I am sure we have had a real taster of autumn this week, and feel more of this is to come. It is particularly a good time of year although there has been a nip in the air and drop in temperature to add to the dew and damp mornings. This is however great for autumn colour. Already out in the garden we are experiencing the change as the leaves begin to turn and fall in particular the Prunus sargentii at the top of the winter garden. This is helped by the cold evenings and warm sunny days, as this enhances the rich autumn colours we will be able to admire and enjoy. Bright autumn days help enhance this colour change.
Our volunteers have been busy helping us in the winter garden clear the boat bed, named because of the shape as the mature trees in the centre of the bed act as funnels to the boat. They were hard at it with saws and loppers removing saplings and poor woody shrubs which had performed badly due to the lack of light. Underneath is a carpet of ivy which is ideal ground cover. We hope to plant Narcissus bulbs through this in the spring, the ivy will enhance this and be a great foil so bulbs will be able to shine and nod there heads gracefully.
On the opposite bed we have been planting Tellima grandiflora, Trachystemon orientalis and Pachyragma macrophyllum to enhance the winter/spring display and have been very fortunate to have had the help from an American intern who has travelled all the way from Seattle to join us for two weeks to gain some work experience and expand on her plant knowledge in helping her to complete her course. Sherida was thrown straight in at the deep end and has been working hard around the different departments here at Harlow Carr.
Yet again we have been trying to complete as much of the pricking out of young seedlings for our mini meadows as possible. We seem to have oodles of trays of plug plants and have been busy moving them to cold frames to harden off and will be planting them all very shortly once the meadow is cut down, all in due course! You require many plugs to have impact and I feel sure they will go no where once we commence the mass planting, Watch this space! I look forward to seeing this as we have grown such a large variety all from seed and many we have collected from around the garden. Growing your plants from plugs is a great way to give them a head start and to ensure a successional period of flowering. This will look amazing next year; stay tuned to find out more in the development of our meadows!
Tom White Gardens West Team