Norfolk School of Gardening: Plant of the Week Abelia

The hour change seems to have crept up quickly this year, and with dusk already falling by six the early nightfall next week will be hard.

I console myself with the thought that the days will start getting longer again in fewer than two months!

There seems to be a general slowdown in the garden, with more flowers going over and the last tomatoes in the greenhouse taking forever to ripen.

Introduction to Garden Design Sam Outing teaching (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening)

We are resigned to making a lot of green tomato chutney this year, though in the meantime we will continue to ripen some fruit on the windowsill.

They won’t be sweet and flavoursome enough to eat raw, but they will cook well.

We have been continuing with our list of autumn jobs and having got the house plants inside a couple of weeks ago we have sorted the pelargoniums and succulents and stowed them in their winter quarters in the Victorian greenhouse.

It is not heated and it is very leaky, but they are in a dry corner and will be fine for the next few weeks.

When the temperature threatens to drop dramatically we will have our old fleece sheets, bubble wrap and polystyrene boxes ready to tuck them up against the frost.

The last two weeks have seen a packed Border Design course with lots of people keen to learn how to create their own beds and borders from scratch this winter.

It is a great two-day course which includes testing soil from your garden to ensure you get the right plants, a look at the key garden design principles and an overview of colour theory.

The course is taught by Norfolk designer, Sam Outing, and he gives the participants lots of tips and resources to help them create their plans as well as one to one input on their designs.

It is a very popular course, so if you would like to reserve a place for the next one in April do get in touch now.

Certificate in Practical Horticulture potting on (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening)

This week’s Certificate in Practical Horticulture covered the important skills of pricking out seedlings and potting on bigger plants, as well as which growing medium to use for which purpose.

We no longer buy compost so we showed the students how to mix their own using household compost, leaf mould, soil from mole hills and some sand.

This course starts again in January and is filling up – let us know if you want to join us.

These are some of the other courses in the next few weeks which have spaces available.

· Advanced Practical Gardening – 