End Of August In The Garden

It's amazing how much colour there still is eh... The amber queen is gorgeous so dainty looking...

looks lovely Louise...the fungi is weird though!

Lovely Louise....in the first pic..the gaura looks lovely and airy :-o))

I like the photo of the four-legged 'flower', Louise! LOL.

Seriously, all looking good still....:-)))) (apart from the fungus!)

Thanks girls :-)
I really dislike that fungi, Spritz. It reminds me of a sea anenome type thing :-/
It's all rubbery and horrid :-/

I agree - I don't like it at all. Shame you can't remove it, though.

If i get rid of them they just produce more !

I quite like the Fungi it reminds me of a sea anemone too, your garden certainly has lots of colour louise, I love the Astrantia!

Thank you Hb :-)
I adore astrantias !
The other one that's flowering is in the white-yellow border, it's a white one called 'Shaggy'.

it's all looking l:-)ovely Louise

Love your planting schemes Louise, may have to borrow some lol.

It's the continuity you've planned in which I admire so much. I'd love to see a blog showing each border through the seasons - we could all shamelessly pinch your ideas, lol.

Lol !
If we had 'sections' on this site we could all do that kind of thing ..... our gardens in winter, spring, summer and autumn.
Hey ho :-/
We could definately do with 'sections' on here :-//

Lovely photos of your lovely flowers, Louise. Your shots of Epimedium "Amber Queen" are great as well! Could almost take your fingerprints!

I thought the same, Balcony (re prints) !!!

Question - what is that epimedium doing flowering now?

LOL !!!
No idea but it's got 3 flower spikes looking really pretty in that border !
Another question .... why is my pulsatilla having a 3rd flush of blooms ?????

It certainly is a garden of anomalies, Wagger.

I love you colour combinations Louise, especially the echinacea with the alstoemarias. I have primroses in bloom, I've had them for years and they never flower at this time, odd :-)

Thank you Ba :-))
I'm sticking to plants that do well here now, it's such a dry garden that i'm going with the flow (or not!) of it these days, if a plant can hold its own here through the dry spells it's a real treat and bonus - those that can't are not getting replaced !
Echinaceas, Alstros, Gerberas, Campanulas, Astrantias, Erigerons, Roses, Grasses .... all seem to well here :-)))))
I've got just 3 Monardas that survive the rest hate it here, most of them get dusty and mildewed in the blink of an eye :-((((((
As have my Scabious when they're in their 2nd year :-((

I'm compiling a list of the successful ones - aswell as the ones that hate it so i can remember what's what !

Plenty of colour here to keep you smiling, I especially like the Astrantia, and the roses. In fact your borders are full of interest, lovely to see them Louise.

Thanks Stroller :-)
(Your garden looks good, was just looking at the blog!)

Have you ever known geraniums to suffer from mildew ?? My new one, a double, summer skies, is mildewed. I've grown geraniums since I first became interested in gardening and I've never seen it:-)

I've never had geraniums suffer from it, that's very queer.
I have aquilegias that suffer all the time from it but never something as tough as a geranium - 'Summer Skies' is such a pretty one too.

I'll take a pic and put it on as a question I think:-)

Lovely garden Louise, reminds me of Carol Klein's on the telly, and the Gaura is soo pretty. It looks so delicate I cant believe it will survive winter so have never bought it. Have you had any problem with it?
Im a big fan of alstroes..they never stop blooming, was that the Inch. "Ice" I see? I have that one and its done very well, whereas my Inch. "Glow", the pink one has provided a three course meal for slugs. I will have to bring out the beer and if the hedgehogs get drunk so be it!

Hello fellow Avon person !
The alstro in the 2nd pic is 'Selina', quite a tall one .... they do very well here, it's quite a dry garden and i have to water it a lot but they like it here :-))
The gauras are tough plants in this region, they do well as long as they've got plenty of sun .... definately perennial though - they always come back each year.

By the way, yes, the slugs and snails adore the new alstro growth, you have to pellet for all your worth because when the stems are stronger/more mature the slugs and snails don't go for them.

Love the garden Louise, :)
can you advise what might have eaten my Astrantia which I purchased in Wisley? It's near some heuchera which seem to be troubled by caterpillars so I guess it might be those. I wonder if it will recover if I treat it to kill caterpillars?

I used pellets last year Louise, but this year Im the proud landlord of two bonny hedgehogs, so I bought some beer instead. Hedgehogs die if they eat contaminated slugs. Not sure if they get sclerosis of the liver lol..I read they get the same diseases as humans

Rm, i had a really dreadful problem with caterpillars for 2 years running.
They attacked all my (numerous) heucheras aswell as all my shrubs, i used various insecticides but the ONLY one that actually did any good was one called Provado.
It's dearer than the rest but Tesco had it on offer through the spring and i stocked up there, it stopped the problem almost immediately and now i just spray when sporadically and all is still well.

The astrantias and all other perennials were attacked by the caterpillars but were also attcked by the slugs and snails so i used pellets.

For 3 years i used no chemicals at all but i lost a lot of plants and had the rest permanently deformed/attacked so 'this' year i fought back - 'with' pellets and Provado.
It worked. Quickly and very efficiently.

Hi Tetrarch, there are pellets that are safe to dogs and cats now, i wonder if they'd be a safe option for the hedgies ......
My thought process being, perhaps if the domestic animals ingested them and were okay would the hedgies be too, if they ingested them via the slug .....
Hmm, don't know.
I understand your concerns though, i would have the same reservations.

You 'can' make up your own 'recipe' for a strong garlic mixture and spray that as an insecticide .... i wonder if that might be 'your' option ?

Lovely late summer colours Louise :o)

Thank you, Hywel :-)