AN INDIAN SUMMER

The weather that we waited for all summer has finally arrived in September, a little late but as the old saying goes, better late than never. Long sunny days and cool nights makes gardening something of a pleasant task again after a dull wet season.

The down side is that some of the autumn flowering plants like cyclamen, are not appreciative of the warm sunny days, they prefer cooler weather at this time. Some of them have slowed down a little and stopped producing flower buds, but hopefully when the weather changes again they will get back to normal.

The autumn flowering bulbs are really enjoying the sunshine with Crytanthus elatus and Amaryllis, producing numerous stems each with several large trumpets of red and shell pink respectively. In the garden Nerine bowdenii has more that twelve flowering stems and is obviously enjoying the new position it was given, further away from the hedge. Now it gets sunshine all day even at this time of year. In its old position it was shaded shortly after midday just when it was starting to flower.

The little autumn flowering leucojum are doing very well with the white form most prolific, Autumnalis rosea the pink form is a much more delicate plant and does not do well outside with me. It survives and produces one or two flowers but nothing compared to the plants kept in the alpine house.

Watering is a daily chore every day now which is a bit strange for the middle of September, and the fans have to be kept running 24 hours a day in the alpine house to keep the cyclamen cool. If I had known that the good weather was coming I would left them in the shaded frame outside until the end of the month where they would have enjoyed the cooler conditions.

With the back garden now cleared of all plants, pots, and seed trays that were surplice to requirements the place looks much cleaner than it has done for years. The dog is delighted with the extra space.

Work has now started on the front garden which is getting a complete overhaul to fit into the new plan. The trellis fence on both sides of the drive was removed as was the gate leading to the side garden. A lot of the plants are much more visible now and I even discovered several Cyclamen plants in flower that I hadn't noticed because of the fence.

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