Still jobs to be done

BECAUSE OF the beautiful Indian summer, colour has continued well into this month, but we have finally emptied the last of the baskets and pots and planted them up with bulbs. In addition to the new tulips we have planted more cyclamen corms and fritillary bulbs.

Mirabiliswas a plant totally new to us this year and was a success. It flowered well for months and seemed to thrive in spite of lack of water, so we shall grow that again next year. Schizostylis seems to flourish and seed itself happily as does the Honeywort. We grow cerinthe purpurescens €“ a lovely purple-blue flower - but don’t grow it if you like neat and tidy borders because it is rampant and floppy and seeds itself everywhere!

Now the winter flowering shrubs make a good show. The lovely viburnum bodnantense produces large fragrant flowers on bare stems and flowers from November to February. Winter jasmine, hebes and other viburnums, mahonias and heathers make a good show. Also look for the Rhododendron pulcherimum at Wakehurst, situated just outside the walled garden, which amazingly flowers from October to April.

However it doesn’t have to be all about flowers for me! I also love shrubs with coloured stems or red berries and my silver birch €“ varietyjacquemontii €“ with its white bark which looks so ghostly in the winter.

We had a good crop of Victoria plums and apples this year but no damsons for the second year running. Now it’s time to protect next year’s crop of apples and pears from winter moth caterpillars by wrapping sticky bands around the trunks.

The clocks have been put back and the days are getting shorter and I feel it is time for my winter hibernation to begin. There are of course some jobs to be done: leaves still need to be raked up and the bags of leaves collected last autumn are now well rotted down and ready to spread around the garden. Holes keep appearing in the lawn overnight and have to be filled in. I’m not sure which animal is doing the digging but I wish it would stop. I use the word €˜lawn’, but €˜grass’ would be more apt. After years of wear and tear from football and then lack of rain throughout August and September the grass has lots of brown patches that needs attention. But now it’s time to draw the curtains, turn up the heating and get out the seed catalogues!

Maureen Reynolds