Usually when we go into the garden, a general look around will show that the dominant colour is green. Not any more, the whole garden has a mellow, yellow look about it as plants finally change colour and start to die back ready for winter. I started my wandering this time, in the woodland and went anti clockwise instead of the usual clockwise, don’t ask me why, I’ve no idea!
Woodland, looking left.
Woodland, looking right
I’ve been planting more bulbs in the woodland recently, mainly up at the end by the old school, so hopefully we should have a lot more flowers in this area next spring.
View of woodland from the back bedroom.
I was called in for a coffee, so took the opportunity to whizz upstairs and take a photo from the back bedroom window. From here you can see that the larger,older Acer is changing colour, these changes can’t be seen from the back lawn. Eventually the whole tree will be a blaze of orange with a bit of red where the sun catches it.
Bog garden.
The bog garden is gradually turning yellow. Some of my candelabra primulas now need splitting as the clumps are getting rather large, but I think straight after flowering is the best time for this.
Back garden with Horse Chestnut on the left and Prunus Kojo no mai on the right.
After all the rain we had over the past couple of days, the back lawn is now covered with leaves and the November job of leaf sweeping will start and carry on until Christmas.
Under the pergola with Spirea Goldflame.
I prune this shrub back each spring, but it always makes up for it by the end of the year, the colours are very pretty at the moment.
Viburnum plicata Maresii.
Over half the leaves have turned a beautifully rich Burgundy colour, but the poor shrub is flowering again with it’s lovely white lacecap flowers, it must be confused with our very mild weather.
Changing colours of beech in the hedge by the field.
This border by the field is one that we have been working on through the year. Eventually we hope to have it as a late summer border but I have lots of narcissus and tulips to put here so that there is a bit of interest earlier in the year.
Miscanthus sinensis Malepartus.
This Miscanthus is having a bad hair day! There is a circle of metal hoops around it, but I think some must have broken through!
Silver birch tree.
I love this tree which just appeared as a seedling in the garden one year. The birds like it too as they wait in the branches to make sure the coast is clear before coming down to the bird feeders.
Hiding the gas tank and the wood store are beech and camellia.
These shrubs provide interest all winter as well as providing a screen for the utility part of the garden.
The front drive .
Practically all the Cornus leaves have now dropped, but the cherry at the entrance is still hanging onto its leaves. Soon I will be able to cut back and sort this bed out, I want it neat and tidy for January as snowdrops have been planted among the Cornus and they wouldn’t be seen if nothing had been cut back.
From the landing window.
The red stems of the Cornus pick up the deep red colour of the Acer tree which is in next door’s garden.
There is such a change in the garden in just a week. The colours are deepening and looking really beautiful, even if it is just for a short time, autumn really can be as colourful as spring and summer, but in a different way. The experts are saying that this year, the colours of the autumn tints are the best they have been for 10 yrs. The garden here used to just bow out gracefully but there is still more to come and now we feel the end of autumn finishes with a bang!
I am joining in with the End of Month meme hosted by Helen at The Patient Gardener, please pay her a visit to see gardens from round the world.
So many colours in your garden, Pauline – brown and red and yellow and green. It struck me that you mostly have English plants in your garden. It’s like a beautiful traditional English garden. I love the photo of the shrubs hiding the gas tank and wood store.
We do have a lot of English or European plants Catmint, but also lots from America, Canada, Himalayas, China and Japan! Thinking about it, they are all from the Northern Hemisphere, We have plants from the Southern Hemisphere, but they are either conservatoru plants or plants that need bringing in for the winter.
Your garden is the essence of an English garden in autumn, so many stunning colours; it seems to me that the leaf colour is late this year so was only just beginning when I was in Suffolk two weeks ago. I love all the different angles of your garden but the image that really struck me this month was the Back garden with Horse Chestnut, with the sweeping grass path leading to unknown secret beauties.
When making the garden Christina, I tried to include as many plants that I could that had more than one season of interest, and autumn was high on the list! Usually, in the children’s half term, we go looking for gardens with autumn tints and this was last week. Looking back over previous posts in November, the Acers change colour, so I think they are on course as they still have a way to go. The view of the back garden is usually photographed in the spring when the rhodos are flowering, the archway you can see is the entrance to the woodland.
I like the wide variety of shrubs and trees in your garden, the views along paths show how interesting the journey around your garden is – I agree, the sweeping grass path looks very enticing. What a good idea to reverse the usual route, I shall try that!
Thank you Kate, I’m glad you like it. The grass “path” is about 20ft wide, so we call it the back lawn! When we moved here 25 yrs ago, everywhere was wall to wall grass, so bit by bit I carved away at it making borders until I felt the proportions of lawn to borders was right.
Your garden looks so beautiful in its autumn dress Pauline. I love this time of the year when for a short time the garden is lit up with all these wonderful autumn tints. It looks quite magical.
Thank you Chloris, all the big old trees make a very mature garden, even though the rest of it is only 25yrs old. I love the way the garden bows out with such a blaze of colour which lasts for some time as the trees in the shade take longer to become so colourful.
Your garden really is a wonder at this time of the year Pauline. You can really see the thought you’ve put into your planting schemes and why you have chose particular plants. I long for a time when my trees and shrubs mature but not quite so much longing for all the leaves I will eventually have to deal with.
Thank you so much Angie, I love the planning stage of planting up a new border, I’m never happier than when I’m surrounded by books and catalogues, choosing new plants! Even sweeping all the leaves up in autumn has a plus side, think of all the beautiful leaf mould that is formed, the plants love it!
Lovely wander around your garden Pauline. The Silver birch is looking great.
Thanks for your company Susie, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I love the Silver Birch, but the undergardener would like to chop it down, he says it is too near the house. I’ve said I’ll chain myself to it if he gets his chainsaw out!
It really is utterly gorgeous!!! How clever of you to disguise the wood shed so cleverly!
I have six hug beech trees, all over sixty foot, I wish I could underplant them with bulbs but I can’t even get a knitting needle through the roots.xxx
Thanks Dina, but I can’t take all the credit for hiding the huge gas tank and the wood store. The previous people planted the beech and leylandii hedges, I just added the shrubs in front. I had to laugh at the image of you poking a knitting needle to try and plant bulbs! I know the feeling though, each time I go to plant anything in the woodland, I have trouble finding a space to plant them that isn’t a tangle of roots.
I’ve loved reading about your gorgeous garden in the Autumn, Pauline. Your hours spent poring over catalogues and visiting gardens has paid off handsomely! I rather like your flopsy Miscanthus and the way that its colours are picked up in the Heuchera underneath, gold and purple – fabulous combo! I also enjoyed reading about your Silver Birch seedling – I hadn’t realised they could fling themselves about but one has appeared in my mum’s garden, right by the fence in a spot where a hydrangea had died. The tree has grown quite a bit since I spotted it earlier this year and I should really dig it out as it will have the fence down eventually but it looks so pretty. I’m wondering if I could transfer it into a pot and replant in the gardens here in London … ?
I don’t see why you shouldn’t pot up your Mum’s silver birch tree Caro, I’m sure it would love to be moved to the big city! Each year we have seedlings popping up all over the place, so far I have managed to pot them up and give them away. Maybe I could grow a little bonsai woodland of them?!
Thanks for your lovely comments about the garden, the only changes we make now are when we re-do the planting in a bed, when it begins to look a bit tired.