End of month view

September rushed past in a blur and here we are at the end of month view again.

Here is the side garden.  From this distance it all looks a bit fluffy although from closer to you can tell that the bed at the back of this picture is working quite a bit better than the bed at the side.  The side bed has been planted mainly for spring and summer.  The back bed works well in spring, is a bit empty and sad in summer and comes into its own later in the summer as the crocosmia Lucifer and the sedum bulk up, the rudbeckia shines and the dahlias and cosmos fill out to take the space earlier occupied by the oriental poppies.  It is in this bed that I am intending to put the miscanthus which (having seen and admired Karen's fabulous grassees) I have ordered from Knoll Nurseries.

I love this sedum and, wonderfully, it loves our soil and produces enough extra plants every year to allow me to spread it about the garden.

I love this dahlia too.  When the new grass goes in I shall have to have a rethink about the use of my dahlias.  I might move them into the side bed so that it is a little less green and fluffy at the end of summer.

This is looking past the new cherry tree at the end of the orchard towards the cutting garden.  The orchard is really settling in this year and starting to look like a collection of trees rather than some random sticks.  The cutting garden has had a mixed year.  The sweetpeas have been fantastic.  The lavender has grown and flowered to the extent that I even harvested some and made some lavender bags to take to our friends in Provence.  I think taking coals to Newcastle is so outmoded.  We middle class types take lavender to Provence.  But the rest of the flowers have been a bit of a disappointment.  The irises have hardly flowered at all.  The cosmos are crowding out the echinacea.  The zinnias, grown for the first time this year, are only just now starting to really flower and will at any minute be cut down by cold.  The whole thing needs to be rethought for next year and I am getting stuck at the moment.  The end with the perennial plants - globe artichokes, lavender - is fine.  Do I grow more perennials or dig up the unsatisfactory end and replan it as a place for annuals?  Any thoughts gratefully received.

Here is the sunny bank.  The circle in the grass is the evidence of the base of the sun umbrella.  We gave up and took it in last weekend and now the sun is shining.  The main colour here is more sedum, some penstemon, and a bright pink salvia, bought on a visit to Wollerton Old Hall with blogging friends.  I hope it is hardy enough to stay outside but I have taken some cuttings just in case, just like a real gardener.  So far, they are still alive.

This is the kitchen garden.  This is an example of the power of the camera.  It looks pretty nice here.  In reality it looks ok, but a whole lot scruffier than this picture suggests.

This is one of the apple trees in the kitchen garden.  There is a wonderful crop this year.  Usually the big apple tree in the orchard wins hands down and the kitchen garden apples are a bit of an also ran.  This year the kitchen garden is actually producing a crop.

There are marigolds growing round the runner beans.  I must find a use for marigolds.  I am sure they are useful already, calendula cream and all that.  Actually I withdraw that.  Marigolds are useful for their beauty.