Autumn is not my favourite month but .............

Autumn is not my favourite month, it is nearly always dull and overcast, more often than not raining and in our exposed location, very very windy. But when the weather is good, with clear blue skies and no wind or rain, that’s when I think the autumnal scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. 

Even in my garden there are glorious tones of red, yellow and brown, shiny plump berries and tactile barks to marvel at; so I am inviting you to take a tour and see my garden in its autumn plumage.

Edging the drive, the box balls provide structure with minimal effort, their small dark green leaves show off well against the carpet of leaves.

Further up the drive our Amelanchier lamarckii (here when we moved in) provides all year round interest, at this time of year the colours are fantastic – a patchwork of oranges and reds. Even after the leaves have dropped in winter the bare branches provide architectural interest.

The wood has an area preservation order on it, mainly sycamore with a few white beam and large hollies. This is the domain of the birds and insects, it is so peaceful to sit here with a morning cup of coffee and listen to nature.

On the northern side of the house is the courtyard.  Here it is slightly sheltered from the damaging winds which blast other parts of the garden.  Roses still try to flower,

there are asters (probably some Symphyotrichums, I haven't checked), kalimeris,

heurcheras and heurcherellas, this is Heucherella Yellowstone Falls (a trailing hybrid).

In amongst these plants are dotted brightly coloured cyclamen, their green and silver marbled leaves are a constant throughout the year.

Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon' provide more winter colour and interest. 

I think the colours of the cyclamen and Persicaria complement each other.  This border is automatically mulched with a layer of long needles from the two Scots Pines above, and here and there are scattered pine cones.

On the entrance to the Italian garden the steps are flanked by two quadrant shaped beds, 

here Agastache Apricot Sprite is still flowering its socks off, the orange trumpet shaped flowers seem to glow in the sunlight, it is tender in these parts so later on I’m going to have to heavily mulch it and see if it survives the winter.

Descending the steps you enter the sunken patio; here the raised beds receive a certain amount of the sun’s heat from the stone walls, the watery sun makes the flowers of Hesperantha coccinea shine against a backdrop of Nepeta Neptune,

Geum Tangerine Dream is also is in flower.

On the long green walkway down to Julius Caesar the many shrubs of Sarcococca confusa are starting to flower.

Also in this area is Callicarpa bodinieri, purple is my favourite colour but I do think they look a bit artificial.

Further down on the right you can see the bright orange berries of the Sea Buckthorn - rich in vitamin C – they are a winter favourite of visiting red wings.

Don’t you think that the orange and brown crispy leaves of Polypodium vulgare contrast well with the Sea Buckthorn berries, this common fern is gradually shutting down for the winter.

Heading over to the main lawn you come to the blue border – a selection of plants with either blue flowers or blueish tinged foliage.  The same colour palette is used to provide a sense of uniformity and coolness on a hot south facing bed. Here the plants again benefit from the heat emanating from the stone retaining wall, the blue flowers of the ever favourite Certostigma plumboginades zing against its maroon stems.

Also still flowering still is Salvia Amistad (another one to be heavily mulched in the coming weeks).

A little further along the border Scabious caucasica is being visited by probably one of the last butterflies of the season.

 

Two recent additions to the border are Festuca glauca Eliijah Blue and Compacta Blue, seen here is Compacta Blue – the morning sunlight doesn’t do it justice.

The whole of this bed as well as the adjoining pink border benefits from a south facing position, a slightly lowered elevation and having either stone walls or a wooden fence.

In the neighbouring pink border, side by side is Salvia Hot Lips (left) and Salvia Hot Lips (right), the one on the right has reverted back to a simple pink - I didn’t have the heart to get rid of it.  Don’t they go well together!

At the end of the themed border is Fuschia microphylla, its shiny cerise pink flowers remind me of little tubes of lipstick.

Finally, we come to the oriental garden, the Acers never fail to disappoint, their colours change from yellow to ruby red and to deep maroon, back lit by a water sun, doesn’t it lift the spirits!

Acers can always be relied upon to give a stunning display at this time of year.  Their tones deepen week by week; their colours mature and improve just like a fine red wine does with age.   In this picture the red bridge, Acers and Japanese lantern make a lovely composition, don’t you think? (The bridge is one of many carpentry contributions from T).  Barely visible on the middle left is a bright pink cyclamen.  Foreground to the left is Juniperus communis (label lost) and to the right Pieris japonica (it’s supposed to be cloud pruned).

What a beautiful photo to end on but there again I am biased as it is my garden and I look the photos.

OUTTAKES

I could not resist adding this photograph.  I was trying to take a picture of Salvia Amistad but the picture was photo bombed.  Allow me to introduce Pippin; she’s a rescue dog – a Parson’s Jack Russell – aged unknown, history unknown.  She does seem to have a lot of emotional baggage; not being left alone is one of them.  She likes to be with humans at ALL times.  Here she is investigating the plant I was spending a lot of time photographing

How I Dispose of Woody Garden Waste

I thought it might be of interest to someone to take a few pictures and show how I deal with all the woody vegetation the garden produces throughout the year.

The garden is slightly smaller than an acre and there is always a sizeable amount of garden waste to dispose of.  To minimise the number of trips my husband and I take to the tip (council waste recycling centre), we have developed the following regime.

Smaller branches, woody growth, and rose prunings are stacked up in a pile.

