September in the garden

September in the garden

Every Thursday, I look forward to working with Kathy the plant display expert at Alexandra Palace Garden Centre. I think Kathy enjoys these days as much as I do for they enable her to appraise the work of others. Her criticism might be sharp, but it is always insightful. I am ever glad to listen and to add an observation or two to my notebook – the source of many ideas for these blogs.

Kathy has, as everyone acknowledges, ‘The Eye’. She intuitively knows how to combine plants and pots together to create harmonious displays to inspire our visitors.

Kathy also notices little details that I often miss. Yesterday when we were watering in the hardy perennials area she pointed out that blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca) had seeded itself into the gravel path, and when I looked down I could see several little tufts rooted below the tables where their parents had stood.

The fact that many plants are now setting seed shows that we are moving from late-summer into autumn. It is a reminder to gardeners who want their gardens to burst into bloom earlier next year, because now is the time to sow the seeds of hardy annuals to get a head start. Cornflowers, pot marigolds, Limnanthes, love-in-a-mist, and annual poppies are easy to grow and worth trying. If vegetables are your thing then lamb’s lettuce and salad leaves can be sown now for quick crops. Hardy spinach can be sown this month for picking in spring. This is your last chance to sow summer radishes for autumn cropping. Winter onion sets can be planted in September, and it’s also the start of the garlic planting season.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/annuals-biennials/sowing-autumn

September already seems to be racing by when earlier months felt like they were dragging on. Summer took a long time arrive, but she departs too fast.

I call this time of the month the Rudbeckia Moment. The end of summer seems to arrive when Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ is at its most glorious. This black-eyed, single, yellow daisy makes an ideal partner for ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus sinensis. It is also the time when our tables are packed with Japanese anemones, crocosmia and Kniphofia.

Late September is the time to divide these herbaceous perennials (and others such as daylilies, irises, and hostas) if the clumps are looking crowded and tired. This will invigorate them and provide you with the opportunity to multiply your plants.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/perennials/dividing

‘Have you noticed,’ said Kathy, ‘that the squirrels have already started burying acorns in the plant pots?’ It is hot and the garden centre is bursting with colour, so all I was thinking about was watering the thirsty plants. But in her palm, looking like fat throat lozenges, sat three acorns. Like the squirrels burying nuts, we should be thinking about planting spring bulbs for colour next year. I like planting masses of large Dutch crocuses in the lawn in autumn to bring a cheerful splash of colour in spring. These bold flowers are loved by early emerging pollinators, and they will have finished flowering before you make your first cut of the lawn next year.

This Thursday, Kathy inspected the display that she created last week. With many of the plants sold, I had filled in the spaces of her original composition of Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Cortaderia ‘Silver Comet’, and Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’ with pots of zesty green Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’.

I told her if she didn’t find it satisfactory she could change it. After some internal deliberation, “the Heuchera,” said Kathy “must be replaced with something less jarring to reconcile the harmony of the other plants”.

I walked past the display table thirty minutes later and noticed the lime green had been swapped for pots of the Festuca glauca. And yes, I have to admit the effect of this small change produced a display that was much more satisfying to the spectator!

Further reading:

With a mini-heatwave predicted for this week, here are some tips for saving water when watering your garden:

https://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/blog/top-10-watering-tips-for-the-heatwave/