The year, like the swallows is flying by

 I love this wee golden leaved ivy, Hedera ‘Buttercup’. Ivies often get a bad rap these day and with some of the larger growing, invasive ones rightly so. But there are a whole collection of smaller growing ives which are perfectly well behaved and deserve an invitation to your garden.

Buttercup has golden yellow leaves, with the older ones taking on a greener hue through summer. Growing to 2m in height it can be trusted not to be badly behaved. Indeed, I have planted mine on a stone bird bath in the wildlife garden, where I love seeing its wee leaves creep around the edges and up the pedestal.

Other smaller ivies to consider which we have in stock are Hedera helix 'Anita' and Hedera helix 'Fantasia'.

Some of the plants catching my eye this week in the nursery and gardens, there are so many everywhere you look. The gardens are very subtly starting to take on more late summer autumnal hews in yellows, reds and oranges. Grasses are flowering and the meadow has lost the blues, pinks and whites of early summer giving way to grass seed heads, hypericum and knapweed.

Meanwhile the exotic corner is looking just that, with agapanthus in flower (none for sale sadly) and the eucomis producing its curious pineapple flower heads (we have a few for sale, raised from my own plants). Dianthus and penstemons have been deadheaded and are producing more flowers.

Agapanthus 'Dokter Brouwer'

Veronicastrum virginicum 'Lavendelturm'
and Sanguisorba 'Crimson Queen'

Rosa shrub mundi

Rosa 'Eye Paint'

Thalictrum lucidum

Galium verum

Hemmerocallis 'American Revolution'

Hemerocallis 'Destine to see'

Eucomis bicolor

Eucomis pole-evansii

In the back garden at home this week. I've moved some pots around on the patio to separate the acers so I can see them better. There's lots of colour in this wee garden as summer goes on, thats the trick is to make it interesting all year round.

Sunflower 'Claret'

The herb bed

Succulents and cacti

Allium sphaerocephalon and Philadelphus 'Aureus'

Lily 'Stargazer'

Allium sphaerocephalon

In the front garden at home this week So pleased with this garden and its just over a year old!

Fresh food this week with rhubarb from our own garden, beetroot from Isabel, courgettes from Pillars of hercules and veg all ready to be roasted for dinner

Nigella or love in a mist, very relevant as I had them in my hair and bouquet when we got married and growing in the gardens. Sarah-fiona also planted up a beautiful bowl of them as a gift on our wedding day

The baby swallow are out the nest, look at those cheeky faces

Baby swallows first flight

I made the most of some dry sunny weather to get some photos of august flowers in the nursery gardens. As always there are so many lovely plants doing their thing, but here are some of the highlights this week

Hemerocallis 'Destined to See'

Sunflower 'Claret'

Filipendula purpurea 'Elegans' 

Rosa rugosa

Leucanthemum x superbum 'Esther Read'

Hemerocallis 'Marion Vaughn'

Acanthus spinosus Spinosissimus Group

A day off at home and once the heavy rain and thunder had passed I got the back garden tidied, the grass cut and the beech hedge down the side of the garden cut. Lunch and dinner in the garden and some book reading with company after all the work was done.

Simply a juicy blueberry

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