Well, here we are in November – the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.’ Back in the day, this was the month when gardeners started to think about ‘putting the garden to bed for the winter.’ The climate was different and, once the frosts came and then the snow, covering the ground for what seemed like months, we didn’t venture into our gardens. My sister and I were too busy dragging our toboggans up the garden path, through the back gate and onwards to the Abbey Fields near Kenilworth Castle to what seemed like a very steep hill which culminated in a brook at the bottom, meeting up with our friends – all totally unsupervised by our parents of course …
Well, that was how it was in the 1950s. Talking of which, I don’t recall my parents doing anything in the garden during the winter months – they ventured forth around Easter time for the big garden tidy up. My grandfather, of course, would be braving the cold throughout the winter to harvest brassicas and parsnips from his allotment. He wouldn’t have dreamt of digging up parsnips until they had been frosted – it made then taste sweeter apparently. I am not sure what he would have thought of the ones now available in the supermarkets all the year round. So, double digging and then leaving the frost and snow to play their part during the winter months would have been the order of the day.
How unlike now when the winters are warmer and wetter and we are often out in our gardens in the winter months marvelling at what seems to be an abundance of flowers throughout the autumn and winter. Do remember to keep up the consistent dead heading to maintain a steady supply of flowers. I have also just given my hellebores, the ones in pots, a very dilute dose of high potash fertiliser as this is when they are setting buds for a winter display. No dig gardening is also now very much in vogue, covering the soil with a layer of cardboard and piling compost and vegetable matter on top, leaving it to rot down and planting into it rather than disturbing the soil underneath.
As I sat in my conservatory enjoying the afternoon sun lighting up the burgundy/pink spikes of the cordyline on the edge of the patio and, further out into the garden, the
crimson leaves of the acer by the pond, I was reflecting on the seasons. What a joy autumn brings. I love my garden throughout the year, but August and September always seem to be the low points. Generally, everything is so dry that many of the plants have died off – well I can’t water everything and this year plants have been decimated by slugs and snails, but now the leaves are changing colour and sunlit days are a bonus, I feel uplifted. My tours of National Trust and other gardens are done. I have enjoyed their huge herbaceous borders, resplendent in their autumn colours, and now I await the golden leaves of my gleditsia tree. But back to the cordyline. I don’t know the name of my variety, but there is a fairly recent one called Salsa – a stunning pink and cordylines are hardy down to minus six degrees, so well worth putting one in a pot for autumn and winter interest on the patio. Alongside skimmia, these are my go to plants for the winter months. Skimmia japonica Rubella is a good choice with its small deep pink buds in the winter and the bonus of white/blush pink, fragrant flowers in the spring
Dividing perennials is a task for this month, but not grasses; they don’t do well in cold wet ground – better to split them up in the spring. It is always good to extend one’s plants for free, either by collecting seeds, taking cuttings or dividing. I also manage to keep my lilies that I grow in pots going for several years. Their dead heads have been cut off before the seed pods form and now I am left with stalks which will remain all winter out of sight behind the plant house. In the spring the stalks are dead and just snap off. I will then top dress with some fresh compost and and a small sprinkle of all-purpose fertiliser and then, later in the season, feed with a high potash fertiliser to encourage the new buds. Talking of which, when I examined my pots of hellebores this week, they were now all budding up ready for Christmas and beyond – their high potash feed has paid off. My pots of cutting narcissus, those I grow specifically for the house, did not do well last year. They are tired and exhausted having been in the same tubs for many years. So, the bulbs were removed a couple of weeks ago and planted en masse in deep holes at the back of the border. We will see how they fare in the spring. In the meantime, the tubs have been planted up with fresh bulbs and fresh compost – a new start. This week I have been in my plant house potting up miniature iris and narcissus minnow in shallow terracotta pans, ready for a spring display. My plant house is my ‘happy place’ and I hope you have one too, whether it is in your garden or out and about in the countryside or our lovely village – enjoy these beautiful autumnal days!
Linda Truscott
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