Late Summer in the Sitting Spiritually Garden

After the intense bursts of growth and flowering through Spring and Summer, the Sitting Spiritually garden in August pauses in all its glory.

Grasses such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Forster’ turning golden, after their season in the sun combine with Sanguisorba ‘Blackthorn’ to create a truly delicious combo.

Remembering that most of this garden was only planted 18 months ago, the contrast as you walk through the dreamy immersive planting or sit on a deck and observe the gentle sway of tall perennials such as Verbena hastata ‘Rosea’, is quite overwhelming.  Still standing strong and ready for their winter structure the Ilex crenata fastigiata are currently imbedded deep within the perennial plantings. Their strong depth of green now beginning to contrast with the bleached summer grasses and the emerging seed heads of the Cephalaria gigantea and the cardoons.

In the woodland plantings the evergreen Deschampsia tardiflora are at their peak as they capture the late summer light and spin in to gold in their gauzy seedheads.  We encourage Martin to leave as many seedheads as possible throughout the garden, not only to provide food and shelter for wildlife and insects, but for structure and interest that carries the garden through the winter.

Strong colour and light illuminate the multi-stemmed Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’.  Three of them are dotted through the garden and provide a rich foil for the starry flowers of Eurybia divaricvatus as they bubble up through the grasses and ferns at this time of year.

At the beginning of the year we replaced a damaged shrub with a multi-stemmed Acer campestre on the furthest garden boundary.  As we slowly move towards autumn, we are looking forward to its buttery yellow foliage emerging and the gentle links it makes with the valley, hillside and hedgerows beyond.

This is such a lovely time to be in the garden, a time to pause, take stock and breathe in its golden glow,  at its most relaxed time.

Come and see the garden at the next Open Weekend, 7th & 8th September, sit on one of the glorious swing seats, recline on the Swinging Day Bed and have a chat with Anna & I, we will be on hand to discuss all aspects of the garden, both design and planting.