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SEEDHEAD

I love everything about the summer, the sunshine, the long days and of course the lovely blooms which give so much colour to the garden, but at this time of year as the days get shorter and the garden is starting to look past its ultimate best, now is the time to start admiring what has been in your garden, and this is what you may discover.

I took these pictures just before dusk started to fall and I think you will appreciate that they really do capture the beauty of autumn. Notice too the spider's web, at this time of the year they are everywhere in the garden and more often than not you forget and get entangled in the sticky mess, not a pleasure if you are a bit sensitive to spiders like me!

1st picture is cephalaria gigantea (giant scabious) which has lovely pale yellow flowers, it needs a lot of space to grow into, mine is in a metre square plot and it has filled it, a lovely plant if you have the room.

2nd picture is aquilegia which I do love, but only plant it if you do, as it will self seed everywhere. I have many different varieties in my garden ranging from pale pink, dark purple and yellow.

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GREY SQUIRREL

We have lived in our present home since 1998 and as we have a small wooded area in our garden, over the years I have always thought it strange that a squirrel had never discovered it, well not until now that is. I am in two minds about our little visitor, you could say he is just a rat with a bushy tail, but I look at him and think how cute he is and we have already christened him 'Secret Squirrel', but on the other hand is he going to reek havoc around the garden big time once I start to plant bulbs, already he has been having fun turfing compost out from my troughs and I am convinced on the quiet he has been eating the fat balls from my starling, not squirrel proof feeder.

I have struggled to get a good picture of him, I tried again today but he wasn’t having any of it and leapt over my compost bins, onto the fence, then the shed, bolted up one side of the roof (we do live in a bungalow) and flew off the other side, they can literally fly. This picture was taken the other day and he is nibbling on a monkey nut which I suspect he has picked up from a neighbour's garden.

Many years ago my mum had a resident squirrel which used to come up to her patio doors, never let himself in, but for his troubles would be rewarded with the occasional chocolate biscuit of all things, he did look cute though, first twirling the biscuit around in his paws and then so neatly nibbling all around the edge. Then after all the encouragement she had given to it, would then expect sympathy from me when he uprooted all her pots to bury his finds.

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WINTER BERRIES

This time of year can be good in the garden for us, although this time of the year can be especially good in the garden for birds, as a gourmet menu awaits them; the more discerning residents will choose the red berries first, then onto the orange ones and then the yellow, if they are really peckish!

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FROG 2

I couldn’t resist posting a couple more photos of two more lovely frogs recently seen in my garden, it should be the last ones you see for this year as in a month or two they will be going into hibernation before it gets too cold for them. If the weather is favourable by around February time they should start to re-emerge, this is when they will go in search of water and will start spawning immediately.

Q. Why are frogs so happy?
A. They eat whatever bugs them.

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VERBENA BONARIENSIS

I first took notice of this plant when I saw Alan T using it on one of his gardening programmes, I loved the way it acted as a screen but that you could also see through it as well. Since introducing it into my garden, originally sowing by seed and potting on to make my own plants, I have developed a love/hate relationship with it; I love it because it encourages lots of butterflies, bees and even the hummingbird hawk moth, I hate it because it is prone to self seeding itself all around the garden giving me a lot of extra work pulling up seedlings from every crack in the paving!

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STRAWBERRY

… not ready, nearly ready, definitely ready, for eating!

These strawberries are from plants which my dad gave to me shortly after we moved here, not the original ones, as every two or three years I start off new plants from the runners, it is very easy to do. I use lovely old terracotta pots for this purpose, and just hide them amidst the foliage until the time comes when I can cut the little runners free. The strawberries hardly ever make it to the kitchen as I just eat them as I go around the garden, but I do have to find them quickly, more often than not I find that the woodlice have beaten me to it!

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ROSES - Grace

These beautiful roses were given to me yesterday by John's mum, this isn't the first lovely bunch I have had from her I hasten to add. There is nothing like fresh flowers to cheer you and your home up, although I never really treat myself to them, as I am always of the mind that it is best to spend the money on a plant for the garden, for everlong enjoyment!

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COMMA

The sun came out today and so did the butterflies; this lovely comma was fluttering to and fro from flower to flower, but was in no mood to pose, and as I couldn’t spend hours on end chasing butterflies around the garden, this was the best picture I could get.Commas love feeding off nettle plants, so if you have a ‘wild’ space in your garden, where a weed or two wouldn’t really matter, don’t pull them up, leave them there for the butterflies.

The Comma is presently a relatively common butterfly but up until the 1940's it was only regularly seen on the Welsh borders.

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COREOPSIS - Always cheerful

This variety Grandiflora Mayfield Giant makes a lovely addition to any cottage style garden or in a prairie style garden mixed with tall grasses; if regularly deadheaded it will happily produce lots of sunshine yellow flowers from mid to late summer. Multiply this plant around your garden by taking cuttings, they are really easy to do. I have found coreopsis to be drought tolerant so they are perfect for any dry areas of your garden.

