Ophelia and Brian
Thursday, November 2, 2017
The Headline of this month's News item sounds like the title of
a second rate TV comedy from the 1970's, except this was no
laughing matter! We were warned in advance of the remnants of a
hurricane named Ophelia - what a crazy name for a storm The heroine
in Hamlet was a gentle but emotionally troubled soul incapable of
causing the kind of mayhem that the storm brought to Ireland
and the western side of the UK.
It was a bizzare day here starting with a red sky in the morning
- in old country lore,"Red Sky in the morning, shepherds
warning" It was breezy and exceptionally warm, sudden
gusts appearing by mid morning causing the main fuse on the
electricity pole to explode which was quite a shock. As the day
wore on the gusts became more severe and working in the House
Garden planting out garlic I was blown over! (am I nuts or what!)
This was quickly followed by what sounded like another explosion
from the direction of the Paddock Garden; this time it was the
plastic on the large polytunnel being ripped off. Although we
are reasonably sheltered, southerly gales like this one pick up
speed as they follow the valley and this was too much for the
tunnel to cope with. The storm raged on most of the day but there
was no rain whatsoever!
A fine combination of Cotinus "Grace", Euonymus
alatus and Liquidamber var. unknown
Next morning surveying the garden and thinking that compared to
some parts we had been very lucky with no other damage, I came
across the liquidamber I had been given as a 50th birthday present,
which had grown into a fine 25 feet tree and which was colouring
nicely. The leader had been split and at a stroke a
main feature in the paddock garden was lost.
Sad to see such fine autumn colour carted away in
my pick up
By comparison Storm Brian the following Saturday was just a
normal autumn gale but with non stop rain all day.
Weather
Like every one of the the last 4 months fine weather was
at a premium, rain and strong winds putting to an end much of
the autumn colour show from some of the later perennials, trees and
shrubs. It was some consolation that it was an incredibly mild
month which kept the grass growing and pockets of interesting
plants all over the gardens, many of them having a late flush
across a wide variety of plants
Only 10 sunshine days but 21 rain days, on 3 occasions
rain all day on13th, 23rd and 24th. One day time temperature below
10C showing how mild it was all month.
Max daytime temperature 18C on 16th the day Ophelia came to
call.
Min night time temperature 0C on 30th at the end of a
perfect weather lat autumn day.
Garden Update.
In spite of the challenges of the weather, there were still
pockets of enjoyment all over the garden and from my vantage point
on the scaffolding around the house, I was able to record them from
a different angle.
Rudbeckia "Goldsturm" still flowering well into
October with its long term dwarf aster (symphyotrichum)
companion
A unique view across the roof of the Lodge
At last the scaffolding has gone to enable us to
enjoy the finished product
Plenty of vegetables available now, especially root crops and
brassicas, as all the late summer crops came to an end.
Red cabbage is better stored in a cool dry place
for the winter than left in the ground
Moira always makes a good job of stringing the
onions
The last runner beans, variety "Firestorm" on 19
October, from a direct sowing made on 10 July
Gathering ripe seed for The Hardy Plant Society Seed Exchange
was difficult and drying it off even worse, but eventually I was
able to gather 15 different varieties. Quite a contrast with some
of thebetter years when above 30 was the norm.
The tender plants in the damaged polytunnel survived well
and it was interesting to note that the rain and gales had helped
to clear most of the whitefly that has plagued plants all
summer and autumn. Proof if it were needed, that excellent
ventilation can help to keep whitefly at bay.
A yet to be identified climber possibly a form of
campsis, a gift from a friends mother's garden in
Italy
Passiflora caerulea "Rubra", one of many in the small
tunnel which are about to break
The large brugmansias I have featured several times in previous
News Items, have had a new flush of buds, probably as a result of
the soaking they have had, far more water than I could ever give
them by conventional irrigation.
Work on repairing the large tunnel begins
We had so many offers of help which we were very
grateful for
Robert and Barry were particularly helpful having
recently erected an identical tunnel in their own garden,
Many thanks too to Helen and John and all the others who offered
their help which is much appreciated.
Prosecco with friends to celebrate completion of
the main works. Still a lot of finishing touches to
apply.
What's looking good
Although there is still plenty of autumn colour on trees
and shrubs, others had coloured earlier than normal and many
of the leaves had already been shed when the 2 storms blew away
many more.
There is still however plenty of colour from herbaceous plants
both large and small, none finer than the eagerly awaited Dancing
Ladies, forms of Saxifraga fortunei in an ever increasing range of
colours and flowers. Natives of the far east, particularly Japan,
and China they grow well in moist part shade at the front of
borders where they flower from September to November and even into
early December if the weather is not too cold; just one proper
frost will bring the show to an abrupt end. They are however
otherwise totally hardy and will grow larger year on year.
Saxifraga "Wada" one of the largest and best in the
autumn garden at Hergest Croft.
Typical dainty flowers of most forms of this
group giving it the name of Dancing Ladies
For me newer introductions are less graceful but there
are some interesting flower colours coming in especially from
Japan. This one is "Beni Tsukasa"
This one is "Pink Candy" and to be honest it just
doesn't do it for me!
One that really does is "Shiranami" and it was the same
for many members in our local HPS Group, when I gave a talk on
them, and for visitors at a recent plant sale. Needless to say all
plants sold out. Incredibly floriferous it sports pure white double
flowers. Outstanding!
Over the last couple of years I have begun to collect hardy
chrysanthemums which are making a comeback after years out
being out of fashion. Another plant with a long season of
flowering and more readily available now. Our friend Richard
Bramley has a good range available at his nursery www.farmyardnurseries.co.uk
and just to illustrate how popular they have become, after a
feature about them on Gardeners World, his mail order service was
inundated the next day by eager prospecitve purchasers!
