THE COUNTY GARDENER
trees dainty cyclamen flowers appear among the ground cover. Cyclamen are low-growing plants that spread out year by year. The flowers dot the understory with purple or sometimes white flowers.
A Autumn crocus also has its day in the
autumn sunshine. It is an upright naked flower growing to about six centimetres tall. The flower is purple in colour with orange stamens in the centre. These flowers look spectacular en masse when grown under a medium-sized cherry tree, the floor of which has been spread with horticultural bark chippings in a circle around the tree and planted with tall verbena bonariensis as a contrast to the small crocuses. Other flowers in bloom now include
tall daisies - blue and mauve Michaelmas daisies, yellow and red helenium, mesembrianthemum, and others. Golden rod creates a yellow mat on a tall stem, chrysanthemums provide old-fashioned taste, and modern penstemons (like the variety Raven) add burgundy-red colour to the garden palette. Dahlias have been in flower now
since mid-summer but they still add vivid colour to the flower borders. Providing that you dead-head the plants regularly,
2630 County Life
s the summer passes and we go through to September, under the light shade of the
in the autumn breezes ‘
Relax by Peter Dean If you want show-stopper
hardy plants that are a delight in autumn gardens, then go for clumps of ornamental grasses
they will keep coming with new blooms of red, orange, white and the like right up to the first frosts during late October. Both daisies and dahlias should be staked when they get tall or they will fall over from the weight of their stems and flower heads. If you want show-stopper hardy
plants that are a delight in autumn gardens, then go for clumps of ornamental grasses: carex, stipa, oat grass or even the space-consuming elephant grass. They will have produced their seeds by now and the top-heavy ends will sway in the ever-increasing breezes. Bulrushes also have distinctive seed heads. They grow on the banks of streams and other water courses. These plants are structural and add another dimension to the garden. Finches and tits love to feast on the grass seeds, although bulrush seeds tend to float away in the wind. Hedges should be cut now and
topiary trimmed to get a good shape for over-wintering. All the deciduous trees will start to change their leaf colour before dropping them altogether. Special colours
appear that were masked all year by green chlorophyll. An example is the Japanese maple: acer palmatum. This small tree has intense colouration of its autumn leaves, going from red to bright orange. It is a popular tree and will add interest to any space - large or small - because it can be planted in the ground or in a large pot and will still thrive. The vegetable and fruit garden in
September is still producing crops like runner beans and maincrop potatoes. There are also root vegetables like carrots, swede and parsnip to harvest. Autumn raspberries, if you have them, make a tasty seasonal treat to go with staples like apples, pears and stone-fruit such as gages, damsons and plums. Why not try making jam with them? In the wild, elderberries and sloes are
ripe and can be picked; making sure you are not picking too many so that there is nothing for the birds to feed on during the winter. Also, be mindful that if you pick roadside fruit it might have accumulated petrol and diesel deposits. Autumn is the time to enjoy the
shorter days and the abundant selection of late flowers and vegetables. It can also be a time of marvellous weather, so let’s hope we get an Indian summer right up until November and the beginning of winter.
www.countylifemagazines.co.uk
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