I came upon Polly making her way noisily out of the gates. I asked her where she was going and she said she was collecting compost leaves from round the village. It made me laugh as she has just had the compost bins mended and she was in the process of filling them. Whenever she is missing she is in the middle of the compost heap. We had been away nearly three weeks and to my amazement the garden still looked lovely. Polly has clipped most of the topiary in the garden, the only thing that needs it is the Irish Yews which are getting taller and taller, too tall I think. The Acer Dissectum is a bright shade of orange, totally beautiful, though a lot of peoples comments this year is that I should get rid of it, which I am not going to. Today is raining all day and I have hardly been out, except to Marks and Spencer which had a lot of people which were always dodging out of my way! James has gone to London today as our oven needs mending, and he thinks our daily sat on it and broke it, Don’t have a garden without Asters, they are flowering everywhere. My favourite is Aster Pink Buttons which was brought back from an uneventful trip to a Parisian plant fair, Never again, I was in the back of a car, three of us, and my neck was wicked at the end of the day. The other trophy was a climbing clematis called Blue River, pretty exceptional, Aster turbinellus,, came from Sissinghurst and was a present from Sibylle Kreutzberger. Aster Le Vastiveral was a gift from Victoria Wakefield, Bramdean, which is very vigorous, and came from Princess Sturdza, now deceased. It is a marvellous garden though I have not been for a long time, and it is island beds which is not my favourite. She had little white gloves I seem to remember, and a stick with a hook on the end, which she said she would use to take out the objects that offended her. What a character. I clapped at the end.
That came from Jaipur and is now used as a bird bath, and is made of marble. These are steps down to first terrace at Prosilio
Digitalis ferruginea 
Clematis rehderiana 
Gresgarth, Arabella Lennox Boyds garden end of May
Klimt border, bottom left of garden
Corfu, Villa Prosilio
Pettifers Garden Blog 
love your blog and your garden, as lovely as when we (Biddenham Gardeners) visited – September 2018
Could you please tell what the helenium is that you have. So beautiful.
It is Helenium Sahins early flowerer. It flowers for three months if you dead head it. It is
the best
I couldn’t agree more. A fabulous plant, with such lovely hues of orange, yellow & browns. It takes centre-stage in my garden.
Dear Gina,
I so, so sooooo enjoy your blogs! Full of such nice, newsy bits as well as excellent garden news and views. Thank you so much. I shall search for the asters you recommend and snap up any I find! A little short of them here on the IW but the nurseries are selling some – a visit to the mainland is on the cards as soon as covid allows!! Going into the garden now to sweep up leaves – will think of Polly!
Dear Patricia, thank you for your encouraging e mail. So glad you liked it, Have had a
Lot of trouble with the word press,but Polly’s other half tried to teach me. Lots of love gina
Thank you, so encouraging. With much love Gina
Thank you so much, very encouraging. Love Gina