDay 278: October veg swap
Nothing quite says ‘October’ like a solitary, overgrown courgette (marrow) in a soggy veg patch under a gloomy sky…
Read moreDay 277: Echinacea ‘White Swan’
Ever hopeful of more flowers, I have my eye on the recently planted Echinacea ‘White Swan’…
Read moreDay 276: some beans
The remaining borlotti will be sufficient for little more than a particularly diminutive casserole…
Read moreDay 275: Virginia creeper
Renegade vines clamber over the fence from next door, tangling with the buddleia and inveigling themselves into the lilacs…
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