September Projects

Things continue in an autumnal vein at Norton Conyers, despite the vivid colours of the rudbeckias and asters we are nearly into October already. That annual bugbear of mine, mulching, has now started in earnest and we spent the whole day barrowing one sort or another to various parts of the estate, I wonder how many miles we walked yesterday! Our latest project is to erect a greenhouse in the old piggeries where we can over-winter the salvias and propagate new plants next spring. It is good to see new areas of the garden move forward and with the house due to officially open in 2016 we must make sure every thing looks at its best. There is much to do if we hope to make the deadline!
"By all these lovely tokens
September days are here
With summers best of weather
And autumns best of cheer"
Helen Hunt Jackson

Nicky in action in the peach house, we are still watering every day!

Swan Song

September is the swan song for the butterfly, in one last glorious celebration they glide and feast on the asters that seem to bloom solely for them. It was hard to work yesterday when I would much rather have watched their antics and delighted in their enchanted fluttering. They are bold now with nectar coursing through their veins, some even chose to alight upon us if they approve of the colour of our shirts. How we will miss them as the flowers slowly fade and their bright shades give way to the dun coloured tones of the sleeping earth. Luckily for us some will secrete themselves away in warm corners and crevices to emerge glorious into the spring sunshine once more, and recreate the butterfly dance again next year.

"Just living is not enough" said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower"
Hans Christian Anderson

A Change Of Heart

The weather at Norton Conyers may have been dull and dank yesterday, but when you have colours like these to brighten up your day you barely miss the sunshine! I have revised my opinion of chrysanthemums as boring petrol station blooms, just look at them glowing against the colour of the bricks with a back drop of Chinese lanterns and dahlias, it brings to mind a firework display and suggests that they are the perfect autumn flower. Every year I  rediscover plants I  previously disliked only to have my opinion changed when I see them grown well. Here that means in the traditional way as part of a cutting garden, also an idea that didn't please me at first with the regimented straight lines but one that I now eagerly anticipate as the rest of the garden dies down and this area comes into it's own.
"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons"
Jim Bishop

A self seeded beauty in a forgotten corner

September Seeds

One of the joys at this time of year is the collection of all that lovely free seed, each tiny capsule is another potential plant bursting with promise. Every single one holds the potential for a new strain or an exact replica of the parent, how can one resist popping a couple into a pot of earth and seeing the miracle of life begin again. The weather lately has been perfect for collection, wait until the dew has burnt off, take your paper bag into the sunshine and off you go! Because Norton Conyers specialises in hardy perennials the best time to sow these seeds is right now, in nature they would just drop to the ground or be carried away by birds and small mammals many of whom may stash their treasures and then forget them, giving them a perfect starting place far from the parent plant, we are just doing the same thing. This is also the perfect excuse for not being too tidy in the garden too soon, by leaving the seed heads standing well into winter you are feeding many creatures, providing habitats for insects, and giving the plant itself maximum time for reproduction, the sole reason for the plant existing in the first place. I think gardeners pride themselves on being part of this magical cycle.

Observe the poppy seed heads on the left and you can see where the tiny birds and mammals of the garden have been feasting on the goodies inside.

"Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.
John Harrigan

Respect

With the children back at school I felt as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes at Norton Conyers on Thursday. Everywhere I looked I saw nature in its intricate beauty. Finding part of a wasps nest on the Ha Ha I stopped to examine the wondrous workmanship inside. Whether or not you like the little blighters you have to admire their industry and sense of purpose. If only we humans had that certainty of our reason for existence! When you consider the patterns and shapes that nature creates you really do get a sense of a mighty hand behind it all, how else can you explain the Fibonacci sequence? This is a mathematical pattern found throughout nature which appears in petals, leaves and shells, it is fiendishly difficult to comprehend, never mind explain, so I shall leave you to found out about it for yourselves!
We are cutting the yew hedges on Monday, a day of backbreaking toil for Giles who is the only one strong enough to wield the long hedge cutter, but also fairly hard for us who have to pick up the clippings. It is a job that really marks the end of summer in my mind, as the seasons turn slowly towards winter once again.

Look at our wonderful grapes, not bad for north Yorkshire!

"He who wants a rose must respect the thorn"
Persian proverb

Hello September!

Name me a parent in the land who does not welcome September with joy in their hearts! The children have returned to school and at last we can clean the house properly without having to hoover in between teenagers legs. I can see their bedroom carpets for the first time in over a month and am not to be hounded with requests for food until they return at the end of the day.  In effect I've got my freedom back. I now have the chance to catch up on some blogging, and time to appreciate the wonderful colours that abound at this time of year. If September had it's own special colour it would be the hue of a Victoria plum, and without doubt the plant of the month has to be the sedum. Beloved of our insect friends it also blends beautifully with the asters as they emerge, and lasts until the first frosts ice the flowers like lacy mop caps. The work in the garden gets more interesting again with harvesting and seed gathering, and gradually the mowing slows down and the hoeing takes a back seat for another year. I like autumn only second to spring!
"The breezes taste of apple peel.
The air is full of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs, burning brush
New books, erasers, chalk and such.
The bee his hive well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean with suds,
The days are polished with morning haze"
John Updike September