What a difference a week makes, especially when we have a week of lots of showers! At last we have had the rain we wanted and we will be happy with all the rain that is forecast for next week too. I had thought that I would be showing photos of all my hardy fuchsias this week, but most have packed up flowering with all the heat, so it is a mixed bag once more for SOS.
One fuchsia that is still going strong is Delta Sarah, she was supposed to have been moved a few years ago but this is growth from the root that must have been left behind and is growing over 6 ft tall! I think I can use this growth for some cuttings , then a hedge of it would seem to be a good idea if she can take the heat so well.
Another hardy fuchsia that hasn’t had any watering and is flowering away as though it was a normal summer is the wild Fuchsia magellanica by the back door. This grows intertwined with the Japonica by the back door and they both seem very happy in the morning sunshine.
It’s meadow mowing time, or rather time to get the strimmer out. Matt, the gardener strimmed the meadow on Wednesday and spread the soil from all the mole hills that have appeared among the meadow flowers over the summer. I will soon sprinkle some wild flower seed , hoping they will germinate where the mole hills were. Matt was warned not to strimmer anywhere near my orchild which you can just about make out on the right. Hopefully this will all look a lot better and more like a lawn in about 3 weeks time.
A couple of weeks ago I was complaining that the heat had reduced the number of cyclamen flowers in the woodland. When I went for a wander this morning, there has been an explosion of flowers, where there were just one or two ……..
,,,,,,,,,,there are now 5 or 10……
……….or even 20+
Autumn tints have arrived on my little Mahonia nitens Cabaret on the rockery, which has never happened before, I can only assume it is the heat that has caused the colour change and hopefully the plant will be ok.
Another plant showing a change of colour is Acer Sango Kaku which is in the woodland. Usually this acer will turn from green to a pale buttery yellow, but not this year, it is more of a burnt orange, but the leaves aren’t crispy, they are still full of moisture.
Rosa Charlotte, one of David Austin’s roses, is continuing to flower in spite of everything, I’m sure lots more roses will join in now that we have had so many showers.
My other acers are all doing nicely at the moment and haven’t started to change colour yet, I think we might get some surprising colours this autumn from different plants. The rain has been very welcome by the plants and myself, I’m sure they will all be bursting into growth once more.
Thanks again to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting, if you would like to see gardens and plants from around the world, do pay Jim a visit.
Lovely to see the cyclamen, I have spotted one so far in my garden.
They have really appreciated the rain Rosie.
My fuchsias have also suffered, Pauline – but your ‘Delta Sarah’ is beautiful! The Fuchsia magellanica is also looking very healthy. You must be happy to see your cyclamen return and growing so well in the woodland – the rain must have encouraged them.
It’s nice to know that a few plants can cope with whatever is thrown at them Catherine, we are going to have to get used to hotter drier summers and to find the plants that can cope. The rain has certainly made a difference this week.
The cyclamen were just sitting there waiting for the right moment, how wonderful. Lovely rose. Still raining!
They were waiting weren’t they Gill, they should be very happy now with heavy rain each day all this week!
Delta Sarah is such a good plant. Mine has done okay too, despite the lack of rain.
The gardener was supposed to have moved this one, but a root must have been left behind Graeme. It has grown to over 6ft so I think we must try and move this root somewhere else as I have planted a peony in that spot!
Delta’s Sarah is a safe bet. I have one in the garden, but I see that yours is much more floriferous. Surprised to see these cyclamen flowers already. I’m going to check mine.
The cyclamen are doing very well since the rains came Fred, plenty of flowers now.
Fuchsias do seem to need plenty of water, don’t they? Especially when it’s hot. They are definitely a favorite plant/flower for me–as an annual or potted plant in my climate. The Cyclamen and all the other plants are lovely, too. I wasn’t familiar with the term “strimmer.” It sounds like a good way to level things out.
A strimmer is an electric or battery powered tool for cutting long grass Beth, back in the “old days” a sythe would have been used. I think we are all finding out which of our plants can cope with high temperatures and no rain for the summer months, the weather this summer has been much hotter and drier for the UK.