End of Month Review – A Busy Month

Autumn is the busiest time in the garden.  Not only the general clear-up of untidy plants and perennials that don’t give winter interest but more importantly it is THE time to plant new plants and take cuttings.

I visited a couple of plant fairs one in Rome in September (not very good) and another at Villa Landriana at the beginning of October but the highlight was a visit to Courson just outside Paris.  I think it is the best plant show I have ever visited and I bought as much as I could squeeze into a suitcase (but more of this another day).

Plant fair at Courson

I managed to find a few plants that I’ve been searching for.  Cytisus battandieri has been on my list for ages; sadly the example I managed to track down is infested with some kind of scale insect (I have picked them off the back of almost every leaf!)  The RHS website says that generally they are disease free so I hope that now it is in the ground it will strengthen and be able to fight any new infestations, I will keep a close eye on it and continue removing any new scales.

The other plant I’ve had my eye open for is Leonotis leonurus which I first saw in the Botanic Garden in Phoenix on New Year’s Day this year and which many of you helped me identify as I wrongly surmised it was a Phlomis (from the form of the flowers you can see why I thought this).  I now have three as I think they will be drought tolerant and are a bright cheerful orange, a colour I really enjoy when the light is bright in summer.  For a strong contrast I’ve also planted some new deep blue Agapanthus nearby; I’m hoping this will give a zinging contrast to the path border at the top of the slope that meets the rest of the garden.

Leonotis leonurus

Thanks to Helen at Patient Gardener for hosting this meme; visit her to see what other gardeners have been up to this month.

Wordless Wednesday – The harvest is in

Family came to help harvest

For more information about harvesting olives click here.

Wordless Wednesday – Spring, Summer; No it’s nearly November!!!!!!!!!!!!

GBFD – Greens not Reds, Yellows or Oranges

Although we have reached the third week in October there are very few true signs of autumn in the garden; in the countryside and along main roads Pyracantha berries blaze in red and yellow, the grapes have mostly been harvested and we are about ready to harvest our olives so I am aware that winter approaches.  But somehow most of the garden plants are determined to put on new foliage to replace that lost during the drought so for the most part when I look at the garden it fills me with hope rather as it does in spring.

The Mulberry still has all its leaves and hasn’t changed colour at all.

In the evening light, Nandino has hints of orange

By the gate, agave and euphorbia both look fresh and not tired as in summer

Artemisia has put on lots of new foliage

Seeds of Californian poppy and Verbascum are germinating everywhere, yes there are also a few weeds too!

But the birds know it is autumn and each evening there are more and more getting ready to leave.

If you would like to join in Garden Bloggers Foliage Day all you need to do is leave a comment with the link to your post.  I look forward to reading all of them and seeing what the foliage is doing in your spring garden if you’re in the southern hemisphere or what shades of autumn colour is filling your garden if you’re situated in the northern hemisphere.

I came accross this post the other day and think it fits the bill. click here to see some amazing autumn colour.

Plant of the moment – Kochia trichophylla

This annual plant grows quickly to form a small conifer shaped bush that during summer is bright green.

Kochia trichophylla, as it has looked all summer

Then as it begins to flower it becomes tinged with pink.

Kochia trichophylla – just tinged with pink

When in full bloom, it glows pinky crimson.

Kochia trichophylla, great in an autumn planting scheme

I was given a plant a couple of years ago, it self seeds prolifically; this year there are plants all around the garden, I think I put the seeding plants into the compost!  But unwanted seedlings are easily removed and they fit well with grasses and Asters so a great addition to the garden.  Not many plants of this size actually self seed and become a good size in one season.

It picks up the colour of the Miscanthus beautifully

Wordless Wednesday – Threatening rain!

GBBD – Roses Again

It hardly seems possible that we have reached the middle of the month of October already!  Again it is Garden Bloggers Bloomday hosted by Carol at May Dreams Garden.  If you have some time to spare why not visit to see what is blooming in Gardens all over the world.  I always try to look at one new garden each month but there are so many that sadly it is impossible for me to read them all.  But I do very much enjoy reading about the gardens I follow on a regular basis.  I feel as if I know these gardens but there is always something blooming that surprises and delights me.

In My Hesperides Garden most of the roses are blooming again.  Not all as profusely as in May but enough to perfume the garden and make me forget that it is nearly winter.

I am still surprised that 2 months ago many plants were deep in summer dormancy – i.e. they looked dead and now have put on new foliage and are flowering.

Click on the image below to see all the flowers blooming in the garden for GBBD October.

Blue butterflies are still enjoying the Perovskia

Autumn light – dusk

The evening autumn light is magical; it washes the garden in warm colour.  Fleeting though it is it is one of my favourite times of day in this season.

The rays of the sun wash over the trunk of the mulberry making the seat under it even more enticing, if only for a few minutes.

Where would the garden be without grasses?

The light captures their ephemeral beauty.

….. and then of course there’s the sky!

