Adding flowers for winter interest

A trip to the garden centre this weekend has done us the world of good. The weather has just been horrendous for ages and the garden is a wet mess, and if that’s not bad enough, it’s time to lift the dahlias for over-winter storage which means there are going to be some big bare spots.

So, after a bit of a tidy-up, we popped out to our favourite garden centre, Pentland Plants for a much-needed boost of autumn colour.

We had said we only needed a couple of small plants for the planters in the sitooterie but you know what happens… yup we came home with a few extras, particularly a couple of Christmas flowering hellebore which are big favourites of Kate.

It made for an interesting conversation though, about the different ways we both get enjoyment from the garden. Kate gets a real boost from those jobs that give instant results, like mowing the lawn or planting mature plants. Whereas I really enjoy the process of growing from seed and nurturing those plants. Neither is the only way or the right way and today proved a good mix of both.

Like lots of folk at this time of year, it’s time for us to lift the dahlias, which I grew from seed this year. The reason being that they produce soft tubers which they then regrow from next year. But in our super wet soil over winter, those tubers rot. so we lift them, dry them off and store them over winter to replant in spring. However that left quite a lot of bare earth in our flower beds.

So off to the garden centre to buy some plants that will provide foliage and flowers over autumn and winter to plug those gaps.