Garden’s still full of life
The early autumn weather has been glorious here, with lovely sunny days and warm evenings. Late flowering plants such as Michaelmas daisies are now starting to flower. One of the best in our garden is ‘Harrington’s Pink’, which is around 1.2m (4ft) high and a real magnet for butterflies and bees. This year I grew multi-headed sunflowers to pick for the house. These have exceeded expectations both in height and numbers of flowers. After cutting the beech hedge last month we spent some time assessing many of the shrubs growing in front of it. Some, such as Viburnum opulus and Chaenomeles have been radically pruned, while two or three others are going to be moved a little later in the year when they are dormant. We made an access path between the beech hedge and border some years ago to give easy access for hedge cutting, but this had become very overgrown. We’ve cleared the undergrowth now and are determined to keep the pathway clear. Autumn raspberries continue to fruit well. I often have help in picking them from one of the dogs! Luckily for us, the best fruits are high up out of canine reach. My favourite plant in the garden at the moment is a tree – a Katsura which we always refer to as the candyfloss tree due to the scent of burnt sugar from the leaves in autumn. On a warm day this can be enjoyed some distance away from the tree. The leaves also turn a beautiful colour at this time of the year. Wildlife is positively encouraged in our garden and we love watching the antics of the creatures that visit. However, even I am now getting slightly exasperated by moles this year. I have never known them be so active during summer – not only tunnelling under the lawn but also in flowerbeds. It’s not all bad though, as we do collect up some of the earth from the molehills to put on the vegetable raised beds. We also enjoy collecting pieces of slipware pottery thrown up by their earthworks!
Tales from a Country Garden 