This time of year is between seasons. September 1st marks the first day of "meteorological autumn" but the astonomical season doesn't start until the autumn equinox, which in 2020 will be 22nd September. In terms of climate, in southern England the temperatures are still warm so probably more summer than autumn, although a few trees have started to shed their leaves. In terms of the garden I'd say we're in "late summer", a time when many perennials have started to die off but those which are left will probably stay in bloom for another couple of months yet.
The harvest from my kitchen garden is drawing to a close. Most of my berries are long gone, but I have a promising crop of autumn raspberries to look forward to. I'm still picking salad leaves and ripe tomatoes but they're coming to an end. Similarly I have no runner beans at the moment, although the plants are still flowering so there may still be a few to come. As for courgettes, I have had none at all but the flowers have been so pretty they make up for the lack for fruits.
My potato bags are doing well, however, and I have some new ones planted up which should be ready in November and December. I could of course plant some winter crops but I only have a small vegetable bed so I tend to mulch it well and leave it to recover over the winter months.
Left to right and top to bottom: potatoes and tomatoes, runner bean flowers, lemon, summer-planted potato plant, courgette flowers
My buddleja bushes put on a good display earlier in August, but they're coming to an end now. Phlox, fuchsias, hibiscus, marigolds and anisodontea are still going strong however.
Salvia is a particular favourite of mine, it's a large family which includes edible sage. Flowering from mid summer right through until late autumn in my garden with a varitey of colours and styles and all with lovely fragant foliage, here are some of mine:
Left to right and top to bottom: Salvias 'Pluenn', "amistad", "icing sugar", "black & blue", "blue note", microphylla "Variegata", "amethyst kisses", "love & wishes"
Despite all these flowers my garden still has far to much bare soil. I did manage to get to a couple of plant sales as you can see below, but constantly buying plants becomes expensive so I've also been taking loads of cuttings with a view to increasing my stock for free.
Left to right and top to bottom: Lychnis 'Petite Jenny', Berberis 'Admiration', Hebe brevifolia, Hebe 'Silver Queen', Myrtus Butterball, euonymous cutting popped into a larger pot, various cuttings, euonymous cuttings being potted on into individual pots
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