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September 2013

Wonderful September! You might perhaps wonder, dear gardening friends, what I've been up to in September. I can tell you that I've got back pain, pain in my legs, and can hardly even pick my nose! I've been planting like mad, and I can feel that I'm not getting any younger. On the other hand, as I said so many times before, I'm convinced that getting one's fingers stuck in the soil generates vitality. And so, despite any aches and pains while in the process of planting, a garden is a healer. At least that's my experience.

We've had a fantastic September, which will soon give way to October. As much as I love this time of year, it's quite a difficult one for me personally when there is so much to get down in the ground – which MUST go down on the ground.

I'd like to thank all the wonderful members of A Gentleman’s Bulb Club who sent in (and hopefully have all received) their orders, and I wish you all success in planting; we can already look forward to the spring. And if you haven't already joined, now is the time to do so because soon it will be time again; in December, we will be distributing a new list of bulbs for spring planting which we will purchase directly from Holland. Beloved Holland – what would we do without you? Many thanks to our Dutch friends, Simone, Fred and Bos.

The leaves haven't yet begun to fall in earnest. Perhaps there isn't a great deal of colour in our garden this time of year, but in the garden to the rear of the house we have a very large half wooden barrel which houses a group of stunning, tall ‘David Howard’ dahlias, with dark foliage and burnt orange flowers with a darker centre. It's not for nothing that this wonderful dahlia is one of the Royal Horticultural Society’s ten AGM (Award of Garden Merit) dahlias. A couple of orange-coloured, 2 meter high canna Wyoming in the barrel complemented the dahlias perfectly, but unfortunately have now finished blooming.

It's undoubtedly thanks to the fantastic summer we've experienced that all kinds of plants have shown fabulous growth. The rhododendrons are going to explode into bloom at the end of May/beginning of June, and I've never seen such wonderful buds on the magnolia trees. So there's a great deal to be thankful for, even at the cost of a bit of back pain.

I need to cut the lawn a couple of times before the end of the season, but that will have to wait until planting is over. At the moment, there's a northerly wind blowing here in the Stockholm area and it's not particularly nice to be outdoors, but I've got several hundred narcissus Sir Winston Churchill that need planting. This hardy, fragrant daffodil has lovely cream-white double flowers, with touches of orange. This beautiful plant has also been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

And so, dear friends, it's now time to grab a trowel or spade and go out in the garden!

Take care.

Stefan

 

A Gentleman Gardener