Into the second week of October, and it’s getting tweedy out there in the borders…
Read moreDay 283: Darmera peltata
If you’ve always had a hankering for a giant rhubarb in your garden, but are lacking the space that the wonderfully prehistoric-looking Gunnera manicata would demand…
Read moreDay 282: Amsonia illustris
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that some plants are just closely guarded secrets – amsonia, or bluestar, is one of these…
Read moreDay 281: Euonymus europeaus
The fruits of the European spindle tree (Euonymus europeaus) always steal a march on the foliage…
Read moreDay 280: Symphyotrichum turbinellum
Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
‘Aster’ was so much easier to get your North and South around, wasn’t it? Still, Symphyotrichum it is these days (for at least the Michaelmas daisy types), such as S. turbinellum, though aster will do just as well in all but the most pernickety* of company. This particular aster is a favourite, appearing on the scene right at the end of the growing season to floof out the borders with joyful clouds of small, lilac flowers with yellow centres. It’s a strong grower and somewhat top-heavy so, on all but the poorest of soils, it’s going to need staking, unless you give it a particularly severe Chelsea Chop at the end of May which will give you shorter and even later-flowering, but sturdier plants.
*talking of pernickety, should this have an ‘S’ in the middle? Only across the pond from where I sit, apparently, where our North American friends decided the original Scottish dialect word needed a little sibilance to make it zing.
A year of garden coaching
To find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details and add your name to the waiting list to be the first to hear when enrolment opens up again for the spring.
Click here to sign up for daily #gardeninspo365 posts and blog updates direct to your inbox.
Sign up for the monthly newsletter below
Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
Day 279: a face full of spider web
If there’s a way to walk down the garden on an autumn morning without getting a face full of spider web, I’ve not yet discovered it…
Read moreDay 278: October veg swap
Nothing quite says ‘October’ like a solitary, overgrown courgette (marrow) in a soggy veg patch under a gloomy sky…
Read moreDay 277: Echinacea ‘White Swan’
Ever hopeful of more flowers, I have my eye on the recently planted Echinacea ‘White Swan’…
Read moreDay 276: some beans
The remaining borlotti will be sufficient for little more than a particularly diminutive casserole…
Read moreDay 275: Virginia creeper
Renegade vines clamber over the fence from next door, tangling with the buddleia and inveigling themselves into the lilacs…
Read moreDay 274: Rose 'Scepter'd Isle'
Things have taken a turn for the inclement over the past day or two…
Read more