Liquidamber | Davids Garden Diary

It’s Saturday again, doesn’t it come round quick! Just had to show you the Liquidambar backlit by the sun this morning before the rain moved in.

Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ has gone bonkers this week and has literally hundreds of flowers. Probably her best display ever.

Chrysanthemum ‘Bretforton Road’ discovered by Bob Brown of Cotswold Garden Flowers and grown for generations in Badsey, is a bone hardy reliable variety which seems to grow anywhere. It started at one end of a border and is now up the other end too!

In the months and years to come, I hope to be reporting on, and displaying, a National Collection of Tradescantia virginiana and Tradescantia x andersoniana hybrids if I am accepted by the Plant Heritage Plant Conservation Committee in due course. They have asked me to build up the collection and demonstrate my abilities to manage and propagate the 60 or so cultivars and naturally occurring hybrids of this species. Early days but here is the very first picture of how they will be displayed.

Rose cutting update – looks like it’s working! Not sure if any roots have formed yet but the top growth certainly looks promising!

Down in the darkest recesses of the back garden in an area of dry shade under an enormous beech tree is my comfrey patch. Six plants of the sterile hybrid ‘Bocking 14’ produce 4 cuts of leaves for my compost bin each year and are totally happy being hacked down to the ground every 8 weeks or so. It is said that the roots ‘mine’ the rich minerals up to 5 metres down in the earth which, in turn, are passed into the leaves which produce the amazing comfrey liquid I extract and use as plant food.

Have a good weekend, stay safe, warm and dry.

David

The garden is slowly but surely going to sleep, casting off its bright summer clothes and getting ready for winter. The autumn colours in my little shrubbery are a reminder that all good things must come to an end but I will enjoy the last vestiges of what has been a glorious year in the garden.

Amelanchier, Viburnum and Liquidamber in autumnal colours

The little forest of self sown Verbena bonariensis which jostles for space among the Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and the remnants of aquilegias and foxgloves, are still going strong and provide a focal point at one end of the front garden.

Over the back garden gate, the ever reliable and evergreen Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ is just beginning to flower and will clothe the arch for many weeks with its pink freckled flowers. In summer it fights for position with an everlasting white sweet pea, Lathyrus latifolius ‘Alba’, which has just been cut back to make way for the show.

The young Chinese Rowan in the front garden, Sorbus hupehensis, is so laden with berries I fear some of the stems might snap under the weight, particularly when the fat, but acrobatic, wood pigeons descend for their annual feast. They will cling on for grim death until every berry is consumed. The Blackbirds and an occasional Waxwing or Fieldfare will take a few but it’s mainly Woody Wood Pigeon and his mates.

One or two stalwarts are hanging on including this fuchsia which refuses to die. It is not supposed to be hardy, was turfed out of a hanging basket five years ago and left to take its chances in the border. It soldiers on, oblivious to rain, drought and my neglect. Every garden needs a few of those!

The Chrysanthemums are just beginning to flower and the first as usual is ‘Romantika’ , a delicate pom-pom chrysanth with pink flowers which fade to white and goes on and on for weeks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t much like the rain and the flowers become a soggy mess after a heavy shower. Still, there are always so many buds that a quick snip gets it back to it’s former glory.