“Happily we bask in this warm September sun, Which illuminates all creatures…”— Henry David Thoreau September, the greatest month, certainly been a beauty this year. How imperious this month can be! Summer months of June, July and August are supposed to be the times of light, of heat and of needing shade. September tries to mimic and often goes does well for ten days or so. But not 2021 here on the Sussex coast with those summer months. September served up 20 plus days of temperatures in the low 20s and oodles of sun. Imperious The growth and splendour of the Home Garden! Rampant Canna lilies, tower like gladioli, Salvias a haze of bees, luscious roses and the Dahlias and Cosmos. Until three years ago I had never grown either. But, as you already know I did not garden at all in this thoughtful way until three years ago Cosmos is a superb tall growing plant that is very easy to grow from seed. Large flowers in so, so lovely colours. A mass planting produces a sensational effect. Whilst I adore that effect I grow the white Cosmos 'Psyche White' https://www.thompson-morgan.com/.../cosmos.../4580TM as a "dot plant " in one of the borders, it is a fine sight. I sow Cosmos seeds in late April and by late May they are hardening off in individual 3" pots. They are contemporary in my gardening diary to squashes and marrows. They go on and on right to the damp and cold of late Autumn. Grow them. Cosmos as defined by Pythagoras two and a half thousand years ago, is an " orderly or harmonious universe ". Contemplate that as you peer at the mass planting In my first year of growing Dahlias, 2018, I did so only in 10" pots using 50% home made compost and 50% bought peat free compost. The results were good and collected together it was a splendid corner. The same the next year but not so good. This year I put them into a border and the resulting growth has been exception even in this strange weather year. The flowers, and there are masses tower over four feet. They are well mulched with home made compost and are tough plants that have not needed staking. I now have perhaps another month to enjoy those flowers and to ponder whether to lift them and store them dried out indoors or cut hem back, mulch again and leave them in situ. Your thoughts and ideas on that welcomed Next Wednesday is Saint Michaelmas Day, the end of the Harvest period that began on 1st August. As I look down the Home Garden past these ranks of Cosmos and Dahlia flowers I can see at about forty foot distance the instantly recognisable form of the Michaelmas Daisies. A sort of gateway leading from this marvellous September into the more vague and unknown places of late Autumn ....
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AuthorI launched this website on 16th August 2020 to bring together my thoughts on gardening,, its importance for health and wellbeing and two projects running concurrently, a renovation of my own garden on the West Sussex coast at Lancing and a nearby allotment. But also to learn from other gardeners about the inspirations for their plots, about their gardening projects and enjoyment of beautiful plants and gardens Archives
February 2024
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