Plant for all weathers

Only one plant has coped without complaint through all the strange weather this year, and that is Catananche.  It survived the hot,dry spell without needing to be watered (even in my sandy soil) and didn't sulk when the weather turned wet. The buds are interesting in late spring and the pretty flowers work well in a natural looking planting At this time of year,even the papery seed heads look good. I can't think of a bad thing to say about it.

We can't pretend that it's still early autumn now that the frosts have finished off the late summer vegetables. The whole garden looks a bit limp and blackened until they're cleared away. Once that's done everything seems to come to life again and we start to notice how promising the winter vegetables are looking.

I spent a day looking at the gardens at Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire and hearing about the research that has been done into their history. Created by the Holford family in the 19th century, features include a Pulhamite rock garden. Fundraising for their restoration is underway. With the help of a grant, work started on the unusual Victorian herbaceous borders in the Italian Walled Garden earlier this year. Remarkably, it has been carried out by volunteers and one member of staff on just one day a week. The results are impressive. The gardens are open to the public this week while the school is closed for half term. It's worth a visit or two to watch their progress.                

Weeds

The weeds went into overdrive as soon as my back was turned. I was only away for a week but there must be two weeks worth of weeding to do. I find it quite therapeutic - almost meditative - and the dogs will be happy. At this time of year they can stay wherever I'm working without needing to retreat into the shade.     
   

It's five or six years since I planted some of the borders and they're starting to look very tired. A few of the shrubs and several of the climbingTrachelospurmum jasminoides were badly damaged in the snow. I left them alone this year just to see whether they'd recover. They haven't. Echinacea that I planted 3 or 4 years ago is slowly disappearing. It bulked up well in its second year, but since then the clumps have become smaller and smaller.  Time for a re-think this winter. 

I spent a few days looking at gardens on the Isle of Wight last week.  The weather was atrocious but the gardens (well chosen by the Isle of Wight Gardens Trust) were worth seeing.  Northcourt Manor - also excellent B&B (http://www.northcourt.info/)  and Ventnor Botanic Garden were two at the top of my list. Lots of exciting plants that we can't grow without protection in this part of the world - yet.

Tomorrow (14th) is a fruit day so I'm planting some early peas.  I've never had much success with autumn sowings in the past. Perhaps planting on a fruit day will make all the difference..