August has just flown by and with grandchildren to look after during the school holidays we haven't had a lot of time for gardening. The garden itself seemed to take a rest from mid July to mid August, it's been all quiet in the flower borders with not much happening. It's like the flowers have been charging up their batteries and are now ready to explode, full of energy again. And now in the last couple of weeks things have started to happen. The rudbekias, heleniums and phlox are brightening up the borders, the sedums are starting to show signs of colour and the white buddleia is happily flowering away.
When I have managed to find time to get out in the garden I have been cutting back the alchemilla mollis which has now gone over and also the ferns which pop up all over the place and would take over if left to do their own thing. The ferns grow everywhere and obscure the other plants in the borders so it looks much better after a good tidy up. They soon grow back again though so it's a regular job in the garden. With some of them I can manage to dig out the roots, but others are really tough and some grow out of walls so I can't get rid of them. The recent wet weather has brought out all the slugs which have nibbled the dahlias and had a feast on the hostas leaving them in shreds.
The good news is that our Bramley apple tree, which is quite old and produced hardly any fruit last year, is now almost bending over with the weight of all this year's fruit. That means I need to tidy up the shed, clear a space to store them all and then start making things. I found a recipe for spiced apple chutney recently which I want to try out.
School holidays means lots of days out with the grandchildren and we've visited one or two big gardens recently--Parceval Hall and Tatton Park. These were both fantastic places to visit and I will save these for another blog.
I really enjoyed a visit to Parceval Hall last year and Tatton Park some years ago.
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