The Oracle

26
The Gardener’s Diary
Michael White’s expert advice
September is here again. How time
flies. Holidays are over and those tubs
that weren’t watered while you were
away are definitely looking quite sad.
But, on the bright side, the Autumnflowering
plants are coming into their
own – Asters; Chrysanthemums; Cyclamen;
Sedums and the small, evergreen
climber Clematis Tangutica which is
worth a look with its lovely, bell-shaped
flowers and attractive, silky seed-heads
that hang on into Winter. As a flowering
shrub for this time of year, how
about Ceanothus Autumnal Blue?
Also, we mustn’t forget the pink,white
or blue Japanese anenomes. Plus,
there are plenty of colours still to be
found in the garden before we head
into the cooler days.
Keep herbaceious borders tidy, deadheading,
cutting back dead stalks and
so on to keep everything looking less
like a bomb site at this time of year.
Like me I’m sure that you have found
your hose has been a constant companion
as it seems just about every
day has been windy – drying out the
soil quickly and any rain we have had
has been of monsoon-like proportions,
thus not going into the soil but running
off the surface and away. There has
not been the usual, steady, warm rains
we used to enjoy as gardeners, Who
knows whether this is a pattern for
future seasons? I’m avoiding my mate
Dave, as his prediction for this year is
right thus far so he won the bet and I
owe him a pint!
It’s lovely to watch nature at work
in the garden. I planted a lavender
hedge last Autumn and this year it
is flowering beautifully. The bumble
bees soon found it but only one or
two honey bees early on. However,
their numbers have increased day
by day which is due, of course, to
the famous ‘waggle dance’ they
perform when returning to the hive.
The dance tells the other worker bees
which direction to take to find the
source of sustenance – very much like
the way I found my way to the local
hostelry all those years ago when
I saw someone doing a ‘waggle
dance’.
On the subject of nature, we recently
completed a garden project for an
animal-loving lady who, four years
ago, found a small, featherless baby
bird fallen from the nest. She took
the bird home and, with a great deal
of love and patience, the bird grew
into a beautiful greenfinch called
Ermentrude – how lovely.
Try and find time to watch nature -
enjoy your garden.
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