October News from the Nursery

We could not have planned it better, lots of hot summer days and now some good drenching rain. It all adds up to very good conditions for Autumn planting.The ground is warm and moist the best combination for establishing new plantings. Looking across the nursery beds it is looking good, there is still plenty of colour from things like the ever popular Verbena bonariensis , Achillea Walther Funcke and Hebe Wiri Image.
In between the blocks of colour the grasses are doing a good job by introducing their elegant foliage and amazing range of funky flower heads.We have a good range of grasses, in 9cm pots, including Pennisetum alopecurodes Hameln, P. thunbergii Red Buttons, P. villosum, Eragrostis curvula Totnes Burgundy, Panicum virgatum Shenadoah, Calamagrostis brachytrichaand the ever popular Nassella tenuissimawhich planted now will give you big established gorgeous plants for next year. 
Just a thought, to shade an area when it is very hot for sitting out, like a bower, pergola or veranda, why not plant a lovely Vitis vinifera Purpurea. The largish leaves (15cm) a beautiful dusky purple, provide summer shade, but fall in the autumn, so don't keep out the light through the darker months. The leaves are soft in texture and readily compost.