The months roll on in the garden and the end of September has arrived. The view looking out over the coombe from underneath one of the cherry trees.

One of the redesigned troughs with saxifrages. As you can see, we’re going higher by using a steel plate at the back.

A star on the smaller patio in the Water Garden is this dwarf variegated Arundo donax. It really “lifts” this area.

On the other side of the patio, in the Xeric Bed, is Bunny Ears. Bunny Ears is emulating its namesakes by proliferating in this bed.

Petrocosmeas are doing well this year in our Alpine House: this is P. sericea starting its blooms.

At the corner of the house, we have five re-purposed piston liners, possible from a large marine engine. With no bottom, they have acute drainage for these alpines.

And last but not least, the view towards Skule Hill from our Mirador.

July saw quite a few garden clubs and tour groups visiting Coolwater and Agapanthus “Charlotte” seen here bloomed enthusiastically all around the garden.

Of some interest, also, was this pink dandelion from Greece, Crepis incana.

Yucca filamentosa flowers without fail every year. A few days later however, very heavy rain flattened the inflorescences to the ground. 🙁

This Mangave has been planted into the ground instead of a pot and My Goodness! it has really taken off. When my Agave americanas flower and die, I’m going to replace them with mangaves, I think.

These cactus never seem to mind the cold winter in the Alpine House. They’re heading for the skylights now.

This little Nerine popped up unexpectedly. Much smaller than the standard ones. Lovely little flower.

The dry weather continued throughout most of May and we lost a few plants in pots, as it is impossible to keep all the garden watered. The rain, when it came in the last week of the month, was very much welcomed. Pic above  is of Euphorbia mellifera, which ties in the marginal plants in the pond to a little “exotic” section of Scheffleras and banana trees. Below are views of our Wedding Cake tree and a portion of our Japanese Maple bed.

Here we have three pics of more unusual plants. Physoplexis comosa from a mountain overlooking Lake Como in Italy. An Oreocharis from damp rocks in the mountains in South-West China. An aeonium from La Gomera in the Canary Islands: I was told it was a praedictum but it’s an endemic gomerense type definitely anyway.

And some little alpines, a Globularia from the Balkans and Italy, Matthiola scapifera from the Atlas Mountains and Craigton Blue Corydalis originally propagated by Ian Young in Scotland. Matthiola scapifera is normally kept in an alpine house but when I had it in there, it went bananas and tried to take over the whole place, so it has been placed in a wall pot outside with rain cover. Craigton Blue has the most attractive colour, I think, of any corydalis.

A few pics of colour in the garden in February.  Below is Saxifraga oppositifolia, the purple mountain saxifrage, which grows in the mountains in Kerry.

And these, below, are of Heuchera “Ice & Roses”, Tete-a-tete narcissus and “Madame Lemonnier” Heucherea.

Yep, these goodies are manure from an organic beef farm and leaf mould from the same place. We used to get twelve builders’ bags of leaf mould and six of manure but, as time has gone on and the garden has filled in, we now have room for much fewer. The farmer stacks his manure, in a slatted shed, up very, very high into the shape of a volcano and it steams away for six months or more killing all the weed seeds. We do occasionally get tree seedlings in the leaf mould but these are easy to pluck out when they appear. We’re very lucky to get these garden goodies.

Also, here are three pictures of the water in the large pond in the winter showing just how clear the water is. (I hope these are not famous last words and I’ve tempted fate).