There’s always a lull in the borders at this time of year when the roses go over and the late summer colour is still in the wings. This is especially true this year when foliage definitely predominates over flowers, but I have got the odd good corner. The amazing blue flowered shrub is Brunsfelsia pauciflora – a puzzling name as it means ‘with few flowers’!
A mid-summer photo that has crept into the wrong blog post? No, I took this picture this morning. The agapanthus is newly opened and in the background a Geranium maderense is looking as lush as it does in mid summer.
Last weekend Marchants Hardy Plants (Independent Nursery of the Month in June) hosted its annual event combining fine plants with fine crafts. Graham Gough has developed some superb strains of Agapanthus, especially the inapertus strains which have elegant nodding flowers, some of which I now have in my garden (see ‘Looking Good in the Garden’). I was sorely tempted (resisting for the moment due to lack of space) by the new and intensely royal blue cultivars ‘Quink Drops’ and ‘Marchants Cobalt Cracker’. Despite near drought conditions the garden looked wonderful. A clump of Eucomis comosa was the best I have ever seen.
It’s late August and it already feels like Autumn. Despite the turn in the weather there’s still some good colour in the borders and the agapanthus are at their best. The opportunity to dine for breakfast al fresco in the sheltered courtyard still remains.
This is the first time in the twelve years that I have lived here that I am facing the distinct possibility that I may lose a significant number of plants if the cold doesn’t loosen its grip soon. I’m hoping that our free-draining soil will prevent too many plants turning up their toes (it’s the wet rather than the cold that finishes off many plants), but if anything does succumb it will give me an opportunity to create some space and try something new. My huge pots of Agapanthus africanus are looking decidedly sorry for themselves, but their rootball is so enormous and dense that I’m hoping the frost won’t penetrate to the centre.
