The Photographic Gardening Diary: Autumn Colours

Acer palmatum  (Japanese maple) 

Autumn came  all of a sudden with a temperature drop down to nightly frost and grey wet skies during the day. In anticipation of this colourless period, we had planted autumn flowering crocusses some springs ago. From about 400 bulbs, not a single one came out..... The mice in that year thrived beautifully and grew fat and complacent ... since then, we have a neighbour's cat visiting. We hardly ever see this cat, but the number of mice scurrying about in the garden has dropped and we find cat's hair on the cushions of our outdoor furniture in the mornings where he has probably slept comfortably and well fed.  

  We therefore decided to try Colchicum speciosum, the "Herbstzeitlose", with a similar growth habit. Although the large floppy leaves in spring are rather unsightly, the airy pale pink  flowers give a nice picture under the cedar tree together with the abundant autumn Cyclamen hederifolium . Colchicum is toxic and the mice know it and stay away! 

Cyclamen grow very well here in the dry soil under the tree, both C. coum in spring and C. hederifolium in autumn.

The Hamamelis on the terrace shine in bright yellow now and plenty of swelling buds will open soon and brighten up the coming winter!  

Another classical autumn combination are Sedum spectabile "Herbstfreude" and Aster dumosa "Mittelmeer". Our sedums this year have not flopped over as they usually do when not staked, because Paul has given them the "Chelsea chop" - cutting off about a third of the tops at the time of the Chelsea flower show, which makes them branch out and produce shorter stems and broader flower heads. 

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides , this blue little ground cover plant, turns its leaves a blueish red to contrast the late strikingly blue flowers. I had detected this plant covering several square meters on Isola Balbianello on Lake Como a few years ago and decided to try it out at home. It hasn't covered its ground as well as on the lake, but is certainly worth a try and we will look after it and move it, until we have found a place where it can thrive. It goes very well in combination with Heuchera "Palace Purple". 

Another blue autumn colour is provided by the large flower heads of Aconitum carmichaelii "Arendsii" - Eisenhut or Monk's hood. 

From my study window I can see the Rambling Rector, which has now produced an abundance of red tiny hips.  On the other side of the house it is extending its long arms into Camellia Dr. Burnside, which has produced large thick buds promising a spectacular April. 

the very big and bright orange hips of Mme Gregoire Staechelin

Choisya ternata still shows some late flowers as does the little Erigeron karvinskianus on the steps next to it. 

This plant is something I am a little afraid of - I have planted many Anemone hupehensis so far, but they always leave me sooner or later. They seem to grow well in many gardens without much ado - but they definitely don't like me. If I plant them in spring, they don't even bother to show up in autumn - if I buy them in October and plant them big and in flower, they will surely disappear soon, never to return in spring.  "Königin Charlotte"  is the only one, which produces one or two tiny flowers each year .... 

.... but I am in good company: When visiting Blenheim Palace gardens last year in November in Oxfordshire, I found this sign in the garden:  

A few slug-eaten leaves and nothing else - she apparently had left them as well!