There is a scattering of delight in the garden just now, and has been for weeks. It’s a flower; a geranium:

It is scattered all over the garden. Every year I plant some in another place and have never regretted one of them.

But you won’t easily find it for sale, because it’s identified as a thug. And, true, I can see many square yards of it from my window right now. It always brightens late summer and autumn for me. As other plants begin to go over their dying foliage or flower will suddenly be brightened up with this sweet spangling..

A bad plant then. A thug. I glory in many of these thugs at Veddw. Some are almost respectable, like the Japanese anemone at the top: though ‘almost’ is the operative word – many otherwise relatively sane gardeners complain about it. See here! Be warned!

Some are solidly identified as weeds, such as the epilobium commonly known as rosebay willow herb. I suppose it means that you can see many rare plants at Veddw.

Geranium procurrens scrambles around from a very small root. I have only ever been able to get new plants by taking up a newly seeded one in spring, when it is still small. Charles has complained of it as a weed – it does seem to seed in the Veg Plot. But not so much elsewhere for some reason. (Just to annoy Charles, I bet) All that flower comes from one small root, and it dies back to that root, so when it climbs over a shrub, which is one of its talents, you may need to pull strands of the dead stems out in spring. Thug haters do miss some big treats.

Who wants it? Anyone, I’d say, but I’m happy to keep it to myself and I haven’t yet squeezed it in everywhere I want it.

Another big treat is the arrival of this flower in late summer, just as the Front Garden is begining to become uninteresting. It’s an odd one, this. A shrub. But so far here it has mostly come up on one or two stems, with this flower on top when it flowers. Can’t say if the stem stays because we strim the lot down. It has always so far been a bit random and just single stemmed, and I’ve had it for years. Random means it pops up in unexpected places, which could be your neighbour’s lawn, so maybe you need to leave this one to me.

And this year it’s suddenly come up in hordes, making me a little apprehensive about what will happen next year. But meanwhile it is a big treat and I have invested in a variegated one….

Who would I recommend this to? Someone with a spirit of adventure, a lot of space, a desire for an unusual good late flower and maybe a neighbour they get on very well with….

The other current goodie has been in flower since – late July? Still going strong, and with a great addition, which is that birds love it. Love what about it? No idea, I just know they bounce busily up and down on it for weeks. But most of you would hate it.

In spite of that, I have given loads of it away. Many visitors ask what it is and a surprising number are looking for generous plants which will fill a lot of space in a wettish garden. Though I understand it will do in dryish soil too.

If you’ve read The Bad Tempered Gardener you’ll know about it. And it really is a spreader – someone (not me!) gave it to Derry Watkins of Special Plants, and I came across her cursing it one day. But not everyone needs space to grow nursery plants, and some of us love a dramatic, long lasting and exuberant flowerer.

It pulls out easily enough and indeed that’s how I give it away to keen visitors who want some. I give them a dreaded plastic carrier bag (we may miss them one day, though I know how bad they are) and they just need to pull up a bit and pop it in the bag.

I have planted it without even digging a hole, just laying the root on the ground and piling a bit of mulch over the top. (grass cuttings maybe). It comes in pink and white and a deeper pink which I may not yet have. Or do I? Is it this one?

Interestingly, it seems to live happily with other vigorous plants (which I will treat you to another time) without doing any damage. (Famous last words???)

I looked at the Crescent Border in late July once and thought it needed a dramatic freshening up. So added some white persicaria and got just what was needed – a third season from the border.

And of course, it’s all over the rest of the garden now.

I also have it in shade, under an ash tree, where it grows more thinly, with a delicacy which suits the rather wild, edge of garden look.

Who would appreciate this plant? Someone with space needing filling with something great. Someone who wants fresh late colour.

I’ll bring you some more thugs soon, in the hope some of you might be interested. I wrote Deckchair Gardener in the hope that it would reach some people who are not interested in gardening, but have a garden. If you’re reading this that’s not likely to be you – though I recently came across this thought provoking quote from the great designer, Russell Page: “the most striking and satisfying visual pleasure comes from the repetition or the massing of one simple element. Imagine the Parthenon with each column a different kind of marble.”

Still, I’d appreciate ideas about how a non gardening book about gardening could reach non gardeners. You may actually know someone despairing of their patch maybe? – and maybe they’d enjoy a few good thugs?

Meanwhile, here’s another of my favourites which will have you horrified and calling ‘weed’!!!!!!!