PUSHING THE BORDERS

Starting to do the rounds with loppers and the shredder! being slightly distracted by the lack of dry days to get on with some roof and gutter repairs/replacements , but have managed to empty one of the full compost heaps (amazing how son is always busy when that needs doing) good stuff about 64 cubic feet of mostly soil like top dressing.

Not sure what I would do if it wasn't for the winter "off season"

What are you all up to?

My wife and I paid another visit to the Dorothy Clive Garden. We were impressed with the colour still all around the garden, given we are almost in November. The Salvias were lovely as was the autumnal colour on the trees.
































It was nice to see the cacti and agaves I donated planted in the greenhouse:

We miss going to that plant sale at Easter now we have handed it on to son, over the years it has really come on especially the magnolias planted early on in its restoration, I believe from Ross the head gardener that more land has been acquired now. Also I think the Phytophera (spelling?) they had years back did them a big favour as they were able to clear out the wooded quarry area and let in more light, we recently saw at Tremenheer what a bonus that can be

Charlie I understand from Ross that a Welsh grower of rhododendrons is gifting them a large collection. In the cleared areas, it looks like he has planted some young species Rhodies which should look great in years to come. I think they must get lots of plants gifted by the various sellers at the plant fairs that take place there. I’ve seen salvias with Ian and Teresa Moss’s labels on them and I see they have also planted an Akebia longeracemosa which I assume came from your stand? It would certainly be a great way of incorporating some choice plants into the garden which is large enough to accommodate some quite unusual things. I’ve got myself some other things to donate but Ross needs to get a van to my place because one of them is a big Magnolia x wieseneri which won’t fit in our car! It will be interesting to see its development over the years.

Great pictures Martin!

Regarding what i'm up to Charlie : we have big oak trees at the front of the house and a massive Liquidambar 60ft tall in the back garden, all now starting to shed their leaves. So next few weeks I'm gathering leaves, stuffing as many as I can into our two green waste recycling bins and having to pack the rest into bin liners to take to the the local recycling centre! Last winter I had to pack about 20 bin liner fulls! I try and harvest some for leaf mould but it takes a good 2 years or so for them to rot down, so i can't do too many through lack of space. A lot of work but the trees are lovely, especially the Liquidambar this time of year!

On another note, do any of you guys know if there are any truly hardy Salvias for the south east of England? Ones you can more or less forget about in the winter, apart from some protective mulching. Thanks.

Valdy that Liquidambar is STUNNING.

As regards Salvias it’s such a coincidence that I’m looking for the same. I saw these at Dorothy Clive:






















Some of them are huge, almost small tree like so I contacted Ian and Teresa Moss who go to the plant fairs, including here, because I was so impressed with this late season colour. I know they have supplied some salvias to this garden as well. Clearly these are left out all winter and are years old so they have survived some harsh winter weather in what is a very exposed Shropshire garden. They identified the tall blue one as Salvia concolor (I can’t get it anywhere), the bushy bicoloured one as ‘Phyllis Fancy’ (I managed to get this from Bridgemere, just down the road from here) and the pink one as involucrata ‘Hadspen’. If they not only survive but make these huge plants here, then I’m sure they will with you. If you can stomach it, I can vouch for Hot Lips which even sailed through 2010 in my last garden and we went down to -18 and made a very big bush.
PS They told me that concolor reaches a height of about 12ft in the Bishop's Palace Garden at Wells! I've never been there but perhaps need to!

I dont think any are what you would call forever plants but I have no problems with S. patens, S. uliginosa, involucrata and the shrubby microphylla types , but I dont grow many of the hundreds of hybrids around these days

Thanks Martin and Charlie. Wow! that's more Salvias than I was expecting. I must get a few of the ones you guys mention and try them out. Martin, what is the blue Salvia in the second to last picture please?
I don't mind "Hot Lips" but never considered it would be hardy. definitely one for me to try.

Not sue Valdy but it looks very similar to one I have just bought called Black and Blue, which is widely available and a bit like Amistad, also common. That’s also supposed to be reasonably hardy and can get to 2 metres in the right conditions. There are some new variations on Hot Lips. In fact I bought one myself the other day:



I’ve had a few Salvias over the years but never really got into them but the more I see of them I can appreciate their late season interest potential. The problem with me is that when I get into something I go silly over them. This led me to putting together a collection of over 200 unusual Agaves a few years ago. Now I’m bored with them and gave most away or let them perish. This year I’ve got myself back into my childhood passion of fuchsias and have bought about 50 this year. I want to avoid allowing myself to get hooked on Salvias but I’m definitely adding a number of them to the garden for late colour. I was unaware, until seeing these, that they can make such bold statement plants in the garden.
The one I’d really like, but can’t get, is one mentioned by the late David Feix: Salvia vasquezii. It’s stunning but would need to be indoors over winter.

charlie wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 8:49 am What are you all up to?

I have spent most of late summer and autumn removing bamboo. A Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Argus' had escaped it's root barrier so had to go, now almost gone. While I had some energy (and the tools) I decided to remove the Thamnocalamus crassinodus that was flowering.
f I hadn't previously obtained this tool I think I would have given up on both jobs https://roughneck-tools.com/en/products ... nd-tamper/. I should be called a 'Wonder Bar'.