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BEATRIX POTTER AND HILL TOP

A trip to Hill Top is a must see for anyone visiting the Lake District. Beatrix Potter wrote many of her famous children's stories in this little 17th century stone house. Characters such as Tom Kitten, Samuel Whiskers and Jemima Puddleduck were all created here, and the books contain many pictures based on the house and garden.

There is a good example of traditional cottage garden, containing mainly old-fashioned flowers such as honeysuckle, foxgloves, sweet cicely, lupins, peonies, lavender and philadelphus. Roses grow ground the front door. Fruit still plays an important role in the garden - strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and rhubarb.

Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top in 1905 with the royalties from her first few books, written at her parents home in London, but inspired by her annual holiday visits to the Lake District, when she died in 1943, she left Hill Top to the National Trust.

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CLEMATIS

Today, with much joy, I noticed a second flush on this clematis. I noticed this variety, Veronica's Choice, by chance in a local garden centre shortly after I lost my lovely mum to cancer five years ago. I believe I was meant to discover it, as her name was Veronica; when it is in flower I always think of her.

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SEDUM

I really like sedum (spectabile means worth seeing), it displays welcome colour at the time of year when the garden is starting to lose a lot of its vibrance and colour.

Every stem of this lovely perennial is topped with flat heads of starry flowers, at this time of year, deep pink, and the bees and butterflies love it!

Once flowering has finished don’t be tempted to cut back, when left the seed heads provide great winter interest to the garden and may even be a source of winter food for the birds.

Butterflies are drawn to blues and pinks, moths prefer white flowers.

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LARGE WHITE

I think this is what may be responsible for my sprout plants looking like lace curtains. Not enough attention was given when this was at the egg and caterpillar stage. At the same time as possibly considering this butterfly as a pest, it is rather pretty, even more so as this is a female with two spots and a streak on each upper wing, something which the male doesn’t have.

The plant it has perched on is verbena bonariensis.

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NASTURTIUM - Patriotism, Conquest, Victory in battle

I cannot rate nasturtiums highly enough, not only do they give great ground cover but the flowers are great added to salad leaves for a lovely peppery taste. They are dead easy to grow from seed; as I love all the colours available these days I grow lots of different varieties, these are two which I have grown this year.

I am an advocate for using different herbs and flowers as companion plants when growing vegetables; nasturtiums are great for attracting aphids away and are even said to repel whitefly and ants. They are good companions to broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts, courgette, marrow and squash.

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FROG

I love the frogs in my garden, they do jump out and surprise you when you least expect them to. My favourites are the tiny ones, as you can see they are so sweet. Watch out for any larger ones who may have set up home in your compost heap, already this year I have very nearly spiked two with my garden fork; also they manage to hop into your garden rubbish too, a few weeks ago I returned home from the tip to find a very large one sitting on the back seat of my car on the plastic sheeting, it looked very happy sitting there, perhaps it knew it had escaped from very nearly being composted!

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CLIMBING ROSE - Grace

I have only two roses in my garden, one I have already commented on, this is the other; it was a gift from my mother-in-law. It has a heady scent and a profusion of lovely pale pink flowers all summer long, as long as you keep up with the deadheading. I never really get time for serious pruning so basically it is allowed to do as it pleases, a few branches may be lopped off here and there but only when it starts to impede upon the garden bench.

In the summer I pick the young buds and add them to ice cubes, a simple idea but really effective, and it costs nothing.

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SNAIL

Oh dear, love is in the air, as if I haven’t got enough to deal with! I know snails can be a nuisance but I always feel so bad when I hear a crunch from beneath my feet, I just can’t kill them, I collect them all up and take them to the refuse tip along with the garden waste, at least that way they get a hearty last supper!

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THE HARVEST TODAY

Today is Saturday and there has been a breakthrough, the sun is shining, at last! Guess what will go towards our dinner tonight?

The runner beans (Lady Di) are doing well after a very slow start; the carrots are Parmex, they can be grown in containers to eat small, as you can see from the larger one it was missed, and was given the opportunity to put on a bit of weight; and the turnips are Milan Purple Top.

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SUNFLOWER ‘STELLA’ - Adoration, Pride

Listed by English seedsmen as early as the mid 1800s the blooms were sold in Covent Garden as cut flowers and the plants were grown in ornamental borders. It was also known as the classic insect attractant especially with honey and bumble bees. A border would often accompany a block of hives.

I love this one, they look lovely dotted around the garden, give much needed late summer colour and make an excellent cut flower, what more could you ask for! My sister-in-law’s name is Stella, she doesn't know it but if it wasn’t for her I would never have discovered this lovely variety.

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RHUBARB

As I didn’t have room for rhubarb in my garden this year I have grown it in a large pot, it has produced some lovely stems which will be picked shortly to make and bake a lovely crumble. I am not sure whether I can leave it in the pot for next year or whether it really needs to be in open soil, any ideas?

