23rd October 2014

Weather: Overcast day, slightly drizzly. 
Team: Formal

I worked with John again today, we first we cut down Canna indica which had formed very big plants within the year (Photo 1), some were cultivars 'Purpurea', they were in their prime, proudly tall, with their flowers swirling upwards, reminding me of Beth Chatto's quote of 'painting the sky'. We also chopped down a large Musa basjoo and dug that out too (Photo 2). Like many times I have felt in this garden, that it was a shame to cut things down and take them out when they are looking their best. These plants have obviously been happy in this site. After we crated them up and took them to prop with the tractor and trailer.

Photo 1: John lifting out Canna indica to demonstrate size.

Photo 2: John standing over the hulk of Musa basjoo.

Then in the Hillside Borders I helped dig up some Gladiolis that had been a flop, including the unimpressive cultivar Gladioli 'Impressive', a wash out pink that John said never flowered that well. Then we chose what dahlias we wanted to keep - 'Royal Velvet', 'David Howard', 'Jessica' & Fascination' (Photo 3). The former two are definitely well known classics. We cut these down, lifted them and also took them to prop. The rest we threw away. Volunteers came and did the wisley shuffle on the rotovated soil in the Bedding Display Area (Photo 4) and some helped me with the dahlias. Then they helped lift plants from behind the hedge of the Hillside Borders & transplanted them there. In the same area I laid out bulbs including Narcissus 'Tarquin' & Hyacinth 'Delft Blue', 'Fairy White' and Pink Pearl for them to plant in (Photo 5). Unfortunately it was a lot less bulbs than John had asked for, but he is optimistic about finding plants to fill up the space. And rotovated the soil in the Hillside Border Area where the dahlias had been and gone (Photo 6).

Photo 3: Orange & yellow cacti one  at the back is Dahlia 'Jessica', the tight pink pom pom one at the front is D.'Royal Velvet' and the one on the left with dark foliage and orange almost pom pom like flowers is D. 'David Howard'.

Photo 4: John and the volunteers all embarking on the Wisley shuffle.

Photo 5: The lovely volunteers planting in the bulbs that I had laid out.

Photo 6: Dahlias cleared and to be rotovated.