The vines they are a changing - #mygardenrightnow

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I've been away on holiday for the last week so I was curious on my return to see what was going on in my own garden. The striking thing was the subtle changes indicating the gradual transition from late summer into autumn. Interestingly, some made me feel  disappointed that summer was passing and some made me feel much more optimistic about what autumn would bring. Right now the garden is full of contrasts... 

 

Parthenocissus

The members of the vine family show the most obvious changes in colour. The Parthenocissus has started the transition to being a blaze of red right along the fence come October. There are plenty of reddish tinges to the grapevine too, and even the grapes themselves are starting to  ripen, which still feels like a small luxury in this corner of South Wales. Given the number of bunches on the vine this year, this is a more exciting prospect than in previous years.  

Some areas of the garden are "going over", in some cases literally.  My sweet peas have grown so strongly in this well watered but sunny summer that they've outgrown their supports and lean all over the place. But they're still flowering well so I push them back upright and keep picking their flowers. This simultaneously delays their attempt to set seed and transfers their wonderful scent indoors for us to enjoy even more.

 

 

Clematis vitalba

Alchemilla mollis and Geraniums start to expand untidily over the edges of borders and are cut back, but other plants do the garden a favour by getting carried away. Wild clematis is now large enough to be trained up into the pear tree as well as the Bamboo and Mahonia it has already colonised. After creating nothing  more than a tangled mess for the most of the year, now it's flowering it justifies itself with pretty little white flowers through the mini woodland.  

 

Ammi Majus - done!

Plants like Achillea, Heuchera, Cosmos, Ammi and Oenethera have finished flowering and are going to seed, all dried up and crusty looking. None of these are robust or attractive enough to leave for winter interest. But other plants set seed much more aesthetically. Grasses like Miscanthus and Stipa throw up their fluffy, airy seedheads, and roses produce their hips.

 

 

GREEN FINGERS TIP

GREEN FINGERS TIP: I'll keep dead heading roses for a while yet but when I think they have produced their last blooms for this season, as the weather turns and the days get shorter, I'll stop removing the dead flowers and leave them to develop into hips which will remain attractive to look at for several months.

 

 

Pyracantha

Grapes and tomatoes continue to try and ripen in the weakening sunshine but Pyracantha has already covered the wall with its little berries which will ripen to an even warmer orange colour by the time the blackbirds come looking for them.  

 

 

 

Sedum spectabile

 

 

So there are mixed emotions as many plants go past their peak, marking the passing of summer and making us wonder if the next spell of warm weather will be the last for the year. Meanwhile other plants like Sedum spectabile are only just starting to show their true colour. Cyclamen coum and Japanese anemones also brighten the shortening days and offer plenty of optimism for the joys of autumn that are yet to come.

 

Well that's #mygardenrightnow, I can't wait to see everyone else's.

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