Moors Meadow Open Gardens and Nursery - Bromyard

This Month

This Month September 2026 - Tuesday, 01 Sep 2026

How wonderful it was to get some rain but the earth needs much more, a few short showers do not make up for all that time with searing heat and no rain. It was impossible for me to water the garden even though we are putting in many more water butts.
I will have to think very carefully about where to put every new plant as well as timing a planting window so there is enough moisture in the soil but not so late they do not have a bit of time to settle in before the next drought. As well as the ornamentals I am also thinking about how and when to plant vegetables. This year the earth was cool with a late frost and then we suddenly seemed to be hot and dry so vegetables didn’t establish and grow well.
There were several jobs I wanted to do whilst the garden was dry, such as bring up the piles of wood from taking dead trees out. This is usually an early spring job but I thought it would be a good idea to do at a time the tractor wouldn’t damage the ground. I expect there will be plenty more to bring up by the time the winter pruning is done. I also went around with empty envelopes to collect seed. I saved some purple Honesty then decided an envelope wasn’t enough so I filled a box. I have scattered a few around and may scatter the rest in the sunken garden, if they grow it would be a nice splash of colour in spring.
I had a very pleasant morning out with a friend and came back with a car load of new plants, she even had to cradle Sorbus Autumn Spire in the front seat because she refused to walk home to allow me more space for plants! When I bought them I had several places in mind with gaps, or for new planting areas. When the ground is moist enough I will have a few days planting out, always my favourite job. I am sure I know where they can all be planted!
Mostly they are perennials including new Echinops, Crocosmia, Kniphofia and Eryngium. More varieties of Cordyline and Phormium. More grasses including Panicum virgatum Heavy Metal and Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple Love Grass).
I am in the process of moving some of the compost bins to use the old space for another garden and so the bins would be in a more convenient place. I decided to plant a shrub at the end of the new bins to hide them a little from the new garden. I picked Rosa Summer of Love for its brilliant ‘in your face’ red and yellow single flowers. I was also tempted by a new Acer palmatum with extremely fine leaves.
I have been chopping back for as long each day as I dared without too much pain to my back. If I don’t do a lot of it now I will have difficulty finding time later. Some herbaceous areas will be left a while longer when I may strim them. I would like to get a lot of the winter jobs underway and even completed as soon as possible so there is less to do later but with all the projects on the list it will be a busy winter.

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