September arrived with sun and clear skies, a continuation from August but it soon changed to allow more rain and cooler temperatures to take over with odd interludes when the sun returned. Strong winds have been a feature too with gale force at times. For my first page I noted that,“September has sneaked in. The first few days of the month have carried on in exactly the same way as August, hot and dry.
The Met Office tell us that we have entered a new season. Summer has given way to Autumn, but in reality there is no change. I think that September should be tagged onto Summer.”
I then shared photos of colourful plants in our garden.
On the opposite page I looked at just a few of the gardening jobs we have been working on this month. I wrote that, “Some days during August the days were too hot were too hot to do garden tasks, so now that it was slightly less hot we took the opportunity of getting on with the monthly tasks we had on our list.”
Now is the time to cut the mixed hedge – no birds nesting! We planted three astrantias below Cornus mas.
We changed the seasonal plants in our three welcome boxes, using Hebe tricolor, Dianthus ‘Red’, Ceanothus ‘Skylark’, Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’ and Physocarpus ‘Diablo’. When we change the planting scheme next time the shrubs will be planted into the garden.
Turning over to the next page we find photos about roses in all their stages from buds to full blooms to mature hips.I wrote that,“September is a good month for roses as many are still flowering so buds and flowers are seen together with hips forming on some.”
Rosa ‘Summer Wine’ from buds to hips.
Rosa ‘Blush Noissette – bud, bloom, and dying bloom all together.
Bobby James, a rambler, produces plenty of hips.The second photo shows the hips in mottled light.
Rosa glauca covered in hips. Our largest hips.
Carrying on from roses my next page continued to be concerned with colour in the borders. Here I wrote, “Apart from the roses there are plenty more surprises to catch the eye. As days alternate between blue sky sunny days and dark wet days these plants look good whatever.”
Hardy begonia, tulbaghia and sedum.
Dahlia, sedum and echinacea.
Helenium, rudbeckia, achillea and patrinia.
More colourful perennials star on the following page where I noted that,“One of the shining stars of our borders this month is the Aster family. There are so many available and we grow quite a few. I still use the name Aster as I am not sure about all the name changes imposed onto gardeners by the DNA botanists. They show no respect for gardens, plant hunters and us gardeners.”
Wildlife in our garden features on the opposite page from our asters. I noted that, “As the month moves on temperatures slowly drop and are now in the mid to upper teens, which means that the number of insects, spiders, bees and butterflies reduces too. This Large White came into the house allowing us to see its beautiful markings. Small blue butterflies have been showing more than we can ever remember before. Ladybird numbers have remained high all month keeping us free of aphids. Frogs join us in the borders as we work but retreat to the closest pond when we disturb them.”
Garden Spiders come in such beautiful colours. They construct amazing webs.
It is good to get such close up looks at a wasp. Colours and markings are beautiful and they have such beautiful yellow legs.
Turning over the page and we see another of my 30 second sketches, this time the subject is one of our hardy begonias.
On the opposite pageI looked once again at plants providing colour for us and I wrote, “There are still plenty of plants flowering away strongly this month giving us colourful patches particularly the perennials. But there are still a few climbers, shrubs, and trees performing too.”
On the next double page spread I firstly share a watercolour sketch of Solidago rugosa “Fireworks”.
The final page shows us working away on seasonal tasks in our garden. I commented that, “Extremes of weather, dry, wet, windy whatever happens work in the garden goes on. We tidied up our Shrub Border, planted three different astrantias beneath our Cornus mas and the shed building moves on.”
That is my journal for September. It is anyone’s guess what weather will be thrown at gardeners next month!
greenbenchramblings 