When the pile reaches waist height, there is a sufficient amount of woody matter to warrant getting out the shredder/garden chipper and turning it on.

It has a 2500W electric motor, a turbine-cut blade system and can take branches up to 45mm in diameter. We find that the blades don’t clog if the ratio between dry branches and lush foliage is kept the same.

The shredded matter is then put in a wire mesh sided compost bay - only shredded branches and foliage go on this pile. I have different compost bins in the garden for other types of garden waste.

I have two enclosures for shreddings, one which I add to gradually and a second where the shreddings are left to rot down.

After approximately six to nine months the shreddings have composted down to something like a cross between garden compost and forest bark.

I then use this composted material as mulch on borders and as path coverings in my fruit cage.

Now for the Pros – sorry I am biased because I love my shredder.

This is the fifth garden shredder we have owned and in my opinion it’s the best one to date.

We don’t have to sharpen the blades as with others machines which sometimes requires dismantling the top part of the machine in order to get them out.

The motor is strong enough to ‘pull’ material through the blades.

It has a reverse feature where the blades turn in the opposite direction - this is useful if the entrance to the blades becomes blocked.

It does not overheat when used for long periods of time - generally I need a cup of coffee after about 20 minutes so never keep it running for very long anyway.

It is sturdily built and can be easily pulled or pushed to where it’s needed.

And now for the serious stuff -

You do have to be sensible when using it .  When shredding don’t wear baggy clothing, wear eye goggles, ear defenders and thick gloves – I also wear steel capped boots.  Only feed branches in one or two at a time; and whatever you do do not try to unclog the blades when the motor is running. If the blades clog, turn it off at the wall and pull the plug out.

Some sales spiel

I think this type of shredder/garden chipper is suitable for our size of garden which is just under an acre as we have a fair amount of large shrubs including laurel, hawthorne and holly as well as a small copse of mature trees.  If you are thinking of purchasing a shredder, there are many online articles regarding types of garden shredder/chipper alternatively they can be hired at most equipment tool hire shops.

Incidentally, thicker, heavier branches are cut up, piled in a wood store and left to dry out ready for burning on the open fires in the winter.

What to do with an unwanted and unsightly conifer tree stump

I thought somebody might want ideas on how to deal with tree trunks and stumps in the garden.  So I have described below how I dealt with the problem and hope it will provide inspiration for others.

At the back of the rose border on the north side of the garden, there had been for many years a massive conifer.  Its only redeeming feature was - well it didn't have one - so one day my husband started up the chainsaw and down it came.  Ah yes, it did have a redeeming feature - firewood for our open fires in the winter.

Then what to do with the trunk which was sticking out of the ground? I had an idea - a pedestal for a focal point.  My husband left the remaining trunk standing but cut it down till it was a three foot high stump sticking out of the ground.



Have you ever noticed how column-like tree trunks are?


I made a trip to my local TK Maxx which has a HomeSense section and found an armillary for £39.99.  I gave it makeover using one can of silver spray paint which brightened it up. 

My husband then fixed it to the top of the conifer stump using screws and hey presto as the pictures below illustrate, an attractive solution to an unsightly tree stump - plus a focal point without spending too much money.

My Autumn Project

My Autumn Project

On the north side of the house is the courtyard and this was the site for my latest project. On the opposite side of the courtyard away from the house lies a border where I grow a small collection of roses.  This bed is backed by a dry stone boundary wall, two medium sized holly trees (shaped every winter) and two large Scots pine. 

From early May until October this rose bed is a wonderful display of colour from delicate clusters of pure white to dark cerise blooms heavy with heady perfume.  I have planted here mainly shrub roses – such as Rosa Anthony, Charlotte, Robert le Diable as well as a few ramblers which I have transplanted from elsewhere in the garden (I don't know their names).

Over the years I have experimented with various ways of companion planting for the rose bushes - hardy geraniums, alchemilla mollis, ferns, hostas - I think I have tried just about everything and I have never been really happy with any of the results as you can see here the border looks very miserable in early spring.  I felt like trying something different.

Following a autumnal trip to Thorpe Perrow Arboretum in Yorkshire, I wanted to reproduce their fantastic range of stunning autumn and winter colours.  Shrubs were out of the question as I felt that the roses would be sufficient to provide bulk to the area, this meant I was limited to perennials.  It is very easy to put together a list of perennials which provide colour through autumn-winter-spring but one has to experiment to see which one will actually thrive in situ. 

I started by interspersing the roses with cyclamen in groups of three.

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I then dotted about a few members of the aster family including symphyotrichum novi-belgii  and novi-angliae for early autumn colour.  Here and there at the front of the border some erica carnea  and calluna vulgaris.  

To finish off  persicaria macrophela “Purple Fantasy”. 

and persicaria macrophela “Red Dragon” (I think), likewise the tones are beautiful in Red Dragon and are further illuminated when the sun shines on the plant.

Heucheras, trailing heuchera, heucherella and a very small specimen of rudbeckia Goldstrum were also planted to the front.

I know a lot people grow cornus and acer for autumn winter colour and I did try growing three cornus flaviouruous a few years back; I have to admit that in the winter they out shone anything in the garden but for the rest of the year they were just boring green shrubs -  I have enough of those in the garden already.  I’m hoping that as the plants in this bed mature they will clump up and not look so small and weedy. I shall be interested to see what the effect will be in the years to come. 

The rose border in summer.