Runner Bean Re-run?
Even though I was keeping the row well watered, and had earlier dosed plants with seaweed feed, the runner beans went on strike for most of August. It didn’t help that the sparrows were using them as an afternoon playground, rampaging through the stems. When I consulted the Royal Society of Horticulture website it told me that sparrows like to peck at the flowers, deforming the structures and making it difficult for pollinating insects to gain access. So much for feeding the little dears all winter.
But now, with the rain and cool temperatures, the runners are a jungle on sticks. We even had a handful of good sized beans this week, and there are signs among the returning flowers of tiny beanlets. But will they have time to develop? Who knows?
Not quite Uchiki Kuri
I kept some seeds from last year’s Uchiki Kuri Japanese squash. I only produced two. The fruits were very bright orange and oval as they should be. Not so their offspring, sown in late spring, one each from two separate plants.
A Perfect Red Devil?
We thought all the apples on our miniature Red Devil tree had been zapped by codling moths. After the July drop there are four left, this one the least scathed and best developed. But would it entice Snow White?
Some strange sunflowers
The sunflower flock that arose from last year’s dropped seed is still going strong. It also includes several forms that I don’t recall growing in the first place, and one with multiple flowers growing up the stalk which is distinctly odd. The tallest, we reckon, is about 3 metres. I have it tethered to the obelisk where we had the sweet peas, whence it looms down at us. I’ve already dead-headed it once. That took some doing with a pair of tree loppers.
No, this definitely isn’t a Selinum seedling
I distinctly remember saving some seed from the Selinum in the upstairs garden. All through the winter there was a pot of seeds on the kitchen shelf. Definitely umbelliferous in looks. Must be the Selinum. In the spring I sowed them in modules in the greenhouse and for a long time nothing happened. And then it did, and I couldn’t think what on earth I had grown. Not the feathery leaflets expected, something altogether more fleshy and pointy. What on earth…?
For a time I wondered if they were Rudbeckia, suddenly making an appearance after what I thought to be a failed sowing back in the autumn. This rather made up for them not being Selinum so I let them grow on, and eventually planted out half a dozen in various spots around the garden. They survived the drought, but didn’t expand much.
Cut to a visit to Wildegoose Walled Garden and Nursery, as featured here in last weeks SoS. I came away with a young Patrinia Monandra plant. (Some may be aware that I have a thing about Patrinia, first met with at Wildegoose during one of their rare winter opening weekends. It is tall, graceful, discreetly clumping and flowers into November when the seedheads then reflect any late autumn sunlight.)
I already have two Patrinia Punctifolia, bought last year from Great Dixter nursery (one of which I nearly killed this summer in my careless feeding of a nearby plant). But the survivor is currently flowering beautifully. And still the penny did not drop.
You could say it was a ‘be careful what you wish for’ moment, although in this case I would delighted to have a garden with lots of Patrinia. And so now I do. The seed I’d saved must have come from a handful snaffled from the winter visit to Wildegoose. Suddenly I saw the plants I had grown and the one I’d bought looked – well- identical. Probably the Monandra version then.
Patrinia as seen at Wildegoose in late August, just beginning to flower.
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Heaven knows what happened to the Selinum seeds. Try again this year.
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An unexpectedly pleasing delivery
There are some lovely plantspeople selling on-line. And so trawling the net in search of yet another plant seen at Wildegoose, but one which they don’t appear to sell, or haven’t in stock, I discovered Solidago Golden Dwarf at Crossgate Nursery in Cornwall. Here it is just after arrival. The plants had been carefully folded to preserve the stems that are just about to flower. I expect they’ll straighten out. But anyway, here it is in the front garden. There are several ‘dwarf’ varieties I now discover, ones that don’t get out of hand and flop, and also have more lemony coloured flowers.
Here’s another repeat photo from the Wildegoose visit where I spotted a spread of lemony, just-out solidago with some Persicaria.
A good week then, all in all. And rain and sun too. Happy gardening, folks.
Copyright 2026 Tish Farrell
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Six on Saturday It’s a wise gardener who labels their seed envelopes. Please visit Jim for more garden doings and some fabulous coleus.
Nice collection, Ms T.
As mentioned last week(?) I sowed Sunflower seeds (this past week) in several sunny spots close to the front wall . Now the wait begins. Photos will follow if the seeds produce.
