OCTOBER heralds the start of autumn and the beginning of the big garden tidy up, getting plants and containers ready for winter. It’s also the best month to plant trees, shrubs and perennials as the soil still has some warmth which will help to get them established.
If it’s autumn colour you are after, conifers can provide fabulous splashes of orange, blue or purple at this time of year. They are cone-bearing seed plants and include cedars, cypresses, firs, junipers, larches, pines, spruces and yews. Whilst being practical and useful, conifers are also visually stunning and can transform a garden into something quite magnificent.
| The Hyssop herb. Photo: Adobe.
They are easy to look after and although they need good drainage and water to get them established, after that they need little attention as they are pretty disease resistant and maintenance free. With several hundred varieties of conifers available in the UK, there is one to suit every type of garden and they look just as good in a container on a patio or balcony as they do in a more spacious setting.
Dormant bare root roses are now available as well and can provide a cost-effective way of creating a mini rose garden for the coming year. Before planting, soak the roots in water, and then mix some good quality compost into the soil and make sure the plants are watered well once planted.
An added bonus of growing roses is that they produce amazing rosehips around this time of year – providing a food source for wildlife and some autumn interest in the garden. From the wild dog roses of the hedgerow to ornamental hybrid teas in the garden, hips contain rose seeds and their bright colours attract the birds to eat and distribute them.
Some roses develop far more colourful hips, in larger numbers, that last much longer than others such as R. rugosa, with its fragrant flowers that are followed by red hips looking like cherry tomatoes. Roses with exceptional hips are also found among the older, classic shrub roseslike R.‘Penelope’which is a long-flowering hybrid musk with richly scented creamy-pink flowers and uniquely coral pink hips, and R. ‘Scharlachglut’ that has huge numbers of pear-shaped red hips following scarlet flowers.Rosehips can also used as a herbal tea – they are a great source of vitamin C and can also have anti-inflammatory properties.
In addition to planning your autumn planting, top tips from the RHS for October jobs in the garden include:
Move tender plants into a greenhouse or indoors. Move or plant trees and shrubs. Cut back perennials that have died down. Divide herbaceous perennials such as hosta and iris. Divide established rhubarb crowns to create new plants. Plant out spring cabbages. Harvest apples, pears, grapes and nuts. Prune climbing roses. Finish collecting seeds from the garden to sow next year. Last chance to mow lawns and trim hedges in mild areas.
And finally …
“The end of the summer is not the end of the world. Here’s to October …” A Milne.
By Sara Milne.
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