Garden 2013 no 8

Garden 2013 no 8.

First thing to say is that when I came home from France and walked through the gate, I was astounded at the amount of colour in the garden. I thought after almost 2 weeks of neglect in the sunshine, every thing would be wilted and brown. Happily it wasn’t. The nasturtiums were in bloom at last, not the masses of flowers I’ve had in previous years,  but there were a few nice big bright orange flowers hiding amongst the leaves. 

The Buddlea bush looked about   10 inches taller and full of blooms, (also full of butterflies). I can see why it’s called a butterfly bush, it really is. 

Just before I left I filled the old strawberry tub with some inexpensive bedding plants and when I returned……………the old strawberry tub was transformed into a mass of blue and white, it makes a very pretty addition to the garden for next to no cost or effort.
 

The Lavateria has done very well this year, I had a mass of bright pink flowers before I left, and I returned to even more flowers. This particular shrub had flowered so prolifically, I had to stop and dead head it before I even reached the front door, and its continued to flower ever since then.

 It must be  2 or 3 years old now and they’re only supposed to last a few years,  I’ll have to remember to prune it vigorously next spring to try to keep it going. 

I also need to prune the Spiraea Douglasil back next year because that has had more flowers this year than ever before. I’m a bit undecided about this plant, it looks very pretty with its soft pink spiky flowers but after a short while in bloom, the flowers go a horrible scruffy shade of brown and don’t look at all attractive.
 
I think the biggest flower success this year has been the Montbretia, the lovely bright orange flowers that grow from dense clumps of upright sword-shaped foliage.

I love the story behind this plant; it originated in Southern Africa but has become naturalized in (of all places) the Western Isles, off the northwest coast of mainland Scotland. There they grow in great colourful swathes along the roadside, in country lanes and beside the lochs. Considering this plant originated in Africa its amazing that it can acclimatise  to the harsh climate of the western isles. 

This is the first year they have grown in my garden, last year I put a couple of the little corms in the ground along the border, and this year, I have lots of flowers in 2 sizes (2 varieties). In a couple of years, I should be over run by them.
The yellow tansy is still in flower, it’s lasted for ages this year and it still makes an impressive sight as you enter the garden. And last but not least is the Campion, I had Rose Campion, (which is what this is), pink Campion and white Campion in the garden this year. The white and the pink are the wild flower variety and the rose is the cultivated variety. The white and pink flowered earlier in the year but the rose still has the last few flowers of the year.
Next year I intend to carry on with the fruit, it pretty much looks after itself and I love making the jams and chutneys, I’ll also do the radishes and spring onions in tubs because they are easy, delicious, don’t take up a lot of space plus you get crops every 6-8 weeks. I’m not sure if I will carry on with the veg though because at the moment, I want to reclaim my lawn and enjoy the flowers and butterflies. I'm in the middle of repainting gates and fences and after that, there is fruit pruning to be done in the Autumn, and thats about it until next spring.