Month: September 2024

I began my August entries in my Garden Journal 2024 by writing, “August, according to our childhood memories of the 1950’s, is a month of permanent sunshine, pure blue skies and calm days. This year such days mingle with dark grey, but the garden is so colourful it makes up for it.”

I then share a set of pictures of colourful patches in the garden.

On the page opposite our Crocosmias I wrote, “May is the month when most of our Alliums are in flower enhancing the garden with so many shades of purple, but their flower heads are fascinating through the rest of summer and on into autumn and winter. I have drawn a flowerhead as its seedheads are developing and still green. Not all of the flowers were pollinated however.”

On the next double page spread I shared gardening jobs for the month of August and looked at some of our many colourful sedums.

I noted that, “In the summer many garden jobs need doing almost daily such as deadheading and tying in climbers. Others are done less frequently but regularly such as brushing up the drive edges . Hedge cutting happens once a year, a job we leave to Ian.”

Now for a look at some of our sedums about which I wrote, “We grow so many different types of sedum and we chose them for the different flower colour and foliage colour and shape. Below are just a few of our many sedum.”

The final two pages are all about wildlife and phlox.

When looking at some of our insect friends I began by writing, “As we sat enjoying a coffee at the big table in the ‘Secret Garden’ we were entertained by bird calls. Our local Jackdaw flock, known as a ‘clattering’, regularly gave us a noisy flyby. Smaller flocks of starlings joined in on occasion. A swooping ‘gulp’ of swallows appeared for the first time in weeks,’ possibly a group from further north taking a well-deserved rest break. All around us insects explored flowering plants.”

Green Shield Bug eggs and youngster (left) adult (right) Palomena prasina.

Left: Pimpla rufipes ichneuma Right: European Potter Wasp

Anciotroclerus gazell

Opposite the wildlife little bugs I focussed on phlox and wrote, “We have been gardening together now for over 5 decades and until 2 years ago we refused to grow phlox. We both disliked them but slowly we started adding them to some of our borders as we both totally changed our minds about them.”

Below are 9 photos of some of the phlox we now grow!

So, with Phlox we finish the look at our garden in August 2024. I will look at my garden journal next time in September.

Not as warm or sunny as recent visits to Oakgate have been but we still found plenty to interest us as we followed the well-worn grass pathways taking us around and between the garden beds.

We were sat outside enjoying our coffee and cake and once finished we followed the pathway that took us over the bridge across a pond. This clematis was back in flower as was the water lily. Young Rudd and Goldfish played follow the leader in and out of plants.

Within a few yards of the garden entrance we had discovered several interesting perennials, including this Lysimachia with flower heads like the head and necks of ducks.

Hydrangeas are a real feature of the Oakgate borders, some we like others have flower heads that are just too large.

All the photos of hydrangeas so far have been white varieties, but far more cheerful and interesting were the more colourful ones in shades of pinks and blues.

Although not many of the resident perennials were in flower the day we visited the sunlight when it appeared lit each petal up for us to enjoy.

It was a surprise to see that the old orchard has been repurposed as a picnic site for visitors to enjoy.

I shall finish off my report of our August visit to Oakgate Nursery and Garden by sharing photos of two berberis with very different variegated foliage. The darker one I think is called ‘Harlequin’ but the other is new to me.

We enjoy visiting all of the RHS gardens from time to time. We would like to go more often but they involve long journeys and only one is doable in one day.

In mid-March we travelled down south of London and stayed in a hotel in Woking which is very close to RHS Wisley, which we visited the following day. The gardens are simply too large to enjoy in their entirety so we chose the areas we wanted to see most of all.

There was a special reason for choosing the date for visiting. A display of artwork in the greenhouse featured screen printing panels created by ‘Post 19’, a Life Skills and Support Centre for young adults with learning difficulties based in Farnham. We know about this very special place because our sister-in-law Vicky teaches there. I think it best to start with their display for you to enjoy.

Before entering the glasshouse we were attracted to these rather beefy hares boxing.

We wandered through the amazing collections of plants before finding the screen prints, which looked so effective among a selection of succulents.

I love ferns so enjoyed discovering some unusual specimens in the glasshouse. The colours merging into greens looked so striking. In others it was the textures that struck us.

Leaving the grand glasshouse we wandered slowly made our way back to the car. There was so much to grab our attention on the way, some typical of March time others pure joyful surprises.

Wisley in spring is a magical place indeed!