We are still enjoying the last remnants of summer and I have been trying to get ahead of the curve by starting to cut back the herbaceous detritus while still leaving interesting seedheads and deadheading where possible to keep things going. This Scabious atropurpurea has self seeded all over the front garden and I leave it where I can without spoiling the overall look. This little patch has rewarded me with pink, dark red and white.

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The combination of Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and Verbena bonariensis is very pleasing and gets a lot of comments from passers-by.

Geranium Rozanne continues to flower and extend herself through the new rose garden beds. This is my first tentative experience with her, a Rozanne virgin you could call me, but she has lived up to her well deserved reputation of being a star performer for months on end without any hint of pest or disease, oblivious to wind and rain and coordinating beautifully with just about everything.

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New mail order plants arrived this week from Larch Cottage Nurseries in Penrith, Cumbria, who provide plants to National Collections, Parks, Botanical Gardens, National Trust properties as well as the general public. My interest was more and different Tradescantia Andersoniana Group specimens of which they seem to be sole suppliers in many cases. Beautifully packed and protected in strong crushproof cardboard with sticks in each pot to prevent damage if something heavy was put on top (despite multi warnings of live plants – this way up-do not stack!)

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The dreaded Box Moth Caterpillar has arrived in Cheltenham and friends from our gardening group are sharing sprayers and sachets of XenTari biological insecticide to try to stem the tide of damage. Nothing is guaranteed but this seems to be less deadly than Box blight if you catch and destroy the little blighters early enough.

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The fantastic weather this year has been wonderful for my Canna Tropicanas which have reached 2m tall and are still flowering as the centrepiece of the hot bed.

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Thought I would end on another pic of Clematis ‘Yukikomachi’ which is flowering again and looks so delicate and fragile when in fact it is as tough as old boots!

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That’s my six for this Saturday.

Happy gardening and enjoy your weekend .

David