Autumn is over the long leaves that love us,
And over the mice in the barley sheaves;
Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us,
And yellow the wet wild-strawberry leaves.
(From W.B. Yeats: The falling of the leaves)
– At least, this is what the weather feels like this July. Cold, windy and wet, these days would fit right in during November, and they’re certainly a far cry from hazy, warm summer days.
I’m getting in an autumnal mood, beginning to think about what there is to do in the garden this autumn. Digging, moving, planting. Great stuff, really!
(Of course there’s still a hope that we might actually get some summery weather in August, and maybe a touch of Indian Summer in September, but who knows.)
I could moan about the absence of sunshine and hot days, but instead I revel in planning activities for when autumn arrives properly (so not only the weather, but also the calendar says “autumn”).
- I want to move the roses. There are currently two roses (one red, one white) standing rather close to the house, and they look like they’d appreciate getting a bit more space, so I will carve out some more space for them from the lawn and move them perhaps ½ to 1 meter out. This should give them space to become slightly more bushy in appearance, and it will also give more space to add other plants around them.
- The rudbeckia are not happy where they are, getting only a touch of evening sun. I kind of knew that when I put them in the Evening Border, but I’m thinking that once I create the Sunny Border, that’ll be just the spot for them.
- The small hosta in the Ambitious Border looks somewhat sullen, so it can be moved to the Evening Border where it will only get a few hours of sunshine every day.
- The cotoneaster from my mother’s garden doesn’t have an actual home yet, being just sat with it’s root clump atop a piece of lawn, so I need to work out where to stick it. Perhaps in a large pot in the courtyard?
- In the Ambitious Border there’s a perennial that I don’t know the name of that is being strangled by the shrubs in the hedge towards our South-Western neighbour, and I think it would be happier either further away from the hedge or even in the Sunny Border.
- The Chinese anemones are very shade tolerant, but I think they might need to be transferred to a place with at least some sunshine, as they are currently not doing a great deal where they are.
- The perennials (mainly different types of iris and one aster) on the site of the previous sand box need to be moved into the Ambitious Border.
- Parts of the kitchen garden might be moved to the North-Eastern part of the garden, between the pear and the apple trees. This is still up for debate internally in my mind, so the idea might be scrapped later on.
Later this week I’ll go up there with my husband, and I can’t wait to walk around the garden with him. I do hope the weather will be at least a touch less autumnal, just for those few days… Fingers crossed!