Join Fiona Cumberpatch HAPPILY BASKING in the golden sunshine and enjoying the last of summertime in her small town garden in Lincolnshire
The calendar may have clicked round to September but I’m not ready for the turn of the season just yet. This month I want to squeeze the last drops from the sunny season and stay outside for as long as I possibly can.
I do love an Indian summer, with its golden light and intense colours of late flowers. I have such pretty asters, ‘September Ruby’ and ‘Mönch’. My wonderful dark purple salvia ‘Caradonna’ started blooming in late May and hasn’t stopped since. And there’s a particularly lovely pot of richly coloured double chrysanthemums called ‘Dixter Orange’.
As the evenings draw in, I’m loving my Antique Gold Solar Moroccan lanterns (£25, homebase.com) which are some of the twinkliest and best I’ve found. I’ll arrange a couple of these on the patio, give my sofa a quick glow-up with a colourful throw and plenty of cushions, bake a cake and settle in for some serious garden lounging.
As I’m sitting back and letting my thoughts wander, it’s a good time to give the garden a quick review. After the first year of my redesign, I’m noting what has worked well and anything that might need a tweak.
Temperatures were scorchio at times, a trend that is set to continue, so drought-tolerant plants are definitely the way forward, and I’ll need to plant more of them. A bamboo has suffered in the heat with disappointing yellowing foliage, but the big aeonium, which from a garden project, as well as some larg was a summer-fete bargain for £2, has thrived, so I’ll get another one of those for next year as I love its dramatic shape and purple fleshy leaves. I’ll try to make sure this one survives the winter by keeping an eye on night-time temperatures and popping it into the mini greenhouse if there’s any hint of a frost. When autumn comes, it can li