A collection of named forms in pots under cover
where they have flowered well and on warmer days give off a
perfume that I hadn't experienced before. We are however all
familiar with the scent of the leaves which always remind us of
late autumn
I fell in love with this yellow flowered form
which is tall and incredibly floriferous. It has large flower heads
with quilled and spooned ray florets as has "Emperor of
China" in pink. I took it to the recent Plant Sale hopeful of
selling them all but with no sales I concluded it was the "yellow
peril" syndrome that some gardeners have - you won't believe
how many times I have encountered it!
Salvias as always continue to get better as autumn
pogresses, responding to the shorter day length as they would do in
their native central America. They would happily continue up to
Christmas but for the risk of frost. I always dig up some plants
from the garden to keep in the polytunnels where their bright
colours continue to give pleasure on the dark days of early
winter.
Other plants looking good are:-
Liriope Muscari
Dahlia merckii just one plant the size of a medium
shrub. Totally hardy for us.
Another species dahlia excelsa, was collected in
southern Mexico at altitude of 2400 metres by Bleddyn and Sue
Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Plants and named for their granddaughter "Penelope
Sky": it is rare in cultivation. Tall woody stemmed plant up
to 3m. tall with attractive very late flowers in a shade of
lilac purple. Hardiness not yet tested
A bearded iris in late Ocotober - what a
month!
The one plant above all that looks good now is the large yew
tree at the entrance to the Paddock Garden which looks its
best after its annual clipping, and in all weathers throughout the
winter always makes an instant impact. One of my favourite jobs in
the garden having rescued it as a straggly 6 foot shrub growing
between 2 large Norway spruce that I felled. Now in excess of
50 years old.
Wildlife and Countryside
With very little of interest to write about this month I was
wondering what I was going to say, when the day after Ophelia, I
saw a cormorant fly slowly over the Paddock Pond. The storm had
obviously driven it 30 miles inland to raid the rivers in this part
of Carmarthenshire. Fortunately it went on its way without checking
out the pond. This is just the third we have had since
1976.
Severe gales at sea can often drive seabirds inland. the most
memorable sighting here in the late 1970's was a Manx Shearwater
that should have been on its 11,000 mile journey to the south
Atlantic. I picked it up which was not a pleasant experience as
they emit a foul smelling liquid from a tube shaped nostril above
the bill. I took it to the River Towy just 4 miles away and it was
a wonderful experience on release to see it fly away due west down
river to the sea. I always wonder if it made it to its southern
hemisphere destination. To learn more about this fascinating
bird go to www.animalcorner.co.uk/animals/manx-shearwater-bird/ Sorry
if this direct link doesn't work for you. It is worth typing the
web address in your search engine as it is an interesting
website
Not all sea wildlife is that lucky as it was estimated that
after the recent storms, approx 70% of Atlantic Grey Seal
pups on the 3 westernmost islands off Pembrokeshire perished in the
storm tossed seas..
Having no other pictures to publish just in time
along came this cheery robin.
Visits
I bet if you have read the excerpt at the heading of this
News Item, you will have been dying to know all about our "Trip to
Chile". Those of you that know me well are aware that I have never
been up in an aeroplane! Quite an admission at my time of life! But
there are of course other ways to visit far flung places, and we
did just such a thing by driving from Cilgwyn to a garden in the
Vale of Glamorgan to which we had been invited by owners Richard
and Sue. There were other attractions there too, the main one being
the longest established commercial vineyard in Wales. On the only
sunny and warm day in October and with the grapes ready for
picking, it seemed many miles away. On such a day it could have
been a vineyard anywhere in the world, but the presence of
llamas in an adjoining field placed it in South America and
since Chilean wines are currently a particular favourite, we
decided it was actually Chile!
Moira wasn't going to let go of this large bottle
of Sparkling wine! Classified as a Balthazar if holds 12
litres!
For more info about the vineyard go to www.glyndwrvineyard.co.uk/
From there we went on just a few miles for lunch at with
other new friends Rosamund and Peter Davies of Slade Gardens who
have a 7 acre garden leading down to the Heritage Coast at
Southerndown. Looking particularly good in Spring there are plenty
of planting opportunities in a variety of habitats still to be
pursued in a relatively new garden. One of the many highlights was
the termination of the garden in fields overlooking a tranquil bay
and wide ranging views across the Bristol Channel as far as Exmoor.
The garden opens for the NGS every year and Rosamund is the County
organiser For information about the garden go to www.ngs.org.uk?bf-garden=4563
The final destination was for a delicious tea in the
cottage garden of Lin, a fellow member of our HPS Group who had
arranged our outing on such a perfect day which gave us so many
special memories.
Back on more familiar territory was the not to be missed
annual end of season Plant Sale at Hergest Croft, Kington,
Herefordshire, one of our all time favourite gardens. Now in the
care of the 4th generation of the Banks family. visit www.hergest.co.uk for
more info about this very special and much cherished garden. Once
again the link doesn't work - try entering the website in your
search engine.
I
I always start writing my News Items a week ahead of publication
and taking the pictures in advance. It can be difficult to keep up
to date with developments in the gardens during this time ,
especially when as in this month, there is a good spell of fair
weather. I have more pictures now but it is not possible to
incude them all this month. As it can be difficult to find much to
write about next month I will publish them in the November
News.
I hope you have had some of the better weather and that in your
gardens you still have some good things to enjoy.