PLANTING AND SOWING

I planted the last of the bulbs.  They were destined for the trough by the back door.  In went dwarf Narcissus, Muscari and Puschkinia.  To fool the squirrels (and hopefully keep the cats off too) I planted these little lovlies on top.  The are Viola Delft Blue.

The leaves on the trees are slowly falling.  Some are bare now, some still have all their leaves, and some like this cherry are showing us what Autumn should be all about.

The nights have continued to be very mild.  It registered a low of 13Cin the greenhouse last night which seems extraordinary really.  These Penstemon are still flowering beautifully, and a little bee was visiting it when I went to take a photo.

Meanwhile  in the New Perennial Border the turf lifting continues.  On the left hand side of the stable,  all the turf has gone and the plants that are ready to go in have been planted.  

And I have started to lift the turf on the right hand side.  I want to get a move on as I had some Echinacea 'Fatal Attraction' delivered from Paddock Plants, who sent the plants out wrapped in newspaper to keep plastic usage down, which is excellent of course.  They arrived yesterday and so as to avoid having to repot them, which would be easy enough, I am planning to get them straight in the ground.

Another plant which has already been put in its position is this lovely Geranium 'Rozanne'.  The only reason I had not bought one of these lovely geraniums before is that I already have several 'Buxton Blue' which is similar in colour and habit.  Rozanne is supposed to flower over a longer period though, so I will now be able to compare them and see if it is true.

Other than that, I've sown a few trays of seed.  I've never done Autumn sowing with any success, tending to mainly go for Spring sowings of annuals, veg seeds and perennials too.  The seeds I ordered from Chiltern Seeds for the new border suggest Autumn sowing is best so that's what I've done.  I've chosen Liatris spicata 'Floriston Violet', Lysmachia ephemerum, Knautia macedonica, Molina caerulea and Penstemon digitalis 'Firecracker'.  Fingers crossed I'll get some to germinate.

Since a photo of my seed trays won't be very interesting, I'll leave you with one of my little paintings of this fungi I found in the garden this week.

That’s all I have room for this week. All the Six on Saturday posts can be found on Garden Ruminations our new home from home thanks to Jim who is caretaking while the Propagator takes a break.