Autumn at Upper Green

Autumn fruit and colour

Colours are changing, there is a nip in the air and the hedgerows as well as the garden are full of fruit including plums, apples, hips, haws and sloes. I saw a whitethroat the other day balancing precariously on a bramble bush and tucking into a juicy blackberry. We like blackberries too and have picked plenty for the freezer.

Gardening Ants

The garden is full of purple and white Cyclamen hederifolium. The seeds are spread about by ants which are attracted by the fleshy coating. These helpful gardeners take the seeds carefully back to their underground nests where the coating feeds the colony, but the seed germinates and a cyclamen will pop up somewhere unexpected.

Naked ladies

My new colchicums (naked ladies) have just put in an appearance. The large strappy leaves, which appear after the flowers (hence the naked), are untidy and take up quite a lot of space but I think the flowers may be worth the investment. I have Colchicum byzantinum “Innocence” (white) and Colchicum speciosum (purple) – just a few flowers of each as it is their first year but they hold promise, always provided the slugs leave them alone.  

Garden giants and dwarfs

Helianthus salicifolius (willow-leaved sunflower) has produced clusters of small yellow daisies more than 6-foot up, far too high to enjoy them properly. It is just as well that I grow the plant for the architectural impact of the wonderfully long narrow willow-like leaves that clothe the arching stems leaves rather than the flowers.

At the other end of the scale is the dainty Acis autumnalis, (autumn snowflake) in my gravel bed, no more than a foot in height, with tiny nodding, bell-shaped, white flowers. I would like to have the pink form too- something to look out for when I browse the catalogues this autumn.

Colour, Shape and Snowdrops at Upper Green

Autumn Snowdrops

The first snowdrops have been in flower for a couple of weeks (and I still think look a little strange at this time of year). Galanthus reginae-olgae has 19 flowers- what a contrast to previous years when I have been lucky to find one or two flowers. Something about this summer must have reminded them of their home in Sicily and the west and north-west Balkans. It is rather lovely to remember that the name honours Queen Olga of Greece (grandmother of the Duke of Edinburgh). The little snowdrops are overshadowed by the adjacent Nerine ‘Zeal Giant’ which has also done exceptionally well this year. The lovely pink Nerine bowdenii are also still in full flower.

G. reginae-olgae

Nerine Zeal’s Giant

I am fortunate to have one flower (a slug got the second one) on Galanthus peshmenii, a relative of G. elwesii, which I was given last year by my good friend and alpine expert, Barry Hennessey. Apparently G. peshmenii was originally thought to be a Turkish form of G. reginae-olgae. It grows in coastal Turkey and nearby islands, but it is now acknowledged to be a species in its own right. The little flower is dwarfed by the spectacular star-burst seedheads of Allium schubertii.

Allium schubertii

G. pesmenii

Autumn foliage and fruit

Autumn colours are reaching their peak. The light green leaves of Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Seiryu’  have turned a spectacular crimson, lighting up the patio but the show will soon be over and the leaves will start to fall.

I am already collecting up leaves for leaf mold. It will take about 2 years for them to rot down to a fine dark brown tilth but it is worth waiting. I have just applied some  2-year old mold to my snowdrops- a most luxurious mulch. The addition of a touch of bone-meal should ensure a great display.

Colour in the garden is also supplied by the lovely rose-pink and orange fruits of the spindle, Euonymus europaeus ‘Red Cascade’ .

Shape in the garden

The topiary and cloud pruning are taking shape and are already giving the garden year-round structure.

I have just bought a book on Japanese gardens and pruning techniques which is full of inspiration- more things to try out in 2020!