My Garden Plants

My garden is a relatively small townhouse garden, perhaps the size of two allotments. There is quite a lot squeezed in and more will be added! I am sure I have missed things off this list.

Trees and Shrubs

1. Gingko biloba ("Maidenhair Tree")
2. Acer japonica ("Japanese Maple")
3. Ligustrum ("Privet Hedge")
4. Sambucus nigra ("Elderflower")
5. Berberis darwinii ("Barberry")
6. Cercis siliquastrum ("Judas Tree")
7. Crataegus monogyna ("Hawthorn")
8. Rosa rugosa alba ("Japanese Rose")
9. Rosa, climbing (Climbing rose, mauve flowers)
10. Rosa 'Brother Cadfael' (Shrub rose)
11. Rosa (pink patio rose)
12. Fuchsia magellanica alba 
13. Fuchsia 'Bella Soila'
14. Fuchsia 'Winston Churchill'
15. Fuchsia 'Mrs Popple' (possibly!)
16. Spiraea
17. Lavandula 'Munstead' ("Lavender")
18. Teucrium
19. Rosmarinus officionalis ("Rosemary")
20. Lonicera ("Climbing Honeysuckle")
21. Passiflora caerulea ("Passion Flower")
22. Hebe
23. Hydrangea
24. "Mallow"
25. Phygelius capensis ("Cape Figwort")
26. Hedera helix ("Common Ivy")

Herbaceous Annuals and Perennials

1. Bergenia 'Rotblum' ("Elephants Ears")
2. Agapanthus
3. Saponaria officionalis ("Soapwort")
4. Echinacea
5. Eupatorium
6. Linum ("Purple Toadflax")
7. Scabiosa ("Scabious")
8. "Wood Sorrel"
9. Astrantia
10. Osteospermum ("Cape Daisy")
11. Urtica dioica ("Stinging Nettle")
12. "Creeping Jenny"
13. Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' ("Catnip")
14. Dianthus ("Pinks")
15. Orobanche hederacae (Ivy Broomrape)
16. Lampranthus
17. Convulvulus ("Hedge Bindweed")
18. "Selfheal"
19. "Enchanters Nightshade"
20. "Golden Rod"
21. Alchemilla mollis ("Ladies Mantle")
22. "Feverfew"
23. Eryngium 'Magical Blue Lagoon'
24. "Nipplewort"
25. "Evening Primrose"
26. Penstemon
27. Cephalaria gigantica ("Giant Scabious")
28. Hemerocallis ("Day Lily")
29. Potentilla
30. Senecio "Ragwort"
31. "Hawkweed"
32. Trifolium repens ("White Clover")
33. "Dock"
34. Various species of grass
35. Geranium (purple perennial)
36. Knautia macedonica
37. Plantago ("Narrow Leaved Plantain")
38. Salvia 'Amethyst Lips'
39. Verbena bonariensis
40. Papaver orientalis ("Oriental Poppy")
41. Celandine
42. Primula veris ("Cowslip")
43. Taraxacum officionale ("Dandelion")
44. Euphorbia (purple variety)
45. Myosotis ("Forget-me-not")
46. Cardamine hirsuta ("Hairy Bittercress")
47. Helleborus (green flowers)
48. Lunaria annua ("Honesty")
49. Lamium galeobdelon ("Variegated Deadnettle")
50. Pulmonaria vulgaris ("Lungwort")
51. Primula vulgaris ("Primrose")
52. Ajuga reptans ("Bugle")
53. Geranium, annual sp.
54. Lamium purpureum ("Red Deadnettle")
55. Anagalis arvensis ("Scarlet Pimpernel")
56. Ranunculus repens ("Creeping Buttercup")
57. Viola riviniana ("Dog Violet")
58. Bellis perennis ("Common Daisy")
59. Euphorbia, yellow flowers
60. Sedum, yellow flowers ("Stonecrop")
61. Aquilegia vulgaris ("Granny's Bonnets")
62. Erigeron karvinskianus ("Mexican Fleabane")
63. Iris germanica 'Oklahoma Bandit' ("Bearded Iris")
64. Veronica chamaedrys ("Speedwell")
65. Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' (May have succombed to the drought)
66. Geranium robertianum ("Herb Robert")
67. Iris germanica 'Indian Chief' ("Bearded Iris")
68. Sonchus ("Sow Thistle")
69. Digitalis purpurea ("Foxglove")
70. Geranium macrorrhizum
71. Geranium endressii
72. Geum urbanum 
73. Heuchera
74. Geranium nodosum
75. Helianthemum ("Rock Rose")
76. Dianthus ("Sweet William")
77. Sisyrinchium alpinum
78. Sisyrinchium striatum
79. Campanula
80. Nigella ("Love-in-a-Mist")
81. Pelargonium
82. Euphorbia ("Spurge")
83. "Willowherb"
84. Sedum spectabile ("Ice Plant")
85. "Californian Poppy"
86. Sedum spectabile purpurea ("Purple Ice Plant")
87. "Perennial Sweet Pea"
88. Senecio vulgaris ("Groundsel")
89. "Hart's Tongue Fern"
90. Other fern

