TWO YEAR CHEERS AND CLASSIC FEATURES
(Bloomin’ Great returns to its roots - so to speak)
Back to the ninth month of the year, the garden seems to put on a rather refreshed show as late bloomers bask in the golden sunlight of late summer and early autumn.
This overlap sees some of the best colours of the year grace the borders.
Japanese Anemones put on a real show of pink and white, adding height to shady spots and look superb towering above mounds of romantic Hydrangea heads.
Later in the month, the first dew covered Colchicums pop out of the ground softened by the first autumn showers.
In sunny areas of the garden, Medittereanean plants come into their own. Some of the best include the exotic Hibiscus, the vibrant Ceratostigmas (right), the soft blue Caryopteris and the climbing Campsis with their tropical red blooms.
In the cottage garden, the gardener is enticed by the first Michaelmas Daisies and the vibrant Sedums, which flower for weeks on end throughout the autumn.
In beds Dahlias continue their vibrant show and are often at their best in September. On the patio, exhuberant double Begonias should keep you smiling.
They’re friends and they’re Anemones all rolled into one!
The individual blooms are short-lived but established clumps flower freely over a long period of time. The flowers compromise an unusual combination of a yellow centre button surrounded by five large rounded petals which are delicate in appearance. These petals are usually in shades of pink but some gorgeous white varieties are available, such as ‘Honorine Jobert’.
The plants themselves are pretty easy to grow in a well drained soil and although none too fussy, they thrive best in partial shade. In heavy clay soils they can be slow to establish but will do so in a light sandy soil where they can become rather invasive and may need dividing every three years.
Sometimes they can self-seed quite freely and I have seen them grow in damp courses and drains.
THE RIPE month of September is traditionally associated with harvestime. Many of us consider this to be a time of haystacks and vegetable picking. But saving seeds of ornamentals can be very rewarding. Some, such as Polemoniums and Nigella can be crushed and scattered wherever space permits. Others such as Alliums can be brushed and the seeds will broadcast themselves over the soil.
Some varieties such as Malva and Hollyhocks are probably best dried and then sown in trays of seed compost in a cold frame or well sheltered spot in the garden. And others, such as the architectural Acanthus are probably best stored dry ready for spring sowing.
SEPTEMBER is a time to reflect on the successes and failures of your perennial borders. Certainly you should be thinking about what you would like to see next year.
I have found the best way of doing this is to walk around the garden and make a list of what you would like to move and where to. Afterwards, it helps to draw a rough plan of your border and ’place’ your plants accordingly on paper.
On a more practical note, it would be a good idea to get rid of any weeds and throw out any plants you don’t want anymore, perhaps because they are invasive. It’s also a good time to stock up on bonemeal for the big October and November move around. Stock up on spring and summer flowering bulbs for underplanting.
It’s also a good time to start off a few seeds such as Nigellas and Polemoniums in pots to plant out in any gaps this autumn or next spring. If necessary, order bare root roses from catalogues for November planting.
Ups a daisy, it’s the Plant of the Month
SEPTEMBER’S Plant of the Month is the Michaelmas Daisy - one of the most popular harbingers of autumn. Their blooms are usually around an inch or two across which are often borne on tall stems and so these look good towards the back of a border.
Typical flowers come in shades of blue but pinks, purples and whites are available, even though they are usually found on dwarfer plants.
They are best suited to a sunny spot in a well drained soil and look good with other daisies which like similar conditions such as Rudbeckias and the Echinaceas.
One of my favourite varieties is the Aster Frikartii ‘Mönch’ which displays its bright Lavender blue flowers en masse from July to November or even later.
As someone once said, ‘the end is dry’
IT HAS been a very long and dry hot summer and there is more to come.
Fine warm conditions are expected until mid-month when some useful showers could arrive. Chillier north-easterly winds are likely later in the month but it still looks rather dry.
Here’s what to exp-oct next month
IN OCTOBER you will have pepperpot poppy pods, autumn hot pokers and fiery acers to look forward to in what will be a very busy gardening month.
Tip tip hooray! Tovey’s Tips are back by demand.
1. Keep watering copiously, even on cool days if the drought persists. Apply plenty of water to long-suffering established plants and even trees.
2. The lawns have not grown a lot in the dry conditions, but a light topping with a mower each week will keep them looking neat. But don’t set the blades too low, and refrain from the autumn feeding until wetter weather sets in.
3. Plant all sorts of spring bulbs in a cold frame or sheltered corner in pots for bringing indoors to provide a splash of winter colour.
4. Cut back, lift and divide, Dicentras and replant them in dappled shade with young Myosotis plants (otherwise known as Forget-Me-Nots) for stunning spring shows. Water well!
5. Take cuttings of Lavender and Rosemary. Choose non-flowering shoots, strip their lower leaves and insert them into small pots of sandy compost in a well sheltered spot.
6. Leave windfalls for birds to feed on. Good apples can be individually wrapped in paper and stored in dry cool airy dark conditions.
7. Azalea Mollis’ seem to have been attacked by mildew in the dry weather. They can be sprayed with fungicide but this can have little effect. Instead, spray them with water on a daily basis.
8. Vacant areas of the vegetable plot can be sown with green manure. This will germinate rapidly to provide green ground cover during the winter. In spring, simply dig the leaves into the soil and a few weeks later get your vegetable seeds planted in.
Why not tell your friends about Bloomin’ Great?
WHY NOT tell your friends about Bloomin Great? This edition and previous ones are available to read on-line, so get them all to log onto: https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/bloomingreat/. Why not put your ideas forward for future features by E-mailing us at: Email: bloomingreat@postmaster.co.uk.
See you next month!
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