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STATUE

A garden without its statue is like a sentence without its verb.
Joseph W Beach

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RASPBERRY

A member of the rose family, raspberries have a wonderfully intense, sweet taste, and many consider them to be the finest flavoured of all the berries.

I have only just started growing raspberries in my garden; my Dad gave me half a dozen canes. They haven’t given me a lot of fruit this year but hopefully next year they should do better. It is great just to be able to go out in the garden and pick off the berries as they appear, before the birds find them that is!

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SALVIA ‘BLACK AND BLUE’

My favourite colour is blue so you can imagine my delight when I spotted this lovely Salvia at Hampton Court this year, this to me is as close to a true blue flower as you are ever going to get.

Blue flowers are best admired at dusk, as along with white ones they remain visible for longer than any other colour.

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THE HARVEST TODAY

Today I had my second pickings of runner beans. I have tried a few different varieties but keep coming back to this one (Lady Di). They are heavy croppers and because they are deemed to be stringless they are lovely and tender.

Another old faithful is tomato Gartenperle, they are so easy, I grow them in troughs and large pots, just as long as you remember to feed and water them they remain happy.

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SWEET PEA ‘MATUCANA’ - Blissful pleasure, Goodbye, Departure

This variety dates from about the 1930s, it is sometimes confused with Cupani which is of much earlier origin.

Everyone should grow these, they are wonderful. Each stem has four lovely flowers, each with a heady intoxicating scent. Once they start to flower they can be picked up until October, just as long as you don’t allow them to go to seed.

For anyone interested in antique varieties of sweet pea visit http://lathyrus.com/. I have got my eye on Henry Eckford which has vibrant orange flowers, which I am sure will go on my shopping list for next year.

SWEET PEA 'SPENCER WHITE SWAN'

This variety has produced masses of white flowers on lovely long straight stems, so ideal for cutting to bring indoors, unfortunately once picked they only stay fresh for a day or two, but who cares as you can just go outside and cut some more.

I have a lovely hazel tree in my garden so I use the twiggy branches as a support.

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HAMPTON COURT PALACE FLOWER SHOW 2007

After visiting the show last month I decided that my favourite garden this year was The Unwind Garden.

A path winds through the planting and makes the garden appear longer. A sunny deck is partially enclosed with a reclaimed brick wall and scented plants. A circular pool provides the garden with gentle sound and reflection. Silver birch trees provide shade and are underplanted with plants of various shades of green and contrasting foliage.

The planting is predominantly simple and elegant - a mix of grasses, ferns, hostas and other semi-shade-loving plants. Roses, lavender and other sun-loving species are planted around the sunny deck. Lush, large-leaved species give a sculptural edge to the circular pool.

On doing some research I discovered that the sponsors of the garden are a local company from Arundel, just a few miles down the road from me, not that I am biased in any way!

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SUNFLOWER 'SPARKY' - False riches, Pride

I have grown this variety for the first time this year (as the seeds were gratis). I shall have these again next year, they have been good for picking as they have multi-headed stems and are fairly short in height, although the one growing by my compost heap is taller.

I always grow my seedlings in pots and I don’t put them out until they are sturdy little plants as I have discovered that in my garden if I put the seeds straight into the soil they never reach more than about an inch before the slugs find them.

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SUMMER SQUASH ‘PATTYPAN’

For a couple of years now I have been growing summer squash instead of courgettes (this variety is Sunburst F1, great seeds from Simpson’s Seed http://simpsonsseeds.co.uk/). These are disc-shaped and yellow, like courgettes you can pick them at any stage but best to pick when small. After initially impressing my friends with a more than sufficient supply of produce, they now expect me to supply them with plants, which I grow in toilet roll tubes, they propagate really well in these, and cheap too. Also you can see that I grow my plants in last year's compost heap, once the plants are over I then know it is time to bag the compost up, and then transfer this year's compost into that bin, clever eh ...!

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NICOTIANA SILVESTRIS

Last summer I planted five of these lovely plants in a block just over a metre square, I love them, but they do grow into little monsters. As each year I am always wanting to experiment with something different from the seed catalogues, and as like most people space being at a premium, I didn’t bother with any this year. As you can see this lovely one has sprung up in the same plot, but where I am now growing my runner beans. I would definitely recommend to anyone who has a large garden to grow these ‘en masse’ as they look great in the evening light and have a lovely scent too!

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ROSA RUGOSA - Thankfulness

I haven’t given up much space in my garden for roses but I have got two of these lovely old shrub roses which I inherited from the previous owner. The flowers are a lovely cerise and the hips are huge. The first year I was here I cut both down to the base after they had finished fruiting but now I leave them alone and every year they reward me with more and more flowers and hips.

Monty Don The Complete Gardener - Birds love all berries, but tend to go for red ones first and leave the dark blue and black ones alone.