Wonderful October 2024 and Still the Colour Continues.

Still the Colour Continues

 

 

Nearly at the end of October and still  the colour continues in our new sensory garden.

This startlingly blue climbing Ipomoeas are adorned with their tightly furled buds, promise of things yet to come if nature plays ball.

It’s been a strange year all round.

We couldn’t get round to planting until later in the year due to flooding, consequently many of the plants went in later than they should have.

Then just to add to that once planted, we had plenty of dry spells, so it was managing to keep them watered until they’d established.

To be quite honest many of the plants sat and sulked.

Not until summer was over, and the rains returned in the form of cat and dog version, did many of them get into their stride.

The cosmos grew huge but didn’t really start to flower until late, and they’re still going strong even now.

Here’s hoping there’s time for them to set seed before they get cut down by the cold.

 

 

Of course, for Salvia’s this is their time to shine.

Black and Blue has been flowering right throughout summer and still flaunts her vivid blues.

 

 

We’ll need to take cuttings as an insurance against what ever nature decides to throw at us over the winter months.

The same goes for Salvia Amistad with her stunning purple trumpets and bracts.

 

 

Like most of our plantings it’ll be a learning curve for us, what will do well, what will hate the soil’s craggy clay and damp roots.

A layer of top dressing will be added each year to improve its structure and raise soil levels.

Being on a flood plain the water table levels can be alarmingly high, more so recently with the amount of rainfall we’ve had.

When planting the original shrubs and trees we didn’t have to go too far down before we found that liquid layer.

The other thing we might have to battle next year is the dreaded slugs and snails.

As our site was constructed on what was basically once a tarmacked recreational surface, we were lucky in that those first few plants were able to get away without being chomped to within an inch of their lives, unlike the ones we were trying to keep safe back at base.

Next year might be different. As the saying goes ‘you build it and they will come,’ well the snails have certainly moved in en masse. But then again, they are all part of nature’s cycle, if we want wildlife then we can’t pick and choose.

 

 

Of course colour doesn’t just come from flowers, this time of year is when berries and fruit burst forth, just ripe for a feast, and I’m sure the birds will enjoy these Malus Gorgeous crab apples.

 

 

Most of the bulbs for next year have gone in and should provide a riot of colour and food for next year…proving the squirrels don’t discover those!

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