Monday 7 October 2013

Peony Palaver

Today was the day we moved the peony border, a bothersome task given that we had to dig up each variety, carefully divide it, go through it with a fine toothed comb extracting bind weed root, Circaea lutetiana enchanters nightshade and any other nasties we could find. We then soaked each tuber and dug out any weeds left inside, a rather gruesome job as the tortuous shapes rather reminded me of old bones. The last stage was a thorough blast with the jet wash before re-planting could begin. Still we managed to finish in good time and we now wait to see if we have eradicated the weed problem that plagues the old border. It will be a while before the new site will grow to be as full and beautiful when in flower, but when it does we will weed kill the old plants and put that area to grass for a few years, and when it too is clean we will probably repeat the whole process!
Meanwhile as many parts of the garden display are beginning to fade one or two plants are just coming into their own, notably Aster 'Violet Queen', looking stunning against the autumn foliage of  Gillenia trifoliata and the cheery orange lanterns of Physalis alkekengi which we have hung in the peach house to dry.

"The autumn wood the aster knows,
The empty nest, the wind that grieves,
The sunlight breaking thro' the shade,
The squirrel chattering overhead,
The timid rabbits lighter tread among the rustling leaves"
Dora Read Goodale


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