December 5th 2015

Autumn’s vivid hues

We’ve enjoyed plenty of lovely autumn colour in the garden this year.  Acers have been stunning, especially an unnamed seedling bought from Westonbirt Arboretum many years ago whose leaves turn a vibrant red. Prunus ‘Kojo-no-mai’ was planted mainly for its white spring flowers, but it does look lovely again at this time of year as the leaves change colour. I’ve been busy emptying the leafbin of two years’ worth of leaf mould. Some has been spread on the asparagus bed as a thick mulch, while the remainder is stacked at the side of the vegetable patch ready for use. As leaves tumbled thick and fast, I virtually filled the leaf bin up again. At the moment, there’s a mixture of yellow birch leaves and deep plum-coloured leaves from a prunus on the lawn; they looked so pretty it was almost a shame to rake them up. A recent weekend saw us taking off the tops of two conifers growing between the garden and the orchard, which has let in more light. A dull chilly day was the perfect excuse for a bonfire to dispose of the branches. We’ve had a heavy crop of apples from a couple of mature trees, one being a ‘Bramley’s Seedling’. We’ve juiced many, with the result not being as sour as you would expect from a cooking apple.  We put a small amount of juice into demi-johns and it’s bubbling away furiously in the kitchen – hopefully it will turn into a palatable cider. I’ve been planting bulbs – Narcissus pseudonarcissus to naturalise amongst the fruit trees, camassia and Narcissus poeticus on the other side of the orchard and tulips into terracotta pots.  I’ve also taken cuttings of roses ‘Charles de Mills’ and ‘Tuscany Superb’.