In my garden in September

The seedlings are doing well although I wish I'd sown the wallflowers earlier. The plants I bought from the show I visited earlier in the month are still waiting to go in. This is partly because I want to dig out excess plants such as foxgloves, forget me nots and aquilegias for the garden at the environmental centre.

Border with late summer flowers and rosehips

The area around the path is looking quite good with Cosmos, Asters, Sedum, Nicotiana, Anaphalis and rose hips.

For a long time I avoided Asters because of mildew. I saw Aster 'Little Carlow' in a garden somewhere and loved it so I bought a plant. It has done really well although I have to protect early spring growth from slugs.  The only problem I had was forgetting to stake so it flopped over leaving a hole in the middle. I have read several articles recommending taking the top growth off to keep plants shorter and more compact so I have tried it with both the asters. I am really pleased with the results and will try it on other plants next year. The other benefit is that the tips I cut off were used for cuttings so I have new plants to give away.
The other aster is unknown and came from Mums garden. Its a lovely deep pink. Neither of the Asters have ever had mildew.

Aster 'Little Carlow'

One area I want to change is this border in front of the hedge. It's been dug out and replanted so often and I'm still not happy with it. It's the sunniest and driest part of the garden and the soil is full of hedge roots. Annuals prefer a soil that is not too rich so I think I will try this for my cutting garden.

Border in front of the hedge

I am still cutting flowers for my kitchen window sill. The Aster frikartii 'Monch' I wrote about in my last post has made a great cut flower. I snip off individual flowers as they die off.

Late summer and early autumn flowers

The jug includes flowers from one of my newest purchases, Chysanthemum 'Clara Curtis' and Penstemon 'Mother of Pearl'. Both are still waiting to be planted.

Chrysanthemum 'Clara Curtis'

Penstemon 'Mother of Pearl'

The weather has been quite changeable although most afternoons have been warm. One of the benefits of living on a hill and not been overlooked is the opportunity to see glorious rainbows such as this one.