Inbetween the showers and some dramas regarding our barn re-build I have been working in the garden the last few days. It’s a good time to remove some unwanted plants, this includes clumps which have become too big plus some self-seeded things which suddenly take over when my back is turned. The first thing to get ruthless with is marjoram. I was under the impression that most herbs like dry, sunny conditions but it seems that my marjoram doesn’t read the books because it happily seeds around with little regard for the fact that it is growing on heavy clay soil which is sometimes water-logged. It even puts itself in shady places. Anyway, I’ve dug lots of it out but almost certainly there will be more seeds popping up when I’m not looking.

I had noticed that some self set Acaena had started to colonise two areas. It was weaving through other plants and certain weeds had settled in amongst it. It was impossible to weed the weeds or to partially remove the creeping plant so I’ve had a couple of days of digging as much as possible out. I almost certainly haven’t got it all because it has nestled in the middle of established clumps of other things.

Large clumps of persicaria and aster have been reduced and a different aster has been divided and spread around. This one we have called ‘Pontis Supreme’ which we found growing quite vigorously and is a seedling one. The colour is a strong, rich pink and it is free of mildew. It grows to about 150 cm.  A customer last year noticed it and thinks we may have something special, he took some to be looked at by some experts, all very exciting.

I now have new areas to plant with new plants so my thinking cap is on trying to decide what to use.