As weather suitable for climbing and rambling starts to subside
(whether you’re a person or a plant), it’s all hands on deck at Borde Hill
Garden this September. For starters the climbing and rambling roses will all
need a good prune to reduce their height and protect them from the onslaught of
wind that winter’s sure to bring.
Elsewhere, the late flowering perennials that have kept a
pleasing sea of colour flowing through the garden of late will now need
deadheading and watering where necessary, (the latter is especially relevant if
we’re to have another Indian summer like those we’ve enjoyed in recent years).
Beyond that the perennials will need lifting and dividing. Most
perennials benefit from division every two to three years to maintain health
and vigour. If you want to increase the number of plants you have by dividing
them, the task can be done more regularly.
The beautiful beech and hornbeam hedges, of which we are lucky
to have a few, will all also need a light trim to ensure they all come back next
year at their brilliant best. And the birch trees will get a similar treatment
for the same reason.
And
with our eye firmly placed on next year already, end of this month we’ll also
set about planting spring flowering bulbs including fritillarias, alliums, narcissus, tulips, triteleias and
muscari.
What to look out for in the garden this month:
Sedums
Asters
Dahlias
Rudbeckias
Heleniums
Hydrangeas
Penstemons
Grasses
Nerines
Salvias
