Work has begun on building our new brick bridge across the moat – replacing the current causeway. Made from old looking bricks, we then plan to knock through so that the moat flows underneath the new bridge – making Columbine we hope even more romantic. The builders have dug out tons of spoil and right now we have a ginormous hole where the causeway used to be and a temporary scaffolding bridge has been built to allow us to cross the moat on foot – so Hew isn’t marooned! As I write they are just about to start the brickwork – exciting! Bridging the gap really does come to mind.
There used to be a piece of horticultural wisdom that August was somehow a drab month in the garden and the garden would often be described as ‘tired’. People would go on holiday knowing that they were not missing much. But if that was ever true, it is certainly not so now.
If anything the August borders here at Columbine take on an energy, full and mature. The sun is lower in the sky and the evenings, by the end of the month, much shorter, so my favourite time of day now is early evening when the sun hits the rich colours of rudbeckias, sunflowers, verbena bonariensis and dahlias so that they glow in this low slanting light.
Two of my favourite scented plants are at their best now. One is the giant tobacco plant Nicotiana sylvestris, which we have here at Columbine growing near the front door of the house. It will, with good soil and a few months growing, reach 6ft tall with huge sticky leaves. That makes it dramatic enough. But the flowers are even more stunning – long tubes of white petals hang off the flowerhead like dreadlocks. The flowers will shrink and close in bright sunshine and then open in the cool of the evening, releasing their distinctive, musky fragrance. The hotter the sun during the day, the stronger the scent will be in the evening because the oils in the plant heat up and then slowly cool in the night air.
The second is Lilium regale – the regal lily which we have growing in pots in a sunny spot under the kitchen window. The scent that comes from these white glamorous trumpets when we open the window – particularly in the evening – is intoxicating and a complete joy. We grow ours in the company of Acanthus and right now for a month in midsummer – it is pure opulent, voluptuous beauty.
Kate Elliott came to Columbine Hall in 1997 when she was sixteen. She is now head gardener but also helps with managing the property generally and in conducting guided tours.