All her lovely companions Are faded and gone."
- Thomas Moore, The Last Rose of Summer, 1830
I really must catch up, two weeks behind again and lots of topical blogs I want to write too. Oh well winter is approaching but then I always hope there will time and I fill it with other things. There is no update about our future at the farm, though a closing date for the sale has been announced for the middle of October, so hopefully we will know sometime after that, sooner rather than later, its a stressful time. Meanwhile we plod along in the nursery doing what needs done at this time of year. Fiona has done an amazing job with the propagating this year and we have an amazing amount of plants for next year. Soon it will be time to wrap up everything for winter and hibernate.
There are no Echinacea to see here
The railway garden was planted up in April 2020, so its in its first 18 months and its done so well, especially with that long cold winter and spring this year. I've planted a lot of plants here that need drier soil conditions and sun and that could quite possibly not survive in our more challenging conditions, so that makes it even more rewarding they have done so well.
I will need to do a wee bit of tweaking, but I am so happy with how its turned out, I keep returning to enjoy this garden and take photos over and over. You will find quite a few more unusual plants in this garden, again because it's the driest area of the gardens I have and suits their requirements as closely as possible. Part of the fun of gardening is the experimenting.
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Echinacea and Helenium
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| Aster divaricatus |
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| Baptisa, Stipa and Helenium |
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| Baptisa, Stipa, Artemisia and Helenium |
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| Clematis terniflora var. Mandshurica |
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| Echinacea and Achillea |
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| Echinacea and Achillea |
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| Patrinia scabiosifolia |
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| Railway garden, early September |
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| Sanguisorba officinalis 'Little Angel' |
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| Sedum 'Red Cauli' |
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| Stipa tennuisima and Astrantia |
Shhhhhh, don't tell Bracken, his occasional substitute Blue is a wee cutie and loves attention when I go for a blether with Viki in her shop at Junkshopantiques.
Quite often I find myself saying do as I say not as I do but in fairness life really does get in the way sometimes and this is what happened to my potted box balls and pyramids. The five of them used to site in front of the bay window in my last house, then they were at the side of the path of the house we rented after that. When we moved to our current rental nearly two years ago we moved all my personal plant collection to the nursery until we have our own place again. The box plants then sat in a corner behind the office for a year and a half, sadly with little attention apart from being watered.
Last week I decided it was time and I had the time to give them some TLC. I had ordered new pots for them a couple of weeks before as the metal ones they are in are rusted and it turned out no longer had any bottoms!
Firstly I gave them a good hair cut, getting their shape back and although they are a bit sparse in places they will recover. Next they got re-potted into their new pots, more about those later. I cut off the bottom 6 inches of their root balls, sounds drastic I know but this will get rid of a lot of the very old compost and encourage new root growth. With the fresh compost and a feed of pelleted chicken manure and a good watering they will recover well. I've put them at the top and bottom of the set of steps down to the herb garden where they suit the more formal setting. The last photo is of them in their original setting in between plantings of Crocosmia 'Lucifer'.
The pots I chose for these box are made from recycled rubber tyres. They look great in black and I am going to see if I can track them down to stock here in the nursery.
Its autumn, my favourite season, with winter not far behind so time to order more candles for this year from The Botanical Candlemaker. I absolutely loved the ginger star I had last year so have ordered it again along with Sacral Chakra because I liked the sound of the mix of oils in it. The high quality candles last for ages and the scent from the oils in the candle are fabulous. 
autumn
Autumn tints in the nursery today 
Rain over night meaning a full reservoir for watering 
Is anyone else's Clematis having a second flush of flowers this year? These three varieties are doing just that here in the nursery, even better they are three of my favourite varieties
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| Clematis alpina 'Constance' |
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| Clematis florida 'Seiboldii' |
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| Clematis viticella 'Royal Velours' |
What a great day, last Monday and a walk I’ve been wanting to do for a while. We parked at Philihaugh and walked up to the Three Brethren. A trio of stone cairns built in the 1500’s to marking the meeting of three estates – Buccleuch Estate, Yair Estate and Selkirk Burgh. They also sit on the Southern Upland Way and one of the many ancient drove roads that criss-cross the borders. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, warm but not to hot and a gentle cooling breeze when we reached the top. The views were outstanding in every direction, if we had binoculars, we would have seen the sea on the Scottish borders east coast. We could see the Cheviot Hills to the south and the border with England, west to Traquair and home and if I had decent fitness and time I would have walked home along the SUW. We enjoyed a picnic at the top in the shelter of one of the cairns before walking more or less back the way we had come. A great walk, not too challenging, ideal considering we haven’t done anything like that for a while. Bracken managed it all and is obviously much recovered and much fitter, Yay! It was lovely to stop at the top, enjoy the views, breath and take time to stop.
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| Beginning our walk |
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| up through the woods |
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| Higher now, looking back to the reservoir |
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| Butterwort |
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| The Three Brethren in sight |
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| Looking west along the Southern Upland Way towards home |
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| East and the Eildons |
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| Small dog under a big sky |
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| Bracken achieves another hill top and trig point |
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| The three Brethren |
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| Picnic envy |
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| Waking back |
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| Autumn tints |
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| Our route |
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Well achieved, Bracken! Your walks look lovely always.
ReplyDeleteI really hope the end result of the sale will go well from your point of view. Other options don't bear thinking.
Thank you Saila, its a relief to have Bracken back in good health again. I will be so relieved to know either way what the future of Quercus at Whitmuir is. I'm no use with waiting, I like a plan of action :)
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