What grabs me this week is just how wonderful the Glasshouse Borders are looking. Late August into early September is prime time for many of the plants here. Since the team worked hard on replanting them last year they’ve really come into their own.
I especially like the Calamagrostis brachytricha AGM, a tall grass with long, soft, fluffy seed heads, and the kitten tail tall Pennisetum; they are both extremely touchy-feely! Talking of touch, the Agastache smells faintly of aniseed if you rub the leaves. Beware of touching the spikey seed heads of the stately eryngiums, though – they are sharp! The noises out here are great too, with a gentle drone of busy bees all over the sedums and agastaches.
I just love the overall effect here at this time of year, especially when the tall grasses sway in the breeze and catch the light. You get a real metallic sheen off the Molinia grasses, and the herbaceous hibiscus has the most incredible, large flowers.
We wanted to introduce more yellow, so there are a lot of Helenium ‘The Bishop’ groupings. Unfortunately they have grown taller than we thought they would, but we’re putting that down to this year's wet weather!