The Garden I Work In , Roundup Red, Garden Radio.

The garden I work in.

What is the opposite of a Post Script or addendum? Whatever it is  this is one.

 I wrote the  words below on the twenty fifth  of October and now it is the fourteenth of  November . The frosts  I was worrying about have  come  and not really done much damage  but just  given a little bit more urgency to  lifting and  bringing in the tenders and making sure we have cuttings of those plants  too big  to lift.

What has also happened since is that  we have been given the go ahead  by the NGS to open the garden  one day next year. It is exciting news for us. It will be on the last Sunday of August. I will give you a reminder nearer the day. 

Rather than  give you a before and after  I am doing an after and before so here are a  couple of  November afters - after the first frost  that  is -  taken  yesterday and the  October befores are all the pictures  after. Got that?

 November Afters

 The bananas are a bit burnt  and  the dahlias are soggy.

Abutilons, Phytolacca, Alocasia and Tibouchina still holding up - just - though you can't really see them very well in this  picture.. 

The yellowing leaves of Vitis coignatiae make this after look better than the  before. 

The October Befores.

It is the morning of the twenty fifth of October . It is a time of year that  gets any one who grows  half hardy and tender plants  for summer display a bit twitchy .  You know  frost is inevitable sooner or later  but  you don't know just when  it will arrive and  you like  to keep the display running as long as possible.

 Mostly, unless some diabolically cold weather suddenly comes along,  you know the first one or two frosts  might brown things off a bit but don't usually kill them and that gives you  time to drag them indoors and to double check that you have cuttings  of all the things you are happy to lose to the cold  for the sake of a  slightly longer season.   

In this south facing corner of the garden  there is a nest of tender beauties snuggled in  trying to keep each other warm. Cold is not the only enemy of  many  tender plants. The wet can  also be a threat  so with the weather still holding up and no forecast of frost I decided the succulents  have suffered enough from  the recent downpours  and are not likely to dry out now so it is time to  bring them in and give their roots a chance to dry - a shame really because they are still looking good. 

The Tibouchinas are also still looking good along with Abutilon , Correa, Alocasia  and the big Acacia baileyana Purpurea or 'Songlines'  -   I don't know which - at the back ,

Any one grown  A. baileyana out doors? This one stayed out in its  pot  last year, it is too big to keep  shuffling it in and out of the greenhouse. Sometime in the next few weeks it is going to be planted out into the garden to takes its chance so any thought on its likely chance of survival would be welcome. It is in a sheltered garden  in north Gloucestershire. 

Succulents , don't you just love 'em. 
Middle back is a Euphorbia - the   African version of the New World cacti,

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We tried  leaving some other  plants out last winter and they all came through with flying colours . Most impressive is the red banana  Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'. Free from the constraints of a pot  it has grown very big as you can see below.......

..... there is also Tetrapanax , a green banana ( I don't know which  species / variety.) Dahlia 'Blue Bayou', some self sown Bidens ferulifolia, Salvia involucrata , Phormium cookianum 'Tricolor' and right at the back  some of this plant   below....

......it's Rostrincula dependens . In all my years of gardening  how come I have only just found this plant?It has been out in the border for two years and always looks good at this time of year , September through to end October, a real treat. 

One plant that has been a real surprise regarding its toughness is  the variegated Tradescantia in the bottom left of this picture. ( There is a better picture below.) It makes a  lovely house plant but I never thought it would survive three winters outdoors and come up bigger and better each year . The Ricinus are self sown! honest! - gardening can be really good fun at times.

I have never quite understood why Eucomis bicolor is not grown more often. 
It is tough  as you like and  has  a very exotic and unusual as  well as slightly comical look to it.
This one  is seeding itself around to the point of becoming a nuisance.
 How can I grow the tall Eucomis without them falling over?  




Less exotic plants are still looking good around  the garden although with frosts on the way this week  it might all look very different in a few days time.
I have championed this Aster  before and I am going to again. It is just the best thing for this time of year. Aster lateriflorus 'Horizontalis' ( unfortunately it is now Symphotrichum lateriflorum var. Horizontalis - I have no chance of remembering that. ) It is on the  middle right of this picture . 
The  golden leaf is Cornus Midwinter  Fire, not necessarily the best winter stem colour Cornus  - but by no means bad -  and  I did not know that when I  planted the garden. 
It looks good behind the black  rods of Digitalis  parviflora.

 

Aster lateriflorus 'Horizontalis  with Hackonechloa  and Bergenia - colour shape and texture - text book stuff.

 This is all herbaceous planting so come late winter the ground is laid bare except the  Paulownia but even that will be cut back to within an inch of its life , well at least to 18 inches -  45 cms - in late winter

I have just checked out this plant on a few websites and  I can't believe this but no one mentions its scent - it is sweet, heady and one of the big treats of early autumn. You will catch the scent when working  elsewhere in the garden and  wonder just where that intoxicating perfume is coming from  - it is from  Persicaria polymorpha. 
One site remarks as if it is a major plus that it does not  self seed around - it doesn't need to because in good soil it  puts out some fairly hefty  runners  but please don't let that stop you  growing it  if you have the space.   
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Any one else got  purple snakes in the garden?


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'Roundup Red'

Soon the countryside will be flooded with  autumn  colour as leaves drain out their green and  take on their autumn hues but as a prelude we can warm our hearts  with  swathes of  glowing 'Roundup Red'  as the land is prepared for  cultivation.

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Garden Radio
I end on a sad note.

No matter how keen you are an awful lot of  gardening is fairly tedious  so a radio should be part of your  garden kit. I don't like to cut myself off from outside sounds with earphones  so I carry around  a beaten up old Roberts  radio bought for me by my son what must be ten years ago . It finally gave out two days go but hey, guess what, they are still doing the same model. AM , FM and best of all Long Wave. Long Wave  suits me best  because you can't get FM ( nor DAB) everywhere I work but you can always get Long Wave, and therefore Radio 4. Down side is  you can't  avoid the daily service  but the upside is you can get the test cricket loud and clear and  I am learning to love the Shipping Forecast

Not surprising it eventually gave out with all the crud and grunge that had accumulated inside.

Whoo hoo! Look at my new radio, and get this  it was just £20  from Clarkes in Shipston on Stour - can't go wrong.

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Coming soon
The Vineyards of Chipping Campden, fabulous foliage and fantastic fungi.

PS I last posted in March 2018 , It opened with a short piece on B***T  - who would have thought that that debacle would not be finished yet. 

PPS. Please do what you can to help Extinction Rebellion either financially or by other means of support.