Dahlias

Did you know that Dahlias were originally grown for their edible tubers?  I haven't tried them myself, but I think I'd still prefer to grow them for their flowers.

I grew all of these dahlias from seed at the beginning of this year. I had so many plants that I had to give a fair amount to other family members for their own gardens!

Ok so the slugs are partial to them, as are earwigs, but to be honest they have really paid for their keep with so many different colours, variations and sizes, that I had to celebrate them before the frosts come along to blacken the stems.

Dahlias come from Mexico. They were sent back to Europe by the Spanish settlers who had made Mexico their home in the 18th century. 

The plant was named after Andreas Dahl.

Plants range from dwarf bedding varieties to giants that can tower over The Man That Can!

Autumn - Where each leaf is a colourful flower.

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came -

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

~George Cooper, "October's Party"

 
I'll begin this record with an update on a couple of plants I blogged about last month.
The Violas have now been planted up and are for the moment hung outside the back door while they settle in and find their roots.
 

 

 And the long-awaited flower on the clematis has burst forth. What a stunning colour!

Talking of colour, the sedums are still packing a punch with their tiny star-filled blooms

The little dog checking out the new gates. Both dogs really enjoy the new-found freedom of the front garden while I potter about, safe in the knowledge neither can escape or bite a passer-by.

Astrantia Major purpurea 'Ruby Wedding' enjoying my heavy soil in partial shade. I'm going to leave these to self-seed.

Rosa 'Pascali' coming back into flower. The books say it's lightly fragrant, but sadly I cannot detect anything. Shame really it would be the perfect Yorkshire Rose.

I rather like Autumn. Misty mornings and colourful sunsets. The sickly-sweet perfume of fallen leaves, perfect for kicking through as a child before the gardener in me returns and sets to collect them all to compost into valuable leaf-mould. Happy Gardening!

September colour

The end of the Summer is definitely here. The nights are fast drawing in, and the temperatures are dropping like a stone as soon as the last rays of any sunshine dips down behind the trees.

The garden seems to be giving one last burst of colour before it falls prey to the chilly nights and frosty mornings.

I'm going to let the plants themselves do the talking:

I didn't seem to have a great deal of fortune with my gifted Brugmansia, as the leaves kept being eaten. Maybe next year.

We've managed to have the gates, railings and the tops of the walls finished off this weekend. I'm so pleased with the result. The Man That Can is walking around with a big cheesy grin on his face, as he's pleased as punch too. The boys are thrilled with the gates as they have taken on the responsibility of opening and closing them when we go out, and return. I wonder how long before the novelty wears off!

I've added this little clematis bud simply because it is the very first attempt at flowering in the three years we've grown it. I just hope it manages to open before the frosts get it.

And finally, a brief look to the future. I've bought some tiny violas to grow in the hanging baskets again either side of the front door. They performed brilliantly through the cooler months previously.

All I need now is a couple of hours to get them planted up and the old bedding composted.

Hidden Gems

The clearance of the veg plot has allowed some hidden gems to spread out and enjoy the end of Summer sun.

Cosmos

And Godetia, all from a sprinkling of seeds after we'd planted the veg, just to fill in with a splash of colour.

It's funny. With only the exception of  a single evening spent with our friend for her 'Pink Party' celebrating her 60th Birthday last month. I don't ever wear pink. I simply don't like it. But in the garden, I have to have pink flowers....and a quick look around the place reveals an awful lot of pink in all it's various shades, like these hot pink Pelargoniums.

Back in late Spring/early Summer I bought a couple of Sedums. I rather liked the deep purple leaves of this one as it really brings out the acid yellow/green of it's neighbouring Choisya.

The bees love it too!

Last year I was given some small frilly poppy plants for a project. They bloomed their socks off, and once ready, I collected it's seeds. Earlier this year, these seeds, along with a number of other poppy seeds collected on our travels were scattered here and there to do their own thing, and they haven't disappointed me, as you can see from this beauty. The mother of our friends in The Netherlands grows various poppies in a wild patch of her garden, and she very kindly collected some seeds for us and brought them over last month (many thanks). Next years' display promises be a real show-stopper!

Harvest

While we still have one basket of cherry tomatoes yet to ripen enough to harvest, everything else in the garden has now been harvested. We did really well with our courgette plants over the Summer, but our pumpkin and butternut squashes failed yet again. We're still havesting some fat juicy strawberries, but our raspberries were often attacked by Mrs Nutkin.

My very first attempt at growing beetroot didn't really have the wow factor, but maybe the taste will make up for it.

The sweetcorn was a real hit with the family, but not all of it developed well. Lola found these 'ends' tasty enough though, along with a good few earwigs that we found in the folds of the leaves.

More french beans and courgettes.

And finally a freshly washed tray of potatoes, onions (don't ask), peppers and tomatoes along with a freshly laid Lola egg.

All in all, not a fabulously large crop, but enough to rustle up a meal or two for our family.

Few Flowers...

...fill me with such pleasure like my fuschia's. I know I've blogged about these before, but I really must show some more, not only to share them with you, but as a record for myself for future years. I do have the names, but not to hand, so I'll have to edit this at a later date.

This one gives the appearance of more than one bush as the flowers change colour as they age. It's one of this years acquisitions, and is already filling out nicely in the front garden.

Dangling down from a high wall basket under the kitchen window, at the perfect angle to appreciate this fuschia.

Frilly tutu's dancing in the breeze from a hanging basket beside the front door.

And the other side of the door, these vivid ballerina's have star quality.

Her Name Was Lola....

Lola, our lone hen has got over being left all alone following the death of Bumblebee's white rock 'Grace'. In fact, she seems to be having the time of her life! She is laying her lovely white bantam eggs once more, much to my delight as I do like an omelette for my lunch. She is having a field day running about the garden nibbling on the grass and munching on spiders, the odd caterpillar and anything else that appears edible.

When she first arrived last year, she was nicknamed 'Lola No Tail' so we could tell her apart from her sisters. We had pretty much given up on there ever being a tail, and as time went on, and the feathers disappeared from her chest too, we actually feared she would be the first to leave us for the great nestbox in the sky. We used to joke that she was practically oven-ready. Not that we eat our girls, you understand.

In the last six weeks, Lola has undergone a transformation, from that scruffy oven-ready baster, to this beautifully full-feathered showgirl! Just look at that tail!

Lola was my favourite from the off. The first to lay, and also our best layer despite a couple of 'broody' periods. She was always the first to come and investigate what lovely edible treats I had and is quite tame. Her favourite pastime with me though is when I'm weeding the garden. She's always right at my side to see what delicacies I might dig up for her!