Garden Blog - August 2024

In the 1827 poem ‘August’, by the famed ‘Peasant Poet of Northamptonshire’, John Clare, he notes that:

‘The fields are all alive with sultry noise
Of labour’s sounds, and insects’ busy joys.’

It’s not only insects and labourers out in the fields that are busy right now, gardeners are jolly active too. There are lawns to be mowed and edged, hedges to be trimmed, and a multitude of pots and urns to be watered.

On this final point, our pots and urns are presently looking rather splendid. Having been planted out in late May, and kept regularly fed and watered, they are now rewarding our efforts with their full pomp. While cannas and bananas reach for the skies, fuchsias and love lies bleeding cascade downwards, and cherry pie plants fill the air with their heady scent. Meanwhile, pot grown dahlias are doing a sterling job of adding a real zing to our garden visitor’s tearoom seating area.

Though our pots and urns require a great amount of attention throughout the summer, our borders are somewhat less demanding. We manage the borders here at Deene Park by enabling plants to self-seed with gusto. By giving plants free reign to self-seed, we have developed a very English country garden feel, whereby plants mingle and jostle for resources and attention, readily filling any gaps that may arise. These self-sown plants are also more resilient of adversity and able to thrive without the need for regular watering or feeding, as they have chosen to live where they do, and are therefore well suited to their environment. So, although the borders have a very relaxed feel, the local pollinators are busily beavering away to make it happen.

Wildlife is integral to maintaining a healthy garden, and not just where pollination is concerned. Frogs, toads, snakes, and hedgehogs all gladly devour slugs; while ladybirds, lacewings, and wasps are keen consumers of aphids; all of which makes for a balanced environment that means that chemical control can be done without. There is a great deal of online advice for encouraging wildlife into our gardens that is well worth acting on.

Finally, a plant that always attracts plenty of attention from our garden visitors at this time of year, is the bottlebrush buckeye, known to botanically minded types as Aesculus parviflora. Native to Alabama and Georgia, in the southeastern USA, this large suckering shrub is a more diminutive relative of the European horse chestnut tree.

American naturalist, explorer, and plant collector, William Bartram, first noted what was then an undescribed shrub, during his travels between 1773 and 1778. Having been named Aesculus parviflora, it was introduced into British gardens thought the activities of John Fraser, a Scottish botanist and plant hunter, who made a botanising trip through the American south in 1785.

Even after more that two centuries of cultivation, this beautiful shrub is still uncommon in British parks and gardens, which is certainly a pity, given that it is such an arresting sight.

Until next month, happy gardening,

Tearoom Pots	Aesculus parviflora	Courtyard Urn	Four Seasons Urn	Tearoom Dahlias