Summer re-boots in September!!

It’s warming up by mid day and cooling off quickly in the evenings. There’s misty mornings, dew, and glistening spider webs  coating the shrubs, its not really autumn just yet, but there is a hint of it. It is 23C and blue Sky’s this first week of September!! How long can it last, is this an ‘Indian Summer’ on its way?

There’s still lot’s of interest in the garden as the herbaceous borders play out their last flurry of colour. Rudbekia and Heleniums hold well with the vibrant Red Hot pokers and rich orange Hedychiums. Some of the plants we grow as annuals can be quite outstanding in terms of longevity with flowering. Take the common garden Cosmos with its range of pastel pinks,reds and white. It flowers its heart out from June right through to the first frosts if its watered and fed, now that’s good value for money. The double coloured Nicotiana mutabilis also flowers all summer, and if we get an average or mild winter it can be perennial and start off again the following spring. The continuous rain in the summer did benefit some plants like the Rhododendrons and particularly the Hydrangeas whose flowering display has been wonderful and looking even fresher as we go into September.

On a more recent piece of garden news, we have just been presented a Black Mulberry tree from the “Worshipful Company of Fruiterers” in celebration of winning the Historic Houses association “Garden of the Year” award this year. They are a progressive London city Livery company that has been actively supporting the city of London and the fruit industry since the thirteenth century !! The planting ceromony took place on the 5th September after a guided tour of the gardens followed by a lovely lunch in the marquee on west lawn. The tree we have been given has been grown from the original tree planted by King James 1 at Charlton House, London in 1606 when the King had attempted to start a new Silk industry.