As I type the day is starting to brighten into a beautiful autumn day. The sky has gone from overcast to clear blue. Which is really just typical as I try to capture what’s in flower this week for all of you. Yes, I seem to have offended the weather gods as they are most definitely not on my side this week.
Most of what is in flower in the garden this week is white and looks spectacular at dusk. I’m so glad I planted a white autumn garden which is in such contrast to the warm orange tones of the trees. I hope you enjoy the garden this week and I’ll leave you with this week’s six:
Dahlia
My dahlias have seen a second wind and are prolifically producing buds all over the place. The dinner plate dahlia on the right has 3 of these enormous flower heads which will soon grace my hallway as I allow the other buds to develop. I’m so glad that
Marigold
I love the colour of the marigolds here. They continue to look fantastic as the season moves on. From the dark tips of their petals to the yellow tip a joining
Chrysanthemums
I added a whole heap of garden mums to the garden last weekend. I visited the gorgeous Ratoath Garden Center and came home with quite a lot of new purchases along with a selection of garden bulbs for the spring. If you can at all do visited here, the little cafe is a treat too.
Heather
When we moved to the cottage the heather was something that added colour at a time when everything else was stark. It provides colour in spring before the bulbs awaken and again in late autumn so I added a few new specimens to the garden last week and I love watching them light up as the sun moves. The bees quite enjoy them too.
Aster
Deep breath, this is my plant of shame this week. These asters have never really established in my garden. Now in their 3rd
Peace Lily
I am the death to all houseplants. I should just walk around my house once a month with my dressing gown over my head, knocking each plant to the floor. I have killed aloe, Ivy (I know!) and succulents. My power of death seems to know no bounds except for this beautiful Spathiphyllum. It has come on leaps and bounds since we bought it. It is in it’s third pot and is still flowering away happily and doesn’t appear to be stressed. It seems to love the dapple shade in my hallway and I’m so glad that it survived. It means to much to me to have a plant indoors (that is immune to my powers of death) that is also great at purifying the air. This brings me such joy each week that it deserved a place in my six.
There you have it folks, another week in the cottage garden and another 6 plants that deserve a highlight good or bad. Looking forward to your posts and seeing what’s happening in your gardens around the world.
Do make sure that you pop over to The Propagator ‘s page to check out more wonderful gardening posts and why not search the #sixonsaturday tag on twitter too to fill your feed with beautiful blooms. There is also a participant guide here if you would like to join in too. Looking forward to catching up with all of your garden posts this week too!
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If it were me & the aster, I’d throw everything plus the kitchen sink at it, YOU WILL NOT DIE ON MY WATCH sorta thing. But the others are right. Asters are such thugs, if it’s not gang busting for you, there’s something wrong w/it or the garden’s not right for it. I hate those moments myself, so good luck whichever way you go forward. Hadn’t thought about using white in autumn to contrast the foliage change. There’s a lot I don’t think of in gardens, so thank goodness for SoS. And those heathers!
omg, Lora, I can actually picture you demanding that the plant survive! I think I chose the wrong section of the garden for it to be honest. I was hoping (because they are thugs) that it would survive in the front garden. I think the sea wind is just too much even though it’s sheltered. Which is odd because there are other asters in there that are doing well. I guess I just got this variety wrong :/ fudgemonkies.
Nadia I share your house plant shame. I don’t do houseplants. I don’t get them, yet another trend I’ve missed. Those we do have are destined to die either from overheating or overwatering. If the aster isn’t playing ball, bin it. Life is too short to nurse a wrong’un!
I am so relieved to hear you say that! Phew, it’s not just me lol.
Your Calendula is lovely. Mine tend to get mildew by this time of year and I hoik them out. My garden wouldn’t be complete without Dahlias. The white one is gorgeous. It’s a great idea to plant a dusk garden.
Mine were very late this year and mildew appears to be staying on the courgettes more than anything else so I think it could be time to say goodbye to them. :/ I really wish I knew what variety these were but they were a free packet of seeds from Mr. Middelton when I bought our fruit trees.
You shouldn’t feel guilty about the aster. I think I’ve decided that struggling to grow things that are not happy here is only worthwhile if it’s truly exceptional. There are so many more things to try. A short memory helps.
As, always you make me smile. It’s true a short memory does help. I always end up kicking myself when things fail. I did move them into pots so let’s see how they do.
Beautiful heathers there. I have no heathers at all but your reminder about how much the bees love them has made me think…
I live by the sea so heathers make up a large portion of our spring garden and I wouldn’t be anywhere without them. The garden would be so sad looking. I have added lots of bulbs this year so fingers crossed for a brighter spring!