We’ve finally had a reasonable amount of rain over the last couple of weeks, enough so I could manage to dig a hole or three today to plant some perennials that I’ve been trying to keep alive for the last six weeks or so! Of course the rain also means the weeds have gone mad!

I weeded around the Amber & Amethyst garden, I’m pleased how this has turned out, considering most of the plants went in April / May, it’s filled up nicely. It’s also worked well as a sitting area, most days we sit up here with a cup of tea or a glass of wine. I originally planned the gravel area because I realised this corner got the evening sun, so it’s lovely that we are using it, OK it helps that we have had a long, hot summer! One of the plants looking good at the moment in the AA garden is this purple sedum, it makes a change from the usual (and pretty) Autumn Joy one. It looks a bit pale in this photo, but it’s actually quite a rich colour.

Next to the pond is a large clump of Crocosmia Lucifer, it really needs digging up and dividing but in the meantime it has flopped a bit so I have a circle of red flowers like a ring of fire!

It always intrigues me how one hosta is favoured by slugs over another. I was a bit concerned after our chickens were rehomed that my hostas would never be the same but it’s obviously more the frogs, toads and newts in the pond that keep our slugs down, this beautiful creamy one is almost perfect.

This plant with the little blue flowers is actually a clematis, there’s a shrubby group as well as the climbers and this is one of them. It’s not very tall, about 24″ ish, it’s not very showy either, but I like it, the flowers are a lovely intense blue.

A couple of months ago I planted a fatsia japonica in a large pot for a very shady spot, it’s got the fence on one side, raised bed wall on another, the arbour and then a large sambuscus shrub over the top…as I said, it’s a very shady spot! Well it looks very happy there, as does the hosta in a pot next to it.

At the other end of the scale is this little pot of violas, don’t they look pretty !