Looking across the Dry Meadow and the Long Walk the seasonal exuberance of this style of naturalistic planting has clearly not been effected by the significant summer time drought and the more recent wetter and windy weather.
While the weather so far has not been the ideal autumnal mix of warm sunny days, low sunlight and cool evenings that we always hope for, we have in fact had some nice warm sunny periods and the grasses have sparkled and performed beautifully. Even the wind has helped dry the plants after a heavy rain shower. Proving if nothing else that this style of planting is pretty tolerant of both summer time drought and then autumnal wet!
Clear blue skies are our first choice for the autumn season, but this rainbow set against a dark dark grey sky was pretty impressive!
The Dragon Garden, the Long Walk and the Mill End borders are all performing rather beautifully at the moment but we are especially pleased with the Decennium border this year. We added some new plants last season, including Miscanthus Cindy and Miscanthus Rosi, and both of these have done extremely well and brought an extra quality to the border this season.
The elegantly tall and pink flowers of Miscanthus Rosi add an extra dimension of height to the Decennium border. This border has a balanced mix of grasses and perennials which are used in repeated groups to achieve seasonal highs of colour shape and texture.On the other side of the border, where the Decennium meets the Gravel Garden, our rather new fountain grass, Pennisetum Black Arrow, is making an impressive display set against aster, cephalaria and stipa.A little further around the Decennium border again the arrow like upright facing flowers of Calamagrostis brachytricha work in a nice textural association with pennisetum, molinia, and miscanthus. While the fall colouring foliage of a nearby spindle tree, Euonymus hamiltonianus, and the white bark of a background birch, Betula papyifera, complete the picture.Some early morning sunshine highlighting the various pink tones of the fading Miscanthus Malepartus, the fresh flowers of the lower Miscanthus Cindy, Persicaria Rosea and the purple accents of Verbena bonariensis. With the cloud like mass at the bottom belonging to Anemanthele lessoniana. Still in the Decennium border the tall but elegant flowers of Miscanthus Rosi tower over the myriad flowers of Persicaria Rosea which in turn is rather taller than the free flowering mounds of a compact fountain grass, Pennisetum Hameln.Miscanthus Cindy, a Knoll Gardens selection, offering masses of slightly pendulous silvery pink flowers that are held some way clear of the foliage as part of the Decennium border planting.Looking across the Decennium border from the Lower Lawn the soft silvery link flowers of the taller Miscanthus Rosi, and the shorter Miscanthus Cindy, combining with Persicaria rosea, Calamagrostis Karl Foerster and Deschampsia Goldtau in a heady autumnal mix of texture shape and colour.Looking from the edge of the Gravel Garden across the recently replanted Dragon garden the dark smoky grey bottle brush like flowers to the front belong to Pennisetum Dark Desire which are backed by Persicaria Dikke Floskes and Panicum Sea Mist. These in turn are backed by the tall stems and purple flowers of Vernonia Mammuth and the airy wands of Cortaderia richardii.As the morning light first arrives in the Dragon Garden the soft light illuminates the silvery pink flowers of Miscanthus Rosi, the golden Stipa gigantea and the sea green Panicum Sea Mist.The impressively tall stems of Arundo donax, the giant reed, dwarfing the rest of the planting in the Mill End borders. Cut back to the ground each spring the reed attains its full height by midsummer!Forming part of the container display by the nursery entrance the flowers of various miscanthus, pennisetum and panicum seemingly catch and radiate every drop of the morning sunshine in a dazzling display of light and effervescence.Not to be outdone Pennisetum Black Arrow in the Decennium border puts on a similar light catching display that is as beautiful as it is transient.Planted in the Decennium border and forming a neatly rounded mound of foliage the enthusiastically produced soft silky pink gently pendulous flowers of Miscanthus Cindy are held clear of the foliage making it a highly attractive selection.
