It will not always be summer; build barns. The potting shed goes on...

[echt]

Please ignore my first, illiterate thread. I'll try again.

I hope this quotation from Hesiod captures the moment of movement from high summer to the splendours of harvest and the planing for the new year.

:o

Auriculas might be just the thing for the verandah which is looking, like the front garden, a bit sorry for itself.
The back garden is looking very pretty though.

maud what is flowering in your front garden?

I'll put a picture of the front garden on FB. The colour is mostly cing from the window boxes - which have a jumble of fuchsias, pelargoniums, lobelia and arctotis (a mistake, as it messes up the colour scheme ) - and things like coleus. I got an aeonium Schwarzkopf yesterday which has joined the merry throng.

I meant to say that my clematis cirrhosa -which is either Freckles or Jingle Bells, I forget - doesn't flower well, but I'm hoping the recent cutting back of everything growing on that but of fence might help it.

That sounds like a pleasant afternoon FP and your pot sounds lovely. I can only imagine how large your Mme. Carriere is after 20 years ! Mine did repeat this year but early on. It's nice to have one last burst from Lady of the Lake. Think Autumn is definitely in the air now.

I have Wisley Cream too which I had forgotten about, think it has been swamped by honeysuckle. Guess I should feed it plus Freckles. Freckles did have one flower last year but has put on a lot of growth the year so I'm hoping it will do better . I need to have a good look at it.

I can see a bit of burgundy on one of the chrysanthemums having complained about them yesterday.

Just had a look at your Facebook posts Maud - gosh your garden looks lovely.

I had a lovely potter in the sunshine, washing empty pots and tidying them away, and moving the full pots, some into the garage and some into the house. I don't know why I haven't brought the geraniums indoors before - they've sulked and died in the garage, when they could have flowered inside.

Thank you, SeaRabbit.

Funnyperson's pot sounds gorgeous, as the mahonia will give it wonderful scent.

Another here drooling at FP's pot .I googled the clematis www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/Clematis-species-integrifolia/ and now I want one .

Does it do ok in a pot ? Roughly how big is your pot ??? Must be big with the mahonia .

Sorry to be so question ,question ,question .

My Clematis 'Freckles' are new this year and I've had a few flowers. They are being targeted badly by slugs though.

This evening I made an Eve's Pudding to use up some of the apples. The sponge didn't really work and dd refused to eat it.

When I came back into the kitchen after putting the dc to bed, dcat was finishing off the pudding. At least someone enjoyed it.

Had a look at my Clematis Freckles amd no sign of anything other than a fair bit of green.

Apple crumble was the name of the apple game here (friend gave me bag full) this evening. Lots of sympathy on the cat front, ours have a habit of doing that given a chance, they are stealth cats.

Those clematis in the link look lovely Gingeroots.

I found 2 Japanese quinces outside earlier amd brought themin a have read they smell nice. I'm too coldy to smell anything yet though.

It's been a good year for apples round here - a friend gave us a huge bag of Cox's Orange Pippins from their garden and gosh they are so lovely - so much more flavour & character than Cox's in the shops. Apparently they are difficult to grow, or I'd plant a Cox tree.

I have 15 large quinces on my tree (the not-Japanese type). I'm itching to pick them but am holding off, as they always ripen later than apples. They already have a lovely scent, which will deepen. I have so many I may give quince vodka a go this year...

Yy to funny's pot sounds lovely.

Naughty Rhubarb cat!

I have a mahonia in the shade that never really flowers largely because I hacked it wonder if I should dig it up for a pot.

Spent the afternoon at Ventnor Botanical gardens . Dh Aquired Pinched some seeds from Ventnor Hybrid Agapanthus. I'm going to sow them tomorrow.

I caught up last night on GW (in a double bill with Strictly - bliss). I loved Carol's segment on botany.

My only experience with mahonias is with one planted in the garden of remembrance for my PiL. It used to look dreadful - one main stem growing like a totem pole - but, when we cut it back, it grew bushier and made a lovely display. All about apical dominance, as Carol would say.

Ooh. Any tips on taking cuttings from dahlias? I thought I'd have a go, as I seem to be better at cuttings than seeds.

I've tried taking some dahlia cuttings from non-flowering shoots this autumn but most have failed. I've been more successful using some of the first new shoots in the spring.

Do you lift your dahlias and store them or leave them in the ground? I've been leaving them for the last few years - most come back but they are very late to show and therefore to flower. Might go back to the faff of lifting/storing/starting off in pots. At least there's the chance to propagate by splitting the tubers.

My cuttings were just as they started to shoot in the spring. Did a few but only planted one out and the rest are somewhat stunted in small pots in the greenhouse.

I am going to lift mine ths year as hardly any came back after last winter, thought they might have been slugged. Thought I'd see if can split any of the tubers. What do you store them in?

Seeing as sun is out thought I'd take a photo of it.

I was thinking about how to store dahlias too - last winter I dried them off inside, and got off the dried soil pretty successfully, then stored them wrapped up in fleece in the garage.

A couple of smaller ones went mouldy but everything else was OK. Even the very shrivelled ones flowered. It's a lot of work though.

This year I also have a few I grew from seed still in pots - I don't know whether to keep in the pots or not.

PS Maud we'll have to combine activities - my cuttings rarely take but I've successfully grown all sorts of things from seed.

I took some osteospermum cuttings this morning, having read online that they can be taken at almost any time of year. Fingers crossed.

I will probably lift my three dahlias and store them in trays in the pop-up greenhouse, hoping the mice won't eat them.

Great picture sugar

I've been pondering lifting Dahlias myself. I did last year, just stored them upside down in the greenhouse and they mostly survived. I think I will as they were quite expensive and I might actually change the location. My dilemma is when- we don't always get frost here on the IOW and your meant to wait for the first frost.....

Re Dahlia Cuttings, I've never taken any but I did watch a sarah raven clip, which is to plant the tubers half poking out of a pot of compost and take a bit of shoot along with a bit of tuber. Looked really easy.

Pleasant few hours planting out wallflower plants -fire king and relocating for-get-me-not seedlings from the path to a bed! I hope that's what they are I have form for getting it wrong!

The mahonia has had a baby! So I'll dig that up!

I've just had a very productive trip to the garden centre to spend a birthday voucher. As it's sale time, I managed to get a large tray of violas, three salvias and some ajuga all for a tenner. Bargain!

The last time I stored dahlias I tried putting the cleaned/dried tubers in pots of dry potting compost with just the occasional dribble of water to stop them getting completely desiccated. They were in a greenhouse kept just frost free. Seemed to work fairly well, they just take up so much room in the Spring when there are trays and trays of seedlings to bring on.

What about favourite dahlias? Currently Nuit d'Ete', Admiral Rawlings and Happy Halloween (it really glows). What's the one in your photo, Sugar?

Hello everyone. I dropped off the thread somewhat as things were continuing to 'not be good' here and time was not aplenty either for gardening or for keeping up with the thread. I've also missed a whole month of GW. However, the news is that DH is finally to be allowed out of hospital tomorrow. This hopefully means I will get at least a little time back to consider putting the garden to bed for winter. I shall not however be lifting dahlias.

Those of you with gunnera experience, am I supposed to do something particular with it over winter or does it just look after itself?

SeaRabbit, one of your little dahlias is currently flowering in the long bed. It is very cheering.

Hello, Bertha. Good to see you again. Will DH be mobile once he's home?

Not very no. Going to be a few months yet.