50 and out!
It’s also a month that is full of excitement and anticipation – as in my opinion, it marks the beginning of the gardening calendar.
If you are into autumn colour, a visit to a large garden centre will provide plenty of inspiration.
An Acer planted in a large patio container will provide instant impact, whereas a new woodland style border planted with a new silver birch or a stag’s horn sumach will gradually mature over the years.
In the borders, October is a hugely satisfying month to indulge in redesigning or rearranging groups of plants.
The best advice one can give is to say, you know you’re garden – so if something isn’t working, change it.
Always allow for growth next year, and replant in groups or drifts for best effects. Practice makes perfect! Or nearly so, as every autumn brings similar challenges, but always new ones with just as much excitement every time.
The time has come to leaf it all behind
AUTUMN colour is traditionally associated with the hues and changing shades of mature trees.
However, there are many smaller trees and shrubs and even herbaceous plants that display dramatic foliage. Here are some examples...
Acer ‘Dissectum garnet’ has delicate feathery pale green leaves which turn golden orange in October. This slow-growing small tree will thrive for many years in a patio container and looks simply devine in an old wooden barrel.
Azalea Mollis is a large shrub famed for its fluorescent sweetly-scented blooms in May. An added bonus is its dramatic autumn display of purple, red, orange and lemon coloured leaves.
Cultivated blackberries are thornless and provide rich harvests in late summer of succulent shiny fruits. These make a superb patio crop that can be trained against trellis on a sunny house wall and, whilst their delicious berries are decorative, the foliage turns into wonderful shades of lemon, orange, red and purple like their wild countryside cousins do.
Hostas provide dramatic large glaucous leaves which provide a superb backdrop to soft pink and mauve-flowering plants in a shady summer border – an extra treat arises in autumn as the foliage turns a wonderful lemon colour, fading to a burnt orange.
We’ve all heard of the children’s song: ‘here we go round the Mulberry bush’. This slow-growing shrub freely produces its delicious (but rare) fruit in August. It does, however, need protection from birds (with the use of netting). After harvest, the foliage impressively turns a vibrant yellow.
There is something really nice about the thought of creating a woodland border. Few gardens have a real-feel planting of this type, which is rather a shame.
You don’t need masses of space for a wonderful project like this. A small area, around 3 x 2 metres should suffice, and would easily accommodate a couple of trees and a handful of shrubs.
Apple trees are slow growing to around 10 to 25 ft in height, depending on the variety, and will be extremely rewarding and productive, as well as fitting in well to a woodland scheme.
Rhus, or stags-horn sumach, is a wonderful slow growing tree, which has delicate looking leaflets, turning vivid orange and red in October. The fluffy reddish terminal blooms in summer are an added bonus.
Although much taller, Silver Birch is also a good choice, thanks to it’s small leaves – giving a light and airy feel to the canopy. With age, the winter bark becomes increasingly superb.
Many shrubs fit in well, especially the Japanese sorts, such as Pieris, Aucuba, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Viburnums and Kalmias. One or two deciduous types, such as witch hazel and Viburnum Opulus will add valuable winter blooms and scent on their bare branches.
Bulbs cannot be over-emphasised. The world is your oyster, as far as choice is concerned, but species varieties will add a more natural touch. Go for snowdrops, crocus and wild daffodils for early colour, followed by bluebells and wild garlic for late spring colour. In Summer, ferns will obscure the bare soil as the spring bulbs die down. Autumn brings autumn crocus or colchicums and Cyclamen.
From the garden you know, to the cottage...
We have decided to bring Bloomin’ Great, as you know it, to a close for now, after 50 editions and more than 440 informative articles.
Since September 2001, there have been scores of Tovey’s Tips, weather reports, flower and plant profiles, pictures and loads of information about what you can do in your gardens throughout the year.
It was, up until September 2002, just available in paper form - then an online version was launched and, a month later, it doubled in size (from one page of A4 to two), giving more information than ever before.
We have had some tremendous feedback about the newsletter and have, undoubtedly, enjoyed compiling them as much as you have reading them. But now we feel it is time to move the project a step further. The old Bloomin’ Greats are still available at the website: www.angelfire.com/tv2/bloomingreat.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, however. Next year we will be launching The Cottage - a newsletter for the ever-increasingly popular cottage gardening scene.
Full of new ideas and features, it will be as informative as ever – giving you a step-by-step guide and insight into the both traditional and modern world that is cottage gardening.
We hope you’ll hang in there with us for what promises to be an exciting horticultural journey...
Peasy does it
SOW Sweet Peas from scratch in October - soak them in water for 24 hours and put them four or five-a-pot, half-an-inch-deep and put them in a cold frame or very sheltered corner close to the house.
In April they can be planted in rows against a fence or wall or, with bijous, in clumps.
They are guaranteed to give you flowers for the house, or for friends throughout summer.
Tovey's Tips
Cut back straggly old stems of Hydrangeas to near ground level. The newer, sturdier, greener shoots should be kept, slightly reducing lanky non-flowering shoots. Give the plants a mulch of bulky organic matter and some bone-meal, to build them up for winter.
Thoroughly rake out thatch and moss from lawns. Use a fork or hollow tine tool to aerate the soil surface, helping the grass to breathe. Finally, top-dress with a sandy compost mixed with some bone-meal or autumn lawn food. Leave the lawn for a week or so before cutting with the blades on a high setting.
Reduce all growth of Roses by around half. to reduce the risk of wind rock during the winter months. Budding or flowering stems can be popped into a vase. Use strong, straight stems as cuttings to produce new plants – simply push them firmly into the soil.
Plant bulbs of Brodieas, Erythroniums, Dutch Iris, Alliums and Nectaroscordiums in clusters in-between shrubs and perennials, for late spring colour next year.
Prune away the old flowered stems of Weigelas, and keep the lush new stems, which will provide next year’s flowers.
A warmer October?
October is expected to be mainly warm with good dry spells with regular night-time mists and fog.
Occasional heavy rain around mid-month. A brief colder, brighter spell around the 21st should again give way to heavy rain.
