Autumn colour show
We have been enjoying some lovely early autumn weather. Many plants are starting to show their autumn colours, the best at the moment being the katsura tree, Cercidyphyllum japonicum, whose lovely heart-shaped leaves emit an intoxicating scent of candyfloss. Also colouring up well is a Virginia creeper planted against the house. The native hedge around the orchard is laden with nuts and berries and we’ll enjoy picking sloes to make sloe gin. Squirrels are busy collecting hazel nuts and the hawthorn is covered in haws for the birds to enjoy later. I recently found some packets of perennial seeds that I’d forgotten about, so duly sowed and labelled them and put them in the greenhouse. Unfortunately, something – possibly a bird – has pulled all the labels out so I am now pricking out mystery seedlings. I’ll keep the labels safe and hope I can identify the plants as they grow and flower. In the cut flower patch, I’m currently enjoying the vibrant orange flowers of Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’ along with its lovely velvety stems. I’ll save some seeds and grow it again next year. I’m also saving seed from nigella, cosmos and calendula. Our bees have enjoyed all these flowers as much as me, although picking has been hazardous on occasions. Sweet williams have now been planted out to provide early flowers for next year.
Tales from a Country Garden 