Well it might be the end of summer, but at least we are going out in a blaze of glory. The best weather in weeks! Sadly Cornwall has the highest rate of coronavirus infections in the country (from practically zero at the end of May), though saying that the figures are somewhat skewed as they are based on the normal population of the county and not the larger influx of visitors. Until those visitors go home though I am keeping well away from the hotspots (i.e. beach and towns). I am happy enough to spend a few hours in my own garden as there is plenty to do – yanking out bindweed accounts for much of it – dead-heading, cutting back overgrown perennials, pruning the trees. I still can’t do anything too strenuous which is annoying as the weather has been perfect for doing a bit of digging and this Bee & Butterfly bed (below) definitely needs some attention!

(1) Hylotelephium telephium ‘Xenox Yellow’ is a new plant this year from Sarah Raven. Sedums are fabulous for this time of year, flowering into the autumn months and bee magnets. An unusual colour form with peach-apricot flowers offset by dark plum foliage, this sedum is low-growing. I fancied this one with its different colour and it does look rather good next to a Carex of similar shades.

(2) Sisyrinchium ‘E.K. Balls’ is a sweet little alpine plant with straight thin leaves with purple flowers. I have this growing in my Belfast (Butler?) sink, but I am going to remove it and put it in the new gravelled area. I want to make the sink into a water feature next spring. Hopefully it will do OK in the ground as long as I plant it with lots of grit.

(3) Penstemon. No name as this came from a cutting off a neighbour back in 2015. It’s not a colour I would choose now, being a sort of coral pink, but it is the best flowering of all my penstemons and the bees love to crawl inside those tubular bells. Now almost at the end of its flowering after weeks of providing colour and nectar.

(4) Crinodendron hookerianum tree – this has been featured in spring when the tree drips with interesting bell-shaped pendant flowers like little red lanterns, but this is the first time I have seen so many seed heads on it. I like this photo – they look like a pair of pearl earrings!

(5) White Agapanthus. Yay! Last year a couple of the blue ones flowered and this year I have two white ones, one with slightly larger flowers than the other. Only one spike on each plant, but I am more than happy to see them.

(6) Another sign that autumn is coming is this photo of clematis seed heads – these from Nelly Moser (who incidentally has produced a couple more flowers at the same time).

As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world.

See here for the participant’s guide.

Six on Saturday