NRD how are the plants coming along?
It's been a fascinating summer having so much time to observe the plants. All have educated me in their own way. Some have exceeded expectations with pleasant surprises. Some have been cut back after flowering as recommended by various advisory sources.
The new ponds have given a new dimension and interest. Some prefer complete underwater roots, others are marginal and like boggy soil. With the constant water supply some grow very fast, almost worryingly fast, it makes me wonder if I have undercooked the size of the environments !!
One surprise today, one of the new pond plants, my Golden Buttons as shown in the photo, had an accident in transit with a small branch being broken off, we just submerged it on it's own in the pond, tiny white roots have sprouted from the stem after a few days....will it survive ? If so we can take cuttings from the main plant and propagate lots of new plants.
Away from the ponds, the ornamental grasses are doing very well with most seeding and some even having offspring appearing after I scattered some seeds in a plant bed we made this year. Tiny little shoots appeared after about a month and are now establishing themselves. I'm not sure when to lift and pot them, there is no room for adulthood for them.
The Dianthus has come back with new flowers after dead heading, I wish I had bought more now instead of just one. There are two species of plant that impress me much....both with giant leaves over 12 inches across. Fatsia Japonica and Heuchera Purple Palace, quite prehistoric and as close I'm getting to those giants at Kew Gardens for now. The primitive wood ferns and doing well in the rockery which is in shade almost permanently so needs the right plants used to shade or dappled shade. The front edge gets sun which is where the Dianthus and Phlox are along with 3 Purple Palaces.
The pond had its first non insect inhabitant sighting the other day. A black Leech crawling over the rocks, not a slug. We have to remove some weed slime algae stuff called string algae I think. It clings to the pond weed and will proliferate if left. Water snails eat it so we may have to buy some.
That's it for now.