With the arrival of September, and with it the cooler nights and the magical lower light, the garden and its plants are perhaps now at about peak interest. Although the garden is designed to be most effective from May through until almost Christmas the heady combination of fresh flower, luxuriant form, and ‘fall’ performing foliage from myriad trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials make this time of year an annual celebration of exhuberance. I try hard not to be away from my garden at this time.
The first shafts of early morning sunlight striking the drying flowers of Poa labillardierei; the grass that makes up the base of the Dry Meadow.In the Decennium border, and backed by taller miscanthus, the upright airy stems and flowers of Calamagrostis Waldenbuch appear to warm in the morning sunshine.Re planted in 2023 in our take on the Prairie Style the massed grasses and perennials are looking rather fabulous in the Dragon Garden right now. Miscanthus can be hugely effective in the garden at this time of year and the Dragon Garden is home to several such as the tall pink M. Rosi, and the slimline and elegant M. Professor Richard Hansen. The very tall gently drooping flowers belong to Cortaderia richardii.Although possibly less showy than miscanthus, panicum are equally effective and offer masses of individually tiny flowers in such profusion that they create a most beautiful cloud like effect. Repeated groups of Panicum Sea Mist offer a near perfect foil for the red Persicaria Fat Domino seen here in the Dragon Garden.Another group of Panicum Sea Mist, this time on the edge of the Gravel Garden, displaying its fantastic mix of sea green to grey foliage that is topped by hazy masses of soft billowing flowers. Panicum Sea Mist excels in hot and dry conditions where its foliage colour seems to intensify with the dryness.Planted where the Decennium border meets the Gravel Garden, the long narrowly cylindrical taper ended fluffy flowers belong to Pennisetum Black Arrow. A new (and rather lovely), Knoll Gardens selection launched last autumn.Miscanthus Sunset is a recent Knoll Gardens selection having soft silky pink flowers which are produced on tall stems and are held well clear of the foliage. This selection was named for its noticeably warm autumnal leaf colourations.
The first rays of morning sunlight highlighting a few of the massed flowers of Scabiosa ochroleuca in the Gravel Garden. Although a short lived perennial the scabious seeds happily in the dry conditions and so provides an annual display with no replanting on our part.The patchwork effect of the various groups of grasses and perennials in the Decennium border. The spindle trees in the background have yet to show any real sign of their flamboyant ‘fall’ display to come.Backed by Panicum Sea Mist, the upright habit and bright pink fluffy flowers of Sanguisorba Blackthorn are especially lovely at the moment.A selected form of a native sedge, Carex elata Aurea, looking especially vibrant growing in the marginal conditions of the Water Garden.A terrestial bromeliad, Fascicularia bicolor, which is seemingly hardy in at least parts of the UK, showing its striking red foliage at the bottom of the Summer Garden. Not content with the production of its bright red foliage the fascicularia produces flat heads of tiny flowers which are nestled at the base of the red leaves in a dazzling display of blue and yellow. You have to look to see them!Sanguisorba Janets Jewel, panicum and poa all enjoying the fiirst rays of warm morning sunlight at the bottom of the Dry Meadow.
