I spent last night trying to think up tag lines for a copywriting job, so am a bit later than usual for this week’s post. Writing about gardening is more spontaneous and fun than the paid stuff! SO, I have made inroads into autumnal bulb planting, and the narcissi, muscari and Dutch iris have all gone in. There’s a real sense of relief – bulb planting comes with a sense of pressure and deadlines. Still quite a few to go, and am waiting for my tulip bulbs to arrive from The Netherlands. The good news is that when I run out of space, I can colonise the allotment – Roberto has given me an extra patch where he says I’m welcome to grow flowers. This is what makes gardeners happy – give me land, lots of land. Onto this week’s first item:
1 Cotinus Royal Purple is magnificent in its autumn colour, which is just coming through, and I think the brick house wall makes a good backdrop. It’s growing to tree size now, but I don’t mind, it has great impact.
2 Pennisetum ‘Hameln’. We’ve had a couple of dewy mornings when the sun highlights every single drop hanging off every leaf and seedhead, this was one of them. Autumn can be so magical.
3 Aster. I’ve got the variety name somewhere, but you get the idea. This one is late to flower after getting the Chelsea Chop, which has done nothing to reign it in. The addition of the gravel path last spring has improved things greatly as it always looked so messy flopping onto the grass. Now it’s slightly less messy.
4 Tithonia ‘Torch’ has been pretty incredible, sometimes you can’t believe all this flowering comes from a few little seeds you sowed in spring. The only problem with this plant is that its flowers face upwards and being tall, you don’t always get them at eye-level. A few windy days have meant that the plant has flopped but in a good way, with all the flowers now turning their sunny faces to me.
5 Miscanthus with Dahlia ‘Bora bora’. Everything in the west-facing vibrant border has a bit of lean towards the best of the sun. In this case, the lovely Miscanthus plumes are framing the never-tiring Bora-bora.
6 Helianthus (Perennial sunflower). I’m so glad I put these into the border this year, they have flowered for weeks in a cheerful lemony-yellow and they are very popular with the bees.
That’s all for this week’s Six, here’s a link to many more if you fancy a peek at other gardens. I need to keep up the momentum with bulb planting and also check in at the allotment. I gave Roberto, the chap who runs the plot, some garlic cloves to plant from my own harvest this summer, and I need to go and get some weeding done. My own garden needs weeding too for that matter, there’s still plenty to be done before the cold sets in. Hope everyone has a good weekend and happy gardening for those so-inclined.
Some very nice grasses in the mix today. They really do come into their own in the autumn.
Good luck with the bulb planting!
Thanks – I’ve just got 12 Fritallaries in!
Your garden will look beautiful with all those fall colors. Now that the flower bulbs have been planted, spring also promises to be very beautiful.
Have a nice weekend and greetings,
Rudi
Thanks Rudi, have a great weekend too.
The cotinus leaves at the moment are very beautiful. I had created a photomontage a few years ago on Twitter and would have to renew it with leaves from this year. You have succeeded in the miscanthus & dahlias photo! The sun puts them in the spotlight
I love Cotinus. Such amazing colours. I wonder if I can find space for one more – maybe!
Lovely photos, especially the Cotinus. It’s almost as if you planned the brickwork/autumn leaf colour combo and that’s good news about the extra patch of land at the allotment.
Thanks – yes almost as if I’d planned the combo, with the stress on almost! I did want a purple leafed shrub against the wall but didn’t know it would colour up so wonderfully in autumn.
What beautiful, unusual plants, at least I haven’t seen or grown any of them myself. I think the Miscanthus has to be my favourite. Lovely photos.
Thanks, it was a beautiful morning. Miscanthus is well worth having if you can position it to catch the light.
It is so pleasant to see your photos and flowers great news about the extra land soon you will sell flowers to flower loving neihbours
That would be good!
Oh my…your garden photos are so enticing. I feel like my drought-baked soul just got moistened with dewdrops. 🙂
Thank you Lisa, sending some virtual dewdrops your way!
Incredible photographs! The scarlet veins of cotinus against a background of blackish purple are admirable, as are the luminous waterdrops bejeweling the pennisetum. Miscanthus and bora bora are a lovely combination, due not only to the sympathy of their colors, but the contrast of their forms, I think.
Thanks, grasses really come into their own at this time of year and help to keep things interesting.
Your blog looks a bit different this week. Have you had a makeover? Very nice anyway. It looks like you’ve had some decent weather judging by the sunlight in those photos. The tithonia do look a great colour and height, but a shame as you say that the flowers can be a little out of reach. I’ve found the perennial sunflower (is yours Lemon Queen too?)to be a a good long flowering plant. One I grew from seed was a bit rubbish though with upward facing small flowers on top of tall stems. Reading my good old Gertrude Jekyll though I notice she recommends pulling them down, which I would assume would achieve the same affect as with your tithonia. I might give it a try.
Yes well noticed, I did some tinkering on WordPress and got a new ‘theme’, there are hundreds to choose from. The sunflower is Helianthus decapetalus Soleil d’Or and is not too tall, about 1.2 metres. Apparently pruning in spring encourages stronger stems and denser growth, the internet tells me. Pulling them down might work too!
The perennial sunflower looks lovely, and I’m tempted to try one here, especially if it flowers so well. The Tithonia is another temptation! The flowers are beautiful. I think my favourite photo is the one of the dewdrops on the Pennistemum. What a great photo!
Pennisetum
Thank you, both Tithonia and the perennial sunflower are great for adding colour at this time of year. If I had to choose I’d go for the sunflower as it’s at the right height, and doesn’t take up as much space; the Tithonia get very big and tall!
Your grasses look so lovely in the light and the dewdrops. I hope my two new ones survive the winter wet and bulk out a bit next year.
Thanks I do like grasses and was relieved that mine made it through a cold winter – with a mulch of bracken from my ferns. The clay here gets wet and soggy too, it helps that they are on a slight slope I think.
I love the miscanthus with the dahlia, very seasonal. Like HeyJude I’m hoping my new grasses survive the winter and do well next year. All my cavorting around has put me well behind in the bulb planting, I still have muscari and narcissus to plant. The tithonia is so aptly named for its brightness at this time of year and the great colour in the cotinus always makes me think I must fit one in somewhere, but where!