Some plants in the garden have been flowering their socks off all summer. The roses and erigeron started in June and the fuchsias in July. The roses have had a short break now and then but the other two have flowered non stop for months.With all the torrential rain that we had so often over the summer, sometimes flooding the patio for hours at a time, I’m really amazed that the erigeron has survived, never mind flowering for so long.
No sooner does summer arrive at last, than the leaves start turning colour on some of the plants as if to say, enjoy it while you can, autumn isn’t far behind. Some of the foliage is still beautifully green, like the ferns in the woodland. I just wish the fern families didn’t have such long names and so many relatives, this one is from the family Polypodium.
Early mornings now have a chill about them which wasn’t there a few days ago, quite often we start off with mist or fog which the sun burns away a couple of hours later. Sometimes when looking towards Exeter we are in bright sunshine but being on the side of a hill we are above the fog, no airport, no Exeter, a bit spooky! Signs of autumn are now all around the garden, can’t kid myself any more, such a pity our summer only lasted for about 3 weeks! As soon as I see the tiny flowers of Cyclamen hederifolium twinkling in the shady borders I know autumn isn’t far away.
Garden visits are a bit like buses, you wait quite some time for one, then two come along at once! When we visited Killerton a couple of weeks ago to get inspiration for a late border, I never realised that I would find another garden with late double borders closer to home just a matter of days later. We just had to call at Cadhay Manor which is barely 5 miles away. This first photograph shows the view over the Medieval stew pond which is where you enter the garden.
With summer only really arriving in September this year, flowers seem to have gone into overdrive, almost as if they want to make up for lost time. If we start with the Clematis Alba Luxuriens on the pergola, this is now putting out lots more fresh flowers, in spite of flowering for such a long time over the summer months when it was cold and wet.
What a difference a few days of non-stop sunshine makes, summer has arrived at last and the bees and butterflies are making up for lost time. Certain areas of the garden are buzzing and flitting, movement everywhere, its fantastic.
Inspiration is needed to add late interest to the border that we have at the side by the farmers field. Shrubs have grown rather large and are making the perennials lean forward at an alarming degree. Lots of cutting back to do which will leave lots of space for more planting. A few days ago we decided to go to our nearest National Trust property, Killerton House, which dates from 1778 and is where generations of one of Devon’s oldest families, the Acland family, lived.
So much rain has fallen over the past months, that for quite some time a lot of the garden was sodden and some even under water, however all this rain is doing a lot of good to certain areas of the garden. The ditch which is between the back border and the woodland strip has never looked so pretty before, I’m tempted to get more astilbes, but then, next year will probably bring a drought! This is the old drainage ditch for the field that was here before the house was built.
Some of the foliage in the garden has started to take on autumnal tints, but I am not ready for autumn yet! This first one is a photo of the leaves of Geranium Spinners
All summer I have been waiting for our visitors to arrive, but with all the rain and cold wind that we have been having, there was no chance, until a few days ago. That morning started off very misty and foggy, but by midday the sun was out and boy, it was hot! All of a sudden I noticed lots of colours flying round the garden, the butterflies had arrived!! As well as the butterflies, everywhere was buzzing with bees, my bee and butterfly border was in business at last. This red Admiral was unlucky, no nectar in the flowers on my T shirt!
