Garden News | October
Proper start of a brand new autumn
Wow, September seems to have flown by this year. My, how time flies when you’re having fun at Leonardslee!
October often tends to mark the proper start of a brand new autumn, probably my favourite season in any garden. After our world-famous spring displays, autumn is often seen as Leonardslee’s next best season for sheer wonder and visual beauty. The colours start to deepen and get richer but there is also still enough warmth and moisture in the soil for growth to continue for much of the month. It’s a fantastic time for the keen photographer too as the fiery display of autumnal foliage starts to put on its annual show. You’ll find the aptly named Maple Walk will be ablaze with colourful Acer foliage for instance, but there many other hot spots at this time of year. You’ll be able to spot seasonal specimen trees studded throughout the garden walks including Liquidambar styraciflua and Nyssa sylvatica, a personal favourite of mine. Some of the best examples of foliage colour can be seen reflecting in one of our seven lakes across the estate so make sure you have a good wander during autumn and November to catch all that’s on offer.
It’s not just the colourful foliage that catches your eye in autumn though. The berries on our Sorbus trees (commonly known as the Rowan), flowering dogwoods (Cornus sp.) and holly (Ilex sp.) bushes are another highlight during October and beyond. Hopefully, they’ll also still be some fruits on our Decaisnea fargesii along Bluebell Bank. Its common names are the Blue Sausage Tree or Dead Man’s Fingers Tree, and once you see it you’ll understand why! The skin and the seeds are poisonous however so make sure you leave them on the tree where they belong.
It’s also worth seeking out some of the fantastic, unusual bark on display at the moment. Birch Grove at the bottom of Bluebell Bank has a variety of birch trees including Betula utilis and Betula nigra, both of which have stunning bark. My favourite birch tree however is probably Betula ermanii, a beautiful example of which can be found along the west side path of Middle Pond. On the other side of the lakes, Maple Walk has a number of Acer griseum trees and other Snake Bark Maples to enjoy too. And why not have a look at the peeling, multi-coloured bark of our giant Eucalyptus trees on the way down to the bottom of the valley too. Eucalyptus pauciflora (aka the Snow Gum Tree) can be found below the house just before you start to wind down Bluebell Bank path. Our conifer collection in the Pinetum also provides interest all year round but autumn is the time when the many different coloured and shaped cones start to catch the eye. Crikey, that’s a lot to try and see - make sure you leave yourself enough time!
And if we’re lucky and there are no major early frosts, some of the herbaceous displays around the house and the edges of the Rock Garden should have plenty of late colour and interest on offer too. Late flowering Salvia such as ‘Amistad’, ‘Black and Blue’ and Salvia involucrata ‘Bethellii’ (a personal favourite of mine) are great examples, joined by the likes of late Sedums and Dahlias, Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurellii’ (the Black Abyssinian Banana) and interesting seeds heads on the likes of Eryngium agarvifolium for instance.
This time of year is one of the busiest for the garden team here at Leonardslee.
One key area for our work in the garden during the months ahead focuses on keeping our lawns looking lush and lovely! Although the grass in the garden will continue to grow at a slower rate throughout autumn, it won’t yet be fully dormant. October is therefore a great time to start the autumn turf care regime and this can take many forms. Aerating a lawn is the process of improving compaction and drainage in the soil by making holes in the turf. This will also encourage root growth and improve oxygen content at root level. It can be done with a garden fork on small lawns or with a powered machine on larger areas. Scarifying a lawn involves scratching and scraping away at the surface to remove thatch (a build-up of dead grass and moss that can reduce light and moisture penetration). It can be done with a strong wire rake on small areas or again a powered scarifier machine for larger lawns. Another key autumn turf job includes applying a sandy top dressing to improve soil texture and encourage rooting. This is best done after aeration. Applying an autumn feed high in phosphates, to improve root development, is also a good idea at this time of year. October is also ideal for carrying out any re-seeding or re-turfing of worn areas of lawn while the temperatures are still not too cold and the chance of rain is high.
Another key job for October that we’ll be getting our green fingers stuck into is planting. Autumn is a great time for getting new plants in the ground. Not only is the soil still relatively warm, it will also be a little soft from the early seasonal rainfall. This makes it perfect for allowing new roots to establish and get bedded in before the dormant season hits. Planting in autumn also reduces the need for regular watering because hopefully nature will be doing that job for you. This year we’ll be planting a large number of trees and shrubs to increase our summer interest for 2024 and beyond. Several hundred Hydrangea in a huge range of shapes, sizes and colours will be planted in the valley around the lakes. As well as adding summer interest, these plants will also be well suited to a woodland garden such as ours and will also thrive in our acidic soil. We’ll also be adding a number of Summer-interest trees such as Eucryphia and Hoheria, some late flowering Rhododendrons like ‘Pink Polar Bear’, as well as over 30,000 new bulbs.
So as you can see, lots and lots to see and do in the garden here at the moment as the garden enters a new phase again. I would like to draw your attention to a couple of guided tours that will be happening during the month ahead.
We have autumn fungi walks taking place on October 11th and 26th as well as another of our regular tree walks on October 18th. These will be a great way to find out more about the garden here and the plants that grow here.
