Wednesday, 30 October 2013

October at its exuberant best (before the winds blew it over!)

Things are solidly autumnal...no frosts yet but with the clocks changing I'm coming home in the dark and walking through piles of leaves. Garden wise things are still growing happily away...unaware winter is lurking to stop them dead and turn things to mush.

The end has come for a few things quicker than expected with the winds that blew over the South of England on Monday...not quite an American standard of storm and I haven't seen any trees down around us but enough to blow away the cobwebs and knock over the dahlias and ricinus.

However some things are looking better and better...the salvias which have been sulking all year are suddenly flowering, and some annuals are looking the happiest they have ever been. So some pictures of this years climax to enjoy whilst you can!





Things on the terrance moved for the painters....my movable jungle in pots!

Chairs are still left out NGS stylee...Canna musifolia looking big



You can see how much the Canna musifolia have grown in a year! probably at least 8ft....







Nicotiana tabacum finally getting bigger





check out my Dahlia imperialis getting bigger and bigger...yeah baby!

I am really pleased with the cup and saucer vine where the flowers open white and fade to purple....they have quickly covered their supports and are flowering well. They have worked better having them on 7ft high supports rather than climbing up huge fences where they tend to get lost and not flower so well
 

This is the nasturtium take over....they came out of nowhere and have conquered any spare spaces, reaching across paths like an octopus ready to grab you

 
This is the scene today post winds....tall dahlias, ricinus and helianthus are all flattened :(
 

 

 
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3 comments:

  1. Mark and Gaz30 October 2013 at 13:06

    Pre storm the garden was still looking at its prime. At least the wind damage happened at this time when most will be going dormant soon.

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  2. Anonymous31 October 2013 at 11:18

    Still gorgeous looking post-winds or not imo!
    Btw very curious to know how your cobea got on this year. Mine happily climbed all over but not one flower - do they die a death now or do they come back to life again next year? I grew mine from seed (earlier this year) not really sure what to do with now it's in a pot outside do you think? We're 40 miles north of London so when it gets cold it gets pretty cold - will it survive winter outside? Thanks in advance of your very kind advice :)

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    1. Clive2 November 2013 at 05:14

      Thanks! I was impressed with the Cobea this year as it did far better than I was expecting and flowered loads...before mine sounded like yours in that it grew loads but didnt flower. I wonder if they need lots of sun, I also think they need to get to the top of where they are climbing and then have some horizontal growth as much like a rose, I think this stimulates it to flower as it is kind of saying 'you are at the top of the tree, now get flowering!'. I have never had any survive the winter, although if you have it in a pot I would chop all the growth back and try and keep it somewhere frost free as it could come back from the roots. There is also a perrenial one (C. pringleii) which is on my must have list!

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