A few strange things are happening in the garden. I noticed the heptacodon doing something odd last week. This hardy shrub is named for the strange arrangements of the small, fragrant flowers which are arranged in clusters of seven. I have mentioned it before and I have a strange affection for it even though it rarely follows the flowers with the showy red calyces that last into autumn. I don’t think it is warm enough here for them to develop fully. But it grows well and flowers as expected. But this year I noticed something strange. The flower clusters were expanding and where there should have been a terminal bloom, the stems were continuing to grow and the heads of blooms were getting longer.

All these flowers were on one branch, apart from one. This branch was on the south side of the plant and, as luck would have it, the winds of Storm Betty at the weekend ripped the whole branch from the plant. But one strange cluster remains on another main stem. So I will be able to see what happens next.

As if Storm Betty was not enough proof that summer is over, my viburnum ‘Dawn’ is also being odd. The flowers are starting to open. Usually planted for the winter flowers, it is not unusual for the flowers to start to open in November and in October at a push. But I have never known it bloom in August. And not just the odd bloom, but lots of them!

This is bound to affect the display in winter – you can’t have your cake and eat it! I can only assume that a warm and dry June followed by the past two months of cool and wet conditions has convinced the plant that it is autumn.

The damp weather has been a bit depressing really, but it has helped new plantings to establish without constant attention. One of the new shrubs is Diervilla ‘KODIAK’ ^® Orange’. Diervilla is a new one to me although it is becoming very popular. They are related to weigela but have smaller flowers. They are good for pollinators and the KODIAK range is derived from D. rivularis from the SE USA. It is hardy and flowers on new growth so pruning, if necessary, is simple – just cut back in spring. The new growth will flower later in summer. It is not fussy about soil and will grow in sun or shade, but will flower best in better light. It can reach 2m high and wide. The only one I have grown is KODIAK Orange and I have been impressed so far. The new growth is tinged with orange and matures to light green. The flowers, though not terribly showy, have been continuously produced at the ends of the new growths and the best should be still to come when the leaves turn brighter orange in autumn. This series also includes Red and Black and all grow to about 1m high. ‘Honeybee’ is the best established cv. with pale green to yellow leaves, best in part shade, and 2m tall. Two more to look out for are variegated D. sessilifolia ‘Cool Splash’ and D. x splendens ‘El Madrigal’ with dark purple leaves that show off the yellow flowers. I will be adding more because, although they are not florally exciting, they are good background shrubs with a long season of interest.

Another new shrub is a buddleja. Buddlejas do not do that well here, I think because the soil is a bit damp in winter. Because of this I planted the B. alternifolia hybrid ‘Unique’ in the driest bed I had. But the bed was too dry and it struggled. It was moved in spring and it is now romping away but flowers are sparse and I am not that impressed with it. Trying to find something interesting AND pretty, I have planted ARGUS ^® VELVET.

This is a hybrid of the common B. davidii and the less common and slightly less hardy B. lindleyana which is curious for the bend in the floral tube. It also lacks the usual orange or yellow ‘eye’ of B. davidii. The hybrid is, rather inexplicably, called Buddleja × luteolufaucia. As is the way with modern cultivars which have ‘proper’ names and selling names, my plant is actually ‘ILVOargus2’ and is sold in the US as INSPIRED^® VIOLET. ‘ILVOargus2’ has the small leaves and rather spreading habit of B. lindleyana and the characteristic flower shape and colour. It is a large shrub, up to 3m high and mine is already 2m high after planting in spring. It has flung shoots high and wide and I was about to give up on it when finally some of the shoots, primarily those growing horizontally, ended in flower clusters. Now some have started to open and although the result is far from perfect, with flowers on the ground, the blooms are attractive. They are also attractive to butterflies, though the peacock butterfly flew off as soon as I approached with a camera. An advantage of this and other ‘new’ buddlejas is that they are often sterile, so they do not seed everywhere, which is not only bad for wild plants but also restricts their sale in some parts of the world. ‘ILVOargus2’ is supposed to be sterile. I hope that next year I will be able to prune it so it has a better shape.

buddleja 'ILVOargus2', buddleja argus velvet, diervilla kodiak orange, heptacodon, viburnum dawn