Have you considered making apple cider vinegar with your spoiled apples?
We don’t have the luxury of an apple tree but those we buy from the fruit and veg shop (including a few pears) we keep all the cores and once we have enough I make a batch of vinegar. Super easy and lasts forever!
I recall your saying it was easy to make apple cider vinegar, and I was almost spurred into action, though already had some bought bottles in the cupboard. My sister did have a go, but ended up with a mouldy concoction. I’m a bit wary of using our apples as they are mostly diseased with something or other and quick to go bad. It is tempting to try though. ACV is such an all round useful additive, and good for sore throats and all sorts of ailments. Good luck with the sunflowers.
I did briefly research your Red Devils and apparently they make excellent candidates for ACV.
If the worms (if they have them) or the damage can be cut away they might be okay?
This is the method I use. This lady is wonderful. A real gem. She covers everything, including when the batch of ACV goes ‘off’.
Thanks for link, Ark.
My pleasure. Even if you can’t use your apples, the video is worth a watch.
I’ve given it a quick scan and it is!
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Your garden is beautiful Tish, thanks to your hard work!
Thank you, Anne.
Wonderful harvest.
Thanks, Rupali.
Don’t you just love the way sunflowers do their own thing .Back when we were really gardeners I had Mexicsn sunflowers that returned every year..I just never knew where they would return..They are beautiful but not to terrible good as cut flowers
You can’t dictate terms to a sunflower, can you. They just do what they do 🙂
A good week indeed. And your very own Harvest Festival to boot.
Indeed, Margaret. All things bright and beautiful 🙂
What a dainty Solidago! I unthinkingly planted S. candensis in my front bed and that one does not play well with others. I deadheaded it because I did not want to to seed all over, and knew it would spread by rhizome, bot not how far and fast. It seems to be gone now, but I would love to ad a less agressive and potentially smaller variety.
There’s one called ‘Little Lemon’ and another called ‘Golden Baby’. They are said to be well behaved!!
I will be on the lookout! The Canada goldenrod is blooming everywhere now. I passed a vacant lot and in the crevice between two slabs of concrete, it was all in a straight line, blooming a little shorter than normal, but it was truly growing out of a crack in the sidewalk situation. It is way too aggressive in a garden where it may get its roots into some fertilizer. But the flowers are nice and popular with the insects.
Yes, keeping the flowering going has been in my thoughts too. Both for me and the bees 🙂
i love your mix and your gardens are great. of course they love to make their own schedule )
Thanks, Beth. Yes, the garden will always have its own way 🙂
So many surprise gifts for a green thumbed gardener Tish- my Uchiki Kuri are orange large onion sized whilst Patrinia scabiosifolia I grew from seed this year are still loitering at dwarf level in their potting on pots – there are Cosse Violette beanlets though and some very refreshed vines.
Hello, Laura. My Cosse Violette have also revived somewhat, new leaves (and smallish beans) emerging from the scorched vegetation. So amazing some plants’ resilience.
I’m surprised at the number of Patrinia variations, although I’m not too sure how actually different they are from each other. Beth Chatto’s pic of the scabiosifolia has it looking rather more yellow and with less frothy heads than the monandra and punctifolia. But they’re all lovely. The more so for coming into flower at this time of year. And at Wildegoose last November the seed heads still looked luminously stunning (hence the seed theft).
But my latest new love, flowering now for the first time in the front garden: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/167586/artemisia-lactiflora-elfenbein/details
Artemesias are another fascinating plant family.
Oh yes another later one filling the gaps into autumn and mugworts are all the rage apparently – someone else recently extolling their medicinal values to me but anything tall and frothy and seedyheady – and there is a Japanese one too!!
Oh, a Japanese one…must have a look 🙂
the A. japonica is not available as far as my research goes except as herbal medicine but A schmidtiana ‘Nana’ originates in Japan – great for rock gardens and pots but also Artemisia lactiflora Guizhou Group originates from China and4-5 feet and showy!!
That Chinese mugwort is rather desirable. As a medicinal herb it seems to cover all bases. I also read the Japanese seem to use it a lot in cooking – dumplings and spring cakes.
Such a beautiful bounty. Nature is good at bouncing back.
And you can never be sure what it will come with either, Jennie 🙂
Well said!
Lovely harvest Tish