My September Garden
It was good to return from holiday last week to find the garden in great shape thanks to the August rain. The asters, japanese anemones and sedums are flourishing, and the roses, jasmine and various clematis are blooming for a second time. As for the grass……… well it’s green again!

Earlier in the year I had an acer tree removed from the end of the garden. It was a hard decision, but it was just too large and created too much shade in what is the sunniest part of our north facing garden. I planted Erigeron karvinskianus to trail around the tree stump and added a few sun loving perennials including Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’ and Salvia nemerosa ‘Ostfriesland’. In view of the drought and my badly timed August holiday I decided to postpone the rest of the project, which was to enlarge and reshape the original circle around the tree stump. In the event the drought ended as soon as I left the garden in the tender care of my two sons, but the reshaping has become my September project.

As I regularly post flower photos from #mylittlegarden on Twitter, people often ask exactly how ‘little’ is ‘little’. Well for the record the garden measures approximately 14 metres by 12 metres. Far too small for everything that I’d like to grow but large enough to make a nice relaxing outdoor space. The borders are a mix of shrubs and perennials and it has three seating areas (every garden needs at least three). The main patio makes the best of the morning sun; the arbour is great for morning coffee and the paving circle faces west and is perfect for catching the evening rays (with a glass of wine of course).

Asters have to be one of my favourite late summer flowers and as well as ‘Mönch’ I also have Aster amellus ‘Veilchenkonigin’ one of a few purchases from Bluebell Cottage Gardens this year. It’s quite a compact variety of aster and very similar in colour to the Salvia nemerosa ‘Ostfriesland’. Asters are a magnet for the bees and butterflies so I get regular visitors to the flowers …… perfect for garden wildlife photography.

Another perennial that I’ve been really pleased with this year in Geranium ‘Ann Folkhard’ which has been flowering for months and is still going strong. Like all geraniums it is very easy to grow and the coulour is just amazing. I intend to divide this one next spring and plant behind the salvias so it can weave its way around them. It will also provide a great contrast to the silver leaves of the Stachys ‘Silver Carpet’ that I am planting as ground cover in front of the salvias.

With all the space I’m creating I’m on the hunt for some end of season bargains so rather fortuitously it’s the Autumn Plant Fair at Arley Hall this weekend. And as a bonus I get to wander round the gardens with my camera as well. Fingers crossed it doen’t rain and hope to see you there!
