A first frost this morning, its very calm and sunny, probably more rain tonight though. It has rained every day this month so far.

1. Viola

I got a tray of these earlier and they are still flowering nicely.

2. Salvia Amethyst lips

This is like S. 'Hot lips' but with a dark purple colour. Its possible that the colour is more stable as there are no all-white flowers on this plant, whereas there are on my 'Hot lips'.

3. Alstroemeria 'Summer breeze'

This has been great value this year. It has flowered continuously since I got it, and is still going strong.

4. Cotoneaster leaves and berries

The leaves and berries of this Cotoneaster are almost exactly the same colour. In the background there are the orange berries of the Pyracantha.

5. Winter jasmine

I cut this back a fair amount, hoping that it would put on some …

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 8.3C with a minimum of 0.3C and maximum of 14.4C It rained on 21 days, with a total of 100mm of rain.

Butterfly

Last month was all about the Red admirals, this month there were a few Comma butterflies. One time I saw two at the same time. They were mostly on the Verbena, but also on other flowers such as the Helianthus here.

Sedum

This has much larger flower heads than last year. I've moved chunks of this into the front garden where it will get some more sun and may do better.

Anemone × hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'

This is much taller than the previous two years where the flowers didn't seem to stand up on tall stalks as they are here. It is also starting to spread a bit.

Helenium 'Mardi gras'

This is a great Helenium that …

These are supposed to flower in the spring/early summer as far as I know.

When I bought this is was covered in flowers which had mostly gone by the time I decided where to plant it. I made a mini rockery with three stones and planted it in the middle of them, so that it is slightly higher than the surrounding ground. This will hopefully keep it dry enough to survive the winter.

Anyway it has decided to throw up an autumn flower too.

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 12.8C with a minimum of 3.2C and maximum of 21.4C It rained on 18 days, with a total of 85mm.

Picture round up

I'm still way behind, so just a set of pictures from the month.

Astrantia 'Moulin Rouge'

New this year and much better than my existing one as it has a bit of colour to it.

---

Butterflies

This month it is the Red Admirals that have dominated, never more than one or two at a time, but still a frequent visitor.

---

Actaea simplex 'Brunette'

This is a slow growing plant and I can't say that it is particularly larger this year than last, but there are more flowers at least.

---

Lobelia 'Bee's flame'

Also a patch of Rudbeckia.

---

Rudbeckia, Alstroemeria and Gladioli

There is also a white Phlox here which has done well as the only surviving one …

Compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 16.2C with a minimum of 8.4C and maximum of 26.3C It rained on 17 days, with a total 115mm

Picture round up

I'm late finishing this so just a quick look through some pictures this month.

---

Roscoea purpurea 'Spice Island'

New this year. Looks exotic but supposedly hardy - we shall see.

---

Butterflies

It has been a great year for butterflies, with all the Verbena that there is this year. There have been a lot of Painted Lady butterflies - I've seen up to 15 at the same time. In spite of the numbers it seemed to be difficult to get a photo of several together.

---

Poppy

This appeared out of nowhere, grew quite tall and had a fair number of flowers. I guess I will have them for ever more now.

---

Phlox paniculata 'Laura'

---

Lobelia cardinalis 'Bees' Flame'

---

Liatris

…

Weather

The average temperature was 17.1C with a minimum of 6.7C and maximum of 29.4C It rained on 18 days, with a total 82mm

Picture round up

I'm late finishing this so just a quick look through some pictures this month.

Campanula medium

I grew these from seed last year, most of them turned out to be blue, but you can also see a pink one at the back. Strangely the blue ones had a very pyramidal shape, whereas the other colours were more like towers. They are an impressive mass of flowers, so I am glad I tried them. Will probably not be growing them again though.

---

Potentilla

This came with the garden growing at the side where even the weeds won't grow. It didn't flower the first year so I moved it to a sunnier place, where it promptly got swamped by a Sidalcea and didn't flower again. …

Today was very mixed, it rained and then was sunny and then rained again and so on, managed to get these pictures during a sunny spell.

It is now over two years since my very first Six on Saturday. Interestingly the lavender was much more advanced in that year than it is now. I no longer have any Crocosmia.

For more up to date sixes visit our host The propagator for this weeks slices of six around the world.

1. Mallow

I think that this (the pink flower) is the musk mallow Malva moschata. It grows wild around here and I've also seen it for sale.

There has always been the odd plant in the garden, but this year lots of seeds have grown and there is a good display. It was entirely unplanned but I think it looks quite good with the yellow of the Lysimachia punctata…

It was a very wet month with 137mm of rain, which is almost exactly the same as the previous three months combined.

The average temperature was 13.6C (night 11.1C, day 14.6C). And the minimum temperature 5.7, and the max went up to 27.9.

Photos from the month

Some events during the month that have not been previously shown.

Pyracantha

This was an amazing show this year, with the whole tree covered in blossom. Last year only part of it was covered. This year the clematis that grows through it has grown tall and fallen down, then grown up again covering a good portion of the Pyracantha.

Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus

This is an early flowering Gladioli variety. Hopefully they will increase over the years, but it has yet to be seen if they will survive. They do further south.

---

Allium

This appeared among the Tulips, presumably an imposter in …