Heptacodium Week

In Week 2009/41, October's storms and drizzle are closing in, and only the Aster offers a new display of colour. Eupatorium is still going strong, but Lavatera has long ago finished its run, and the bright red seems to be fading out of the Sedum. Helptacodium is already looking ragged again in the wind and rain, after blooming about two weeks ago.

Heptacodium Week

Heptacodium miconioides is one of the ultimate holdbacks of any arboretum-style garden, coming to a peak in week 2008/41. Among the most impressive bushes in this season are the constant-bloom and second-bloom roses: not the standard tea roses with their big blowsy blooms, forever looking too "blobby" as Christopher Lloyd terms it, but the little polyantha bush roses with their sturdy masses of pink blooms (possibly 'The Fairy', though I have not checked this with local garden suppliers). These constant bloomers are looking fresher than ever when other foliage fades. There is also a magnificent carmine red bush rose in a nearby street, Am Ochsenzoll, that has powered away into a whole new firework display to celebrate the autumn. Another unexpected second bloom comes from one of my Prunus lusitanica which has put up a spire or two of white flowers.