A colourful time of year
October brings a wonderful richness of colour to the garden and the clear sunny days and night frosts that we often get at this time of year lead to the intensity of colour in leaves and shrubs. An ideal autumn garden is not only one that’s ablaze with clusters of fiery red and orange berries hanging on branches of pyracanthas, cotoneaster and viburnums, but is full of beautiful seed heads, and stunning foliage.
It’s very hard to beat Japanese maples for reliable autumn colour and foliage. There is a variety to suit every garden, and some will grow happily in a container placed in a sheltered spot. Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’ gives some of the best red leaves of any tree firing up with warm, eye-catching tints at this time of year. A. palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’ – the coral-bark maple turns a stunning yellow and makes a very attractive focal point in winter.
There are two Gloucestershire gardens well worth visiting this month for inspiration, Batsford Arboretum and Garden Centre, near Morton in the Marsh is a riot of leaf colour ranging from deep butter yellow through to orange reds and crimsons as well as an abundance of berries. Well worth visiting to see Acers at their best.
The National Arboretum at Westonbirt is a stunningly beautiful place to visit and explore rare, interesting and beautiful plants from all round the world. October is the best month to see the glorious acer trees in their fiery autumnal colours.
This is the best month for planting out, while the soil is moist but still warm. Although leaf foliage commands the autumn scene, it is by no means the sole contributor of colour. An excellent backdrop plant is the Michelmas daisy Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ whose mauve flowers are alive with bees and butterflies gilded by autumn sunshine. Combine with the upright, feathery plumes of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Ferner Osten’ which lends a lightness to a planting scheme. It can reaching nearly 2m in so it requires space and sunshine to really show off.
As a general rule, autumn-tinting plants need sunlight to perform really well. If they are placed in the shade they get lost. The best position for autumn and winter planting is backlit by the sun, where the brilliance of colours can be best admired. If space is at a premium, make discerning choices and sidestep plants that are too big or only contribute for two weeks in October. The one thing the garden in autumn should never be is boring.
