Hints of Autumn | September workday

The weather was kind to us on our September worday as we tackled a number of tasks.

A team of two set about pruning the anemones and heuchera in the anchor beds. At this time of year the anemones are usually in full flower, but sadly this year they had not been able to provide their abundant, customary show and they were in need of a revitalising trim.

The hedge surrounding the garden sheds is made up of individual privet shrubs, and despite being watered on a regular basis during the heat several had not survived totally intact. Another team carefully examined each shrub and took out dead foliage, whilst retaining branches which showed any signs of life. We were so pleased to see that many privet bushes did have green shoots.

The garden features several beds of euphorbia – they provide useful ground cover and their acid yellow flowers provide a bright punctuation in the predominantly green palette of the garden. However, the residual dry seed heads can add to the sense of a parched environment so two of our volunteers dead-headed the euphorbia to freshen up the appearance of these beds.

One of the volunteers was tasked with going through the beds to locate and remove the large number of tree saplings which despite the dry conditions had found secret growing spots. We admired the tenacity of these volunteer trees, and it was a pity to pull them up, but with limited resources in the garden for its trees, the space has to be carefully controlled.

And, finally, we planted out five verbena plants kindly donated by neighbouring gardeners and of course, we watered!

Our next gardening session will be on October 10^th, 10am- 1pm, we do hope you can join us, whether you are new to volunteering or a regular at Compton Terrace!