Shades of Autumn

Published on by Catherine26 Comments

July was a wet, windy and cold month, and I see signs of autumn creeping into the garden already. But if the gorgeous colours of the Rudbeckias will stay with me for the next few months, then I’m ready to welcome Autumn in!

Six on Saturday

Rudbeckias. Recently planted Rudbeckia hirta ‘Enchanted Glow’, Rudbeckia hirta ‘Enchanted Ruby Crush’ and Rudbeckia hirta ‘Enchanted Romance’ (above and below) are described as perennials by the online garden website I bought them from, but the site goes on to state “Rudbeckia is best grown as a magnificent half-hardy annual”. I’ve never been successful in getting Rudbeckias through the winter, but I plan to leave them in the soil when they die back and hope for the best.

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Gardening Resumes

Published on by Catherine26 Comments

My lovely family visitors have returned home. The house is quiet. We still have two grandchildren nearby to keep us on our toes (they do that with enormous ease) but it’s nice to be able to get back to my summer gardening duties. However, in just under two weeks my two teenage grandsons will arrive from the US for a visit, so I’ll possibly have to duck out again from Six on Saturday for a couple of weeks and I expect the garden will get a bit untidy, again.

It’s summer…so they say…and heading rapidly towards the final summer month, but I feel the garden is taking on that distinct feel of autumn a little bit before it’s time. Perhaps it’s because it’s so cool and there’s been so much rain or because the roses are currently taking a rest. In a few weeks though, there will be more colour back on the rose bushes, as they’re showing plenty of new growth. Meantime, colour is being provided by cosmos, clematis, hydrangeas, heleniums and rudbeckias (more about rudbeckias next week).

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Summer is Hiding

Published on by Catherine31 Comments

I know many of you were hit by torrential rain last Monday. Here, it started at 11 am and thundered down without a pause, through the day, and continued overnight.

The forecast had been for a good, sunny, warm day and I have to ask myself – how could they get it so wrong? My son had taken one of his holiday days to work on the construction of his garden office, and my husband had gone out early that morning to help him. Instead of adding to the building, they spend the entire day trying to waterproof it. They were soaked to the skin and so discouraged.

As for me – well, I stood at the patio doors and watched the plants slowly bend over until they reached the ground. We then had a couple of sunny days when most of the plants lifted themselves back up. Yesterday though, we returned to very heavy rain and overall temperatures are poor.

Does anyone know where summer has gone?

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The Unexpected Heatwave

Published on by Catherine25 Comments

When I packed my cases towards the end of May and headed off to visit my family in Washington D.C. never did I think that home would be in the grip of temperatures almost as high as they were in D.C. – with barely a drop of rain. This is Scotland after all, and I thought any problems in the garden would have been caused by wind, rain or a late frost. That was not to be, and although my son had dutifully watered the garden weekly as I requested, it just wasn’t enough.

I’ve been home for a couple of weeks now, and busy with family, the garden, and life in general. I could ramble on all day about the damage the unexpected heat and drought made to the garden, but instead, I’ll share with you, a few of the photos I’ve taken over the past two weeks of…wait for it…torrential downpours, strong winds and (for July) ridiculously low temperatures (Highs of 14C (57F)! Quite the opposite of what I returned to such a short time ago.

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