autumn perennials

I have dozens and dozens of perennials in my garden. Even so people keep saying “You don’t have a lot of flowers, do you?”

Actually I do. It’s that they all have a special place  and time to actually strut their stuff.  For instance right now, this little perennial combination is cheering me up everso. It a combination that’s sparkling in its freshness:

A sedum with a gorgeous bloom, a lovely butterfly bush, and the gold of Japanese hedge grass called ‘All Gold’.

Right now the phlox are fading, looking a bit sad but I keep deadheading them anyway.  In fact it’s one of the great autumn pleasures—messing about with the amazing scents that plants are releasing right now—nicking stuff here and there.

It’s about this time I get truly fed up with hostas and their lanky flower stems. I can never keep up with them and loathe the look of those sticks-like stalks rising about the foliage which is usually so glorious and right now is chomped by slugs.

So love and loathe:  how typically a gardener.