GB Harvest Day- Autumn Plenty

The cooler days are encouraging some things to produce more but it is inhibiting the growth of others.

I have removed all the tomatoes from the greenhouse, even though they were beginning to produce more foliage and flowers I don’t think there is enough time for them to ripen.  Even the few tomatoes that are still being produced outside don’t have the same flavour and I think they will be pulled out next week too.  Most of the cuttings I took from the tomatoes at the end of last month did root but it is something I need to do much earlier.  I will try again next year at the end of June or certainly by mid-July so that I can plant strong new plants when the first cropping ones are becoming tired from over producing.

Peppers, aubergines and chillies are still producing reasonable crops, I was able to make one last Mediterranean roast vegetables last week.  Basil and Thai basil need to be cut ruthlessly otherwise they flower and this in the end will stop them producing the best leaves.

Red pepper outside, with more green ones that may or may not turn red!

These yellow ones are in the greenhouse

A smaller variety of aubergine that I grew from seed

In this very narrow bed, I squeezed, auberines, chillies, chard and celary

Mediterranean roast vegetables

I am harvesting huge quantities of Dwarf green beans; yesterday there must have been 3 kg. too many at once, but that’s the problem with dwarf beans, it meant I was able to give masses to the guy who helps me in the garden, I don’t freeze them, really I grow vegetables to eat seasonal vegetables, I have been better at successional planting of the beans this year and I have some more plants growing now, hopefully there will be time for them to flower and produce some beans before the weather becomes too cold; yesterday I sowed a few more in the greenhouse just to see it they will grow there and perhaps give me fresh beans up until Christmas.  I also sowed spinach in the greenhouse and in the garden, plus some Bok choi outside.

A few of the beans from last week; yesterday this washing up bowl was almost full!

I harvested the last of the Barlotti beans – these were amazing this year as from one sowing I had three harvests, some as fresh beans and some as dried, I’m looking forward to soups made with these and just cooked with new olive oil drizzled over them when we harvest the olives and make oil.

I’m picking small quantities of strawberries and raspberries, just enough for a taste of summer.  Pomegranates and quinces are about ready to harvest.

Just a few raspberries almost every day

The splitting Pomegranate tells me it is ready to pick

My quinces are pear shaped the apple-shaped form is “the golden apple” from the garden of the Hesperides, from which inspiration this blog takes its name

The wild rocket, arugula, has lots of nice strong tasting new foliage now and the pretty yellow flowers can also be added to salads.  The ‘cresto di gallo’ another wild leaf that I use in salads has produced hundreds of new baby plants all over the Slope so that editing and eating the very first new leaves will help the other plants have more space.

I picked one last cucumber last week, and zucchini are giving me a meal every couple of days but are nearly finished, most of the leaves have died back so I don’t expect many more.

New winter vegetables are ready to take over.  I’ve already eaten a ’pointy’ cabbage and several others are ready, red cabbages are hearting-up and broccoli are just beginning to form heads.  Some fennel bulbs are a reasonable size so I’ll use them soon, I might put some plants in the greenhouse to have a little later in the year; I love raw sliced fennel with sliced oranges, a few black olives and a drizzle of olive oil as a refreshing winter salad.

A caterpillar of a Swallowtail butterfly was hiding on its favourite food supply – fennel.

All of these brassicas are nearly ready to eat

Delicious pointy cabbage (a little eaten around the edges

There are lots of lemons and limes, I would like to make marmalade from them this year; if anyone has a reliable recipe they use for lime marmalade do please let me know.

Lemons

Limes

I’m joining The Gardening Blog for their Harvest day meme.  Visit them to see what they’re harvesting in spring.

Plant of the Day – Sedum

In truth Sedum is a plant that gives pleasure over a very long season, not just for a day.  The newly emerging foliage in early spring already adds beauty to the planting scheme.  I like the thick, moisture retaining leaves; I like their colours which range from bright green to bluish to purple.

By Mid-September the flower heads are present but they take a while to actually open, several weeks even.  Bees and butterflies find them irresistible.  Better still it is so easy to take cuttings, pieces of stem or leaves will all grow to produce new plants if just pushed into some sharp compost.  The cuttings I took early this year are even flowering; I’ll be planting them all this week.

Sedum spectabilis ‘Iceberg’

Sedum spectabilis ‘Iceberg’ – I like the pure white flower

…and that all the parts of the flower are white, so not distracting from the overall effect

This was given to me by a friend, who doesn’t know the variety – it is one of my favourites, bright green foliage, bright pink flower heads that change to a satisfying deep red.

Starry flowers attract bees and butterflies

Sedum Matrona combines well with grasses, here with Penesetum villosa in the small island and Stipa tenussima

I’m not so sure about the colour combination of purple leaves and ‘brown’ flowers in I think S. ‘Purple Emperor’

Two varieties (one is S. Matrona) mixed with Miscanthus and ground cover Verbena in the LHB.