Thanks to Helen for hosting EMV; again it is so hard to believe it is the end of November already.
November has been the perfect month for a gardener; many days of warm sunshine interspersed with life sustaining rain. Today (Wednesday) isn’t nice, heavy rain is falling, there is thunder and lightning which means that the internet is intermittent and it looks black outside, so not a gardening day today!
Not very much has changed in the garden since last EMV except that the walnuts trees have now lost all their leaves and the Mulberry will have done so after the strong winds today and tomorrow.
I have planted garlic (last week) and all the bulbs, except for 25 tulips, are all safely in the ground.
I have been tidying the beds, weeding and planting. The smallest bed, the circular rose bed needed the most attention. Gaura lindheimeri self-seeds profusely in this bed and I hadn’t cleared all last year’s seedlings which had grown so large they were swamping the roses; my plans to do a Chelsea chop didn’t happen so many plants were approaching 1.7 metres. I potted up lots of smaller plants that should make good plants to swap and some with larger roots (almost rhizomes) I transplanted onto the slope where many of the existing plants had perished in the drought. Gaura remains in the spaces between each variety of rose. I also removed 3 large buckets of material to the compost heap.
I then decided to define the quadrants of roses more by planting Miscanthus Gracillimus midway to the centre of the circle between each type of rose and position a Pennisetum villosum in front of the Miscanthus. There were already 2 Miscanthus and one huge Pennisetum in the bed. I was able to divide one of the Miscanthus into 3 which gave me the required four; the Pennisetum is a bit of a thug, it spreads very freely so it was easy to divide it into four large pieces plus a dozen or so smaller sections that I planted onto the slope, replacing some Stipa tenuissima what had more dead material than green. I think the Pennisetum will act well to hold the soil on the slope and they also make better ground cover and weed suppressant than the Stipa.
Pennisetum villosum is drought tolerant in my garden and although it isn’t very pretty in mid-winter it soon puts on new growth in spring and then seems to flower until the first frosts.
The circular rose bed is (or was) the same dimension as the circular void in the middle of the formal garden and it forms the link between the formal front beds and the much more relaxed island beds. Using a void and a positive space isn’t really to be strongly recommended because in fact you can’t SEE that they are the same, but it does give some rhythm so in this case it works. The edge of this border has never been strongly defined before so I decided to use some crazy paving that had been on the front of the house (no, don’t ask why!) to sink into the ground to delineate the shape better.
Here are the roses that are still flowering in the bed this month.
Rosa ‘Tradescant’ also has a couple of flowers but I didn’t take a photo on the 24th November when I photographed the above.
Even my favourite rose ‘Veilchenblau’, which usually only flowers in early summer has put on a few flowers to charm me.
What a HUGE difference cleaning that bed made – you must have felt good after that! (and tired, eh?) I like the two super tall grasses that look like Purple fountain grass?????? – Happy Nov !
There are actually four of the taller grassses and they are Miscanthus Gracillimus. Christina
Glad you’ve had a good month for gardening Christina. It’s very interesting to read about your design approach for your garden.
Everything still looks lovely Christina! That last rose would also be my favourite – a beautiful shade of violet.
and it smells of organges too! Christina
Wow! 😀
I have a Veilchenblau climber taken as a cutting from a friend’s plant. This summer was its first flowering but I missed its perfume. Hopefully I can check mine out next year. We have had an excellent November for working in the garden too.
I can’t believe it’s December tomorrow. Only 3 weeks to the winter solstice and we start moving towards spring again. Even if it won’t feel like it for a while I like to hold onto that thought. After all our rain we’ve had a week of frosts and cold icy winds from the Arctic. So the garden really is in hibernation now and looking a little sorry for itself. Love the photo of the looming dark sky.
Suddenly today it feels icy! with a wind that cuts through you, I’m staying inside and making jams and jellies with fruits from the freezer! Christina
I was completely distracted by the amazing sky in your top photo.
Your borders are so much tidier than mine.
it all looks lovely despite the time of year
Thank you Helen; there have been several days with skies like this, so that when it rains there is a rainbow to enjoy too. Christina
Christina, I see you did a lot of work. I love the paving, it goes well with the round bed. Are these roses Austine’s? The first one is awesome!
‘William Shakespeare’, ‘Queen of Sweden’, and ‘Tradescant’ are David Austin roses, but I think Sophie’s perpetual is a China rose. Christina
It looks great. So good to see colour and flower in your garden when mine has long gone to grey and brown. Your roses are truly fabulous!
Yes, it is nice that autumn lasts so long and is so kind to the plants. Today is not so good. Christina
That is a seriously dark sky, but it shows up the plants beautifully. Your roses are still stunning, so lovely to have them at this time of year. After a few nights of hard frosts, not much is showing any colour here any more, but then that is the beauty of winter!
As always, your garden looks wonderful. You take great care of it, and i know it is a labor of love. The first photo is both moody and gorgeous!
So interesting that everyone has picked up on the sky, when I was just showing the rose bed full of Gaura. There have been a lot of skies like this during November. Christina
I really like the vertical accents the miscanthus add to that bed, and the edging works really well too. I really hope I manage to get some divisions of the miscanthus in my old garden – though perhaps I should take the opportunity to use different plants. Beautiful roses, as ever.
The Miscanthus grow very quickly here (like almost everything) so it was easy to divide them. I have others in the garden that need dividing but I’m not sure where I’ll put the resulting plants having just bought some different varieties at Courson. Christina
that gunmetal sky, does make the golden grasses glow. Going to follow your example and divvy up the survivors to fill the dear departed gaps.
That first photo is amazing with the dark gray sky…I love the look of the bed…my gaura do not seed as I would love it…not much gardening here in November.
Enjoyed the tour of your November garden Christina. Most jealous of your days of warm sunshine interspersed with rain – sounds a perfect recipe for autumnal gardening. Your roses are glorious.
Thanks Anna
So many lovely roses, Christina, and your gaura looks much more sprightly than ours does now! Like your spritzed-up bed, very smart.
Hello again Christina, I missed joining in for EMV but did get out with my camera at least. Stuff happened and time rolled on as it does 😉
Nice job on the border. I love a good clear out and move around myself. I love the transformation and I’m sure you loved your work that day. 🙂
Ah… tenuissima can be a bit of a thug I’d agree. I remember seeing your hill planting above your pond and wondering at the time if tenuissima would come out of favour a little when it spread around. I have loved it too and it definitely is a great plant to give a soft texture to a planting until the other plants grow up too and then, as you are planning, another grass becomes a preferred option. It’s all part of the fun for gardening – wouldn’t you agree?
I always love seeing views from your garden and what wonderful colour and scent your roses must bring to it too. I guess… it’s all change in your garden since 🙂
Hi shirl, yes Stipa spreads very easy in my garden, but it is never a problem, its easy to remove. The only problem is that it flowers early here and then is brown (dead-looking) for some time unless I comb out everything that isn’t green. I love all grasses so I like to experiment with different types, especially oif I have them growing already in the garden and they are multiplying. Christina