Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – September 2011
Here we are again, ready for another GBBD! The sun still rages out there and the only signs I have of a coming fall are the smell of ripen grapes in the air and maroons taking over colors in the garden.
The grass garden in september
The potted plant on the bottom left is a new arrival: carex ‘Irish Green’, with acid green new foliage, aging to emerald green.
Looking closer amongst that stipa mess I still find some suprise from time to time…
Sedum 'Matrona' amongst stipa tenuissima
Grasses are giving their best at this time of the year:
Pennisetum 'Hameln' and 'Magic' form a kind of gate you have to pass by to see a sedum block ('Xenox' and 'Matrona', mostly) and a small calamagrostis 'Overdam'
A nice pattern formed by calamagrostis brachytricha, dried achillea flowers and same old pennisetum
The B side of the pennisetum is rather interesting too…
Same pennisetum but viewed from behind. A yellow solidago takes the stage but I prefer the curly dried flower heads of verbena hastata on the right
Some parts of the garden are really lacking colors but soon some white asters will cheer up the view. I like it this way though.
The big miscanthus sinensis on the right is a ‘Central Park’, the original form of m.s. ‘Cabaret’ (smaller, on the left), in fact ‘Cabaret’ tends to go back to the original plain green form sometimes, which is stronger and more present though. I like both of them. Texture is pretty intricate here.
A close-up of the miscanthus sinens 'Central Park' flowers, they turn pure fluffy white later.
Molinia 'Transparent' sets a watermark on miscanthus sinensis 'Ferne Osten' and the seed heads of eupatorium atropurpureum
Some other parts of the garden are still bright green and holding up, despite the very hot and dry summer we’re still experiencing…
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' (I reckon it is the best variety for full sun) with aster x frikartii 'Monch' and a pretty wide miscanthus purpurascens background
Leucophyllum frutescens is believed to give its best after a very hot and long summer and a big rain. It's probably fed up with waiting for the rain and blooms profusely anyway.
Some other plants have probably been drinking something strong and think we are back to spring again…
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Hanabi' reblooming from this year's wood
For those interested on how the house is going on here’s a pic. The hole to the hayloft (above the stable) has been doubled and it is now a loggia. I’ll keep potted hostas and ferns up there… Looking forward for it. The house is getting a proper house.
Soon we'll paint the house walls red again. The aster foreground is a 'Blau Danube' .
Thank you for passing by and eventually dropping a line.
Do you really want to end up biting your lips with envy?? Follow the link and see what is blooming in gardens around the World thanks to Carol from May Dreams Gardens and Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.
AltroVerde 
Alberto, your grass-filled garden looks amazing, I’m going to put a message on gli amici della festa di San Fiacre so they can see it isn’t just the English who have gardens! I want all the grasses you have, the pennisetum ‘Magic’ is certainly that MAGIC! your slightly cooler weather means some of your plants have come out of their summer dormancy, mine are still scrorching in the hot wind. Christina
They had benefit from a few rain 3 weeks ago I guess. But most probably by the night mist we had lately. Thanks for the ping on you other blog too! My two crab apples (crab? why crab??) are ‘red sentinel’ and you can see between ‘Central Park’ and ‘Cabaret’ miscanthus. Very small though but they have some little fruits on…
I’ve no idea why they’re called crab apples. The English make a jelly (gelatina) with them that id really good with pork. I think it would be nice with cheese too. Or horrors of horrows we add chopped mint to it and serve it with lamb.
I know, I lived in England. I loved pork with apple jam. Never tried lamb with apple jam and mint though, it doesn’t sound good… You have such weird food there! Ok for Magic seeds. As I told Scott, last year seedlings are reddish.
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This is truly the high point for your lovely grasses Alberto! You have mixed the textures so well. And I am very excited about your new upstairs Fern Deck. Shade and containers so they can be watered. It will be awesome.
Yes definitely everything will be watered up there. Thanks for your words Linnie, considering all the bitter things I write in blog you are too kind to me. 🙂
Well! kininvie said I may like your garden, its fantastic. So much better than my boring Carex Buchananii.
I’ve been told that even kininvie’s dwarf chicken can’t stop talking about my grasses! I took a look at your blog: I like your garden. The best thing of carex buchanannii is that it always looks dead. Everytime it’s a surprise!
Oh how I love your grass garden! Its simply beautiful!
Happy GBBD 🙂
Thanks Christine you are always very sweet.
Absolutely stunning…I MUST find that ‘Magic’ Pennisetum…I’ve never heard of that one before!
Dear Scott, first of all let me tell you your garden is stunning. I’ll ask you some questions there tomorrow, now I’m on my iPhone which is pretty uncomfortable. ‘Magic’ is a fantastic variety, bigger, more purple and broader leaved than Hameln. It self seeds very easily I shall send you some when ready if you like.
Hi Alberto, this is Christina again, please send me some of the Magic seeds too. They are so beautiful. I was at a Garden show in Roma today. I saw some good grasses but not that one. Christina
Wow, wow, wow. Your grass garden is first class. The pennisetum steals the show.
Hi Patrick, thanks for passing by and for your comment. Your blog looks very interesting too… it seems I have another one to follow now… Good, this is why I set up this blog: to share knowledge and impressions with people.
Ciao Alberto, bellssime foto e bellissimo giardino.
Mi sarebbe piaciuto venire a vedere di persona
durante la riunione CdG.
Ma la Ca’ Rossa, non è più rossa?
Loretta
Ciao Loretta e benvenuta! Grazie dei complimenti. Cà Rossa tornerà rossa appena possibile, hanno appena finito di rifare le malte esterne e appena la morsa del caldo lo permetterà la ridipingeremo. Ma sei della CdG? Non capisco chi sei… sono curioso 🙂
Your garden is fantastic Alberto, especially all your grasses, they certainly bring movement and light to your borders. I can see me buying more grasses, definitely your Pennisetum Magic if I can find it here, it would look so lovely in my front border and make me smile every time I go in and out!
Pauline, thanks. In a couple of months pennisetum seeds will be ready so I can pick ’em up and send to whoever will want. Needless to say, seeds might be hybrids and could not equals the mother plant but they’re very easy to germinate, so you could give a try. I didn’t know ‘Magic’ would be so ‘wanted’ by people, it’s a very very common variety to find around here and believe me: we don’t have the first class nurseries you have in UK or USA or the rest of the World! Anyway if anybody was interested my grass-pusher is Enrico from http://www.stranomaverde.it even though I’m not sure he sells abroad and shipping costs could be an issue. He runs a rather small but beautiful nursery and plants are really first class.
What a beautiful garden you have! I love the way you’ve incorporated so many different grasses here. Now I know where to come when I have a question about which grasses to plant!
Thank you Rose. You are welcome anytime.
Very beautiful Alberto and very impressive – I want to grow a lot more in the way of grasses. And for that your blog is obviously the place to be. What an inspiration.
I’m glad and honoured to inspire you. Shall I be polite and tell you I’d like to have some wasps in my garden too? I prefer your meadow though.
Alberto, I just looked at this post about grasses. I think Dave is spot on – it’s inspiring. Sometimes I find them hard to place and move them several times. I particularly like the pennisetums , absolutely stunning.
Hey you make me feel kind of popular today! 🙂 I seldom move grasses, I think they look good wherever I put them! But I’m a grass addicted so it doesn’t count!
Ciao Alberto, mi aggiungo al mucchio dei complimenti che, da qualche parte, in tutta (eccetto una) questa serie di incomprensibili messaggi ci saranno, il tuo (forse) giardino è molto bello, utilizzi le graminacee in quantità e sempre al giusto posto. Bellissimo l’arbusto ‘Leucophyllum frutescens’ è una pianta da secco? Purtroppo non farò parte integrante del tuo gruppo di blogghisti perché, se sei italiano, e non metti la tua lingua, è chiaro che non hai interesse ad avere esperienze e contatti con noi, poveri ignoranti giardinieri. Buon giardino .Lucia
Cara Lucia Maria, sono italianissimo, ma scrivo in inglese perchè i ‘poveri giardinieri italiani’ snobbavano il mio blog quando iniziai scrivendo in italiano. Scrivendo in inglese posso tenere allenata la lingua e confrontarmi con giardinieri di tutto il mondo, ho avuto infatti l’occasione e il piacere di conoscere molte persone interessanti e imparare molte cose da tutti loro. Se non capisci l’inglese e vuoi seguire il blog puoi provare ad usare google traduttore, funziona meglio di alcune frecciatine polemiche.