The great thing about doing garden work once autumn fully sets in is knowing that places you tidy up will stay relatively tidy for a while. When you’re out there pulling up all the dead plant material and come across some weeds, you can just tell them “Y’know, can we just… not?” and they’ll usually be very agreeable to your suggestion. The mornings are getting chillier and they’re just about as ready to wrap things up as I am.
1. The second aisle of the vegetable garden has been covered in bark mulch, making everything much neater-looking. It might be hard to see in the back of the picture, but there are metal rose arches over the end of each pathway, anchored into the beds. Those will be covered in runner beans next summer, though I’ll probably be adding more supports to prepare for all the beans we want. Also new are two wooden whisky half barrels to replace the big green plastic tub that my mints are currently growing in. Given how much I clipped for tea this year, it seemed a good idea to double the amount and grow a lot of cuttings indoors over the winter.
2. The mixed packet of Callistephus chinensis I randomly flung into the cutting garden didn’t die after all! I seeded them in the middle of the June dry spell, so I didn’t hold out much hope for them. Then last week I was surprised to find them while doing some long overdue weeding, already in bud. So I have asters this autumn! The very first plant I ever grew as a child was an aster. The last time I grew these was for my bridesmaids’ bouquets nearly twelve years ago. Wow, that makes me feel old.
3. Japanese ginger (Zingiber mioga) is looking very healthy. Apparently, it is quite hardy, so it’ll be moved to a vegetable garden bed when I start pulling sunken pots for overwintering in a few weeks. Perhaps with a bit of extra mulch, just to be safe. The shoots and flowers are edible, so we should be able to harvest a few next spring.
4. This is not the Phlox paniculata I expected when I planted it, but it is the color that I got. At least it’s not more of the bright pink we already have in the raspberry bed. In keeping with the developing theme of “unexpected things in the garden”, it earned its spot today.
5. I did not plant this clematis. I had been considering getting a clematis next spring, however, and that was apparently enough to make this appear. Upon consulting my list of legacy plants, this could possibly be Clematis ‘Blue Angel’. In which case, it’s been hiding from me for over a decade. I’m going to guess it’ll survive until next year when I can dig it out of that mess of weeds and find it a better place to climb.
6. Rose ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ has big plans for next year. This four-foot watershoot popped up just this past week and I think one of the other roses is following suit. Hopefully, it won’t get too damaged this winter.
Thanks for visiting and please do check out what the other SoSers are doing over at Jim’s page!
Little Blue and White House 
The clematis is a good find. I have introduced some to my garden this year.
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Glad to hear it! I’ve always thought of clematis as being delicate and difficult to care for, so have avoided them for the longest time. The fact that this one has been taking care of itself so well for so long, as well as seeing some of the monsters that the SoSers have, has changed my mind for the better this year 🙂
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Asters are such a lovely family, popping up when everything else is slowing down or having a final fling! I love finding unexpected plants, things I had forgotten that I’d planted, so nice to find them again.
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Yes, and knowing that they’ve been able to survive on their own without any additional help from me always makes them a little more special in my eyes.
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I’m glad the Callistephus chinensis appeared. I think I foolishly dug up and got rid of my white Phlox thinking it was a pink variety. I must get another one after seeing yours.
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LOL, I can’t say I blame you, though! I’ve got far too many of the hot pink ones, too, and am probably going to try to move them somewhere else this spring. They’re in a less than idea place and I can’t say it’s my favorite color, even if it does offer flowers at a nice time of the year.
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How wonderful to find not one but two plants you didn’t expect to see – that’s the best kind of garden surprise. I noticed bulb blooms I can’t identify coming up in 2 areas and my best guess is that they trace back to bulbs I planted in 2019, which haven’t shown the light of day until now but, until they bloom, I remain in anticipation.
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Turns out there were actually three, but I saved the agastache to post about this week 🙂 Did you figure out what your mystery bulbs are yet? Bulbs can be especially coy like that, I’ve found — probably because they can take a few years to gather up strength to bloom again. It looks like the odd weather this year really set off a lot of my plants, though. Things that haven’t bloomed or fruited for years are suddenly having the time of their lives. Very odd, but no complaints!
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I have the same variety of Japanese ginger and mine is in bloom right now. I have never tried to eat them or even the young shoots. Do you know how it is cooked? I’ll google to get some ideas.
As for winter protection, I mulch it with around 20cm of mowing grass, dry leaves, pine needles and that’s enough (but at the lowest it only was -8° – 10° in recent years… ) .( and I planted my zingiber mioga in the ground 5 years ago now because in a pot it was like asleep )
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This is my first year growing this ginger, so I haven’t really even thought about how I’ll use them yet! I’ve had it at restaurants, however, usually sliced raw in very thin slivers as a garnish. I’m thinking I might make a sweet pickle with them, since that would be the easiest way to preserve the shoots for use over a longer period of time, since I’d only use a little at a time. Thanks for the advice — I’ll be transplanting and mulching mine today, and hope that it will do as well as I’ve heard they do. Have you grown or considered growing wasabi?
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I wanted to grow wasabi but I couldn’t find a supplier near home. I should order some on the Internet and test yes: good idea!
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Please do! I will order some online and give it a go next year too. It will be an interesting experiment!
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Lots going on! Lovely. Always a bonus to find unexpected plant treasure.
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Much better than spare change 😀
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