"By all these lovely tokens September days are here.....................

...............With summer’s best of weather, And autumn’s best of cheer."

-  Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

I've really been enjoying this lovely weather, it's great to have some sun and warmth in September, before the weather turns and the long nights arrive. It will also help dry the ground out a wee bit before we get into winter. 

Butterfly on Origanum 'Rosenkuppel'

Happy days, stock beds are finally finished, tidied, potted, propagated. I've had to move most of the Molinias because I've run out of room. David says I need to stop stocking so many varieties, aye right. So if you need Molinias please ask. I'm working through the stock list, doing cuttings and collecting seed so I've plenty stock for next year. The polytunnels are full already.

The grass stock beds finished

The Pink border has been a real success. Planted in 2018, it is really starting to fill out. It begins with Tulips in April, then Lupins and on to Sedums and Sanguisorba with Molinias to give texture and movement. It provides the boundery between the stock beds and orchard. Although there are only 10 varieties of plants in this big long border, it's all about simplicity and repetition

Box balls

Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum Group

Geranium psilostemon

Liatris spicata

Lupin ‘The Chataleine’

Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea 'Cordoba'

Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Rosea'

Sanguisorba tenuifolia 'Pink Elephant'

Sedum 'Jennifer'

Tulip ‘China Pink’

Sanguisorba 'Pink Elephant in the pink border

Sedum 'Jenifer' and Liatris spicata

The Pink Border

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Bracken the nursery dog keeping an eye on things
when he was in with me this week

Bronze Fennel in the summer border

Morrocan mint

Bees on Agastache

The cool, sunny early mornings of these hot September days means pure blue skies and low sun and a chance for some photos when I arrive at the nursery.

Another wee project you can easily do at home for a winter interest container. I lined the basket with black plastic and then planted it up with Carex buchananii, Carex comans 'Frosted Curls', Cyclamen hederifolium and some dwarf chrysanthemums.

Today I got to create a new border. I've been so busy in the nursery for the past few months, propagating, potting and looking after all the plants in the stock beds and keeping the rest of the gardens tidy, so it was lovely to do something creative. The photos are rubbish as it was so sunny (not complaining, loving the weather) but you get the idea. So this is another section of the long border where the black currents used to be along the edge of the stock beds. I've created border "sections" and each one has a different theme or colour scheme. They are divided with blocks of different varieties of Molinia (a nod to my design hero Piet Oudolf). After digging out another 5 black currents (I now feel justified eating all that pizza last night) I got on with planting it up. This border section is a combination of whites, blues and yellows and I can't wait to see it mature and grow:

Aruncus dioicus

Briza media

Camasia leichtlinii subsp. Suksdorfii Caerulea

Campanula lactiflora 'Pritchards Variety'

Chamaenerion angustifolium 'Album'

Delphinium Black Knight

Echinops bannaticus 'Taplow Blue'

Galega officinalis var Alba

Inula magnifica

Malva moschata 'Alba'

Silphium laciniatum

We visited Monteviot Gardens near Jedburgh on our day off last week, it was a beautiful day to be in the borders. I knew there were gardens here but didn't realise how extensive and lovely they were and looking beautiful in the September sunshine. We explored the winter garden, rose garden, terraces, water gardens, arboretum, woodland paths, garden of contemplation and views over the River Tweed and borders. Beautiful and so peaceful and quite. Lunch at Woodside, shopping in Gala on the way home. More in another blog soon.

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