Garden at the beginning of September 2014

Can't believe it's September already. Autumn is definitely on the way, and the weather's been cooler over the last few weeks. We've had a lot more rain, so the garden is looking greener than it usually does at this time of year!



Everything seems to have been a few weeks ahead of itself since Spring, so the apples are nearly ripe now. We haven't lost any (so far) to squirrels, partly (probably) because of hanging up the old CDs to deter them, and partly because the neighbour's walnut tree has died, and they used to cross our garden to get to it.

This is the Rudbeckia in full flower. I divided it into three in the Spring and it seems to have recovered OK.

The hydrangea (this is Endless Summer Twist n' Shout) has really pretty leaves at this time of year - it's almost exactly four years ago that I bought this one, and I was attracted by the leaves then.

The Penstemons have been great this year, with lots of repeat flowering and a lot of growth. These were plug plants free with a magazine special offer a couple of years ago. Last year they didn't do a great deal.

The newest sedum (bought last year) flowered. I didn't Chelsea chop this one.

But I did Chelsea chop the others (these were already here when we bought the house). These have been chopped to about three different heights so should all flower at different times. The idea is to have flowers continuously so there is always a source of nectar in the garden.

And the Japanese Anenome has got huge. The flowers are so pretty. I deadhead it for a while, then I let it set seed (the seed is like fluffy cotton wool), and it's self-seeded in a couple of places in the garden, which was my intention! There's also some Nemesia in the container in the background.

These are the last few Sweet Pea flowers. I've been diligently dead-heading it twice a week through the summer to keep it flowering, and I'm now going to let it set seed so that I can collect and store them ready for next year.

Definitely signs that Autumn is on the way. The first berries have appeared on the holly. These are the first berries to appear on it at all, after we bought a male holly to go right next to it it seemed to get the idea about berries.

The red Pyracantha has lots of berries on it, but the yellow and orange ones still seem to be forming.

The tomatoes are still ripening. I'm not convinced at all about the cordon ones. We've had about four tomatoes from the two plants, and they were nice. But a lot of the fruit has split, one got Blossom end rot, and one branch fell off entirely before the tomatoes ripened.

But the cherry tomatoes have been really good. They've ripened at a steady pace through the summer so we've always had some to eat. They're tasty, and not as thin-skinned as last year's variety. Last year a lot of them split, but we haven't had that problem this year.