Herbs

1. "Winter Savory"
2. Mentha ("Mint")
3. Calendula officionalis ("English Marigold")
4. Foeniculum vulgare ("Fennel")
5. Melissa officionalis ("Lemon Balm")
6. Hyssopus officionalis ("Hyssop"
7. Chives
8. Oreganum ("Golden Oregano")

Bulbs

1. Bluebell
2. Allium triquitorum ("Three Cornered Leek")
3. Nectoscordum
4. Alliums (medium and large)
5. Gladiolus 'Jessica'
6. "Pineapple Lily"
7. Narcissus
8. Galanthus ("Snowdrop")
9. Crocus
10. Arum ("Lords and Ladies")

Perennial Fruit and Vegetables

1. Thornless Blackberry
2. Japanese Wineberry
3. Rhubarb
4. Strawberries
5. Wild Blackberry

Wildlife Survey 2022 - 23

I have decided to keep a log of any wildlife I find in the garden this year. It is not comprehensive, and may be poorly identified as I still have a lot to learn. I shall do my best though!

1. Bats - possibly pipistrelle
2. Woodlice - not pillbugs
3. Brown slugs - possibly Spanish slugs
4. Yellow slugs
5. Flies! Bright green, black, big, small....
6. Aphids
7. Brown moths
8. Common snail (Helix aspera)
9. Orb weaver spider (Araneus diadematus)
10. White orb spider
11. Mayfly
12. Leafcutter bees
13. Jumping spider (black and white stripy)
14. White tailed bumblebees
15. Cabbage white butterflies
16. Harvestman
17. Woodlouse spiders
18. Wolf spiders
19. Rose sawfly adults and larva
20. Common frog
21. Wasp queen (October and February)
22. Angle shades moth caterpillar
23. Earthworms
24. Slow worms
25. Tiger worms
26. Black beetles
27. Red and black true bugs (Corizus hyoscyami?)
28. Shield bugs
29. Blue tits
30. Sparrows
31. Herring gulls
32. Pigeons
33. Starlings
34. Blackbirds
35. Brown lipped snails
36. White lipped snails
37. Leopard Slugs 
38. Red ants
39. Brown ants
40. Cellar spiders
41. House spiders
42. Bee flies
43. Solitary bees
44. Honey bees
45. Blue butterflies
46. Red Admiral Butterfly
47. Peacock butterfly
48. Painted Lady butterfly
49. Comma butterfly
50. Brimstone butterfly

Slugs ID and slug control ideas

September 2022

Grass and wildflowers have burgeoned in the last few weeks with the grass turning from short and brown to long, luxurient green following cooler, wetter weather. I have cut the grass on the highest cut, just to tidy it up a bit. I also saw a frog just before I started mowing and didn't want to kill it by using a low cut setting. I did encourage it to move along but it disappeared among the lower stems. Frog camouflage is very effective. It is also great to see lots of seedlings coming up; so far I have spotted foxgloves, primula, geranium, and a lovely blue flowered annual whose name I have forgotten which probably won't survive the first frost. Fingers crossed that it does!

Brambles have been cut back by hand in the long hedge - next jobs include cutting the brambles in the high hedge back with the extending hedge trimmer.  I have cut back some perennials that have finished flowering, but not to ground level as stems may be useful for winter wildlife.

I spent an hilarious morning with a friend putting new roofing material on the shed. This involved standing on wobbly ladders, climbing on fences and ultimately climbing onto the roof itself, then sitting there enjoying the sunshine and scaring the neighbours! Great fun. Oh yes, we got to hit things with hammers too. Yay!

The thornless blackberry continued to be fruitful and I have picked and frozen several kilos of berries, made apple and blackberry crumble, and chutney. I have started cutting the fruiting stems back now and will tie in this year's canes soon. 

The compost bin needed dealing with so I emptied out the dustbin of mature compost and spread it under shrubs, then emptied the big bin. In the process I found three slow worms and lots of slugs, spiders and woodlice. Mature compost was put into the dustbin ( it has holes in) and a large bucket, and the new material was put back into the big bin. I always find compost bins fascinating.

I am slowly dealing with the paper bags full of seed heads that I have collected over the summer, and spent a very pleasant hour detaching honesty seeds from their papery seed capsules while also trying to get a photo of a high speed camera-shy woodlouse spider. I failed at the latter task. Many of the potted plants around the garden have been moved under the lean-to at the side of the shed so that they don't get too wet over the winter. I may make that area into a nursery, but not sure how as yet.

There is still plenty to do in October so I will be busy, depending on the weather and my energy levels!

Flowers this month:

Agapanthus, California Poppy, Hawkbit, Chives, White Clover, Dandelion, Echinacea, Evening Primrose, Fennel, Fuchsia, Fuchsia 'Bella Soila', Fuchsia 'Winston Churchill', Geranium nodosum, Geum urbanum, Golden Rod, Lemon Balm, Lavender, Toadflax, Mallow, Calendula officionalis, Passiflora caerulea, Pelargonium, Perennial Sweet Pea, Phygelius capensis, Penstemon, Ragwort, Red Deadnettle, Scarlet Pimpernel, Sedum spectabile, Sedum spectabile purpurea, Soapwort, Teucrium, Verbena bonariensis, Mexican Fleabane, Mint, Oregano, Willowherb, Wood Sorrel, Hyssop, Buttercup, Fuchsia magellanica alba, Sunflower.