In last week's sunny weather, and this week's chill, the garden teams have been busy tidying the place ready for the cold season to come.
The fine turf has been scarified, aerated and top dressed; the square columns of hornbeam have been carefully pruned back; oak leaves are raked up off the bark chipped paths on Battleston Hill so that you don't slip as you explore this area in all its autumn glory. We take the leaves away, compost them separately, and return them to the hill as leafmould on the beds. Perfect recycling!
We will keep the Mixed Borders open this winter, and at all times there is something to see in terms of texture and form, even if the colours become more muted at this time of year. Alistair and his colleagues have been keeping these fine borders looking great all season, and continue to do so.
Our autumn colour is evident in leaf, berry and flower, like with the orange fruit on this Malus transitoria in the Model Gardens. And in the background above you can see a young Liquidambar styraciflua on Weather Hill, adjacent to where the developments are well under way for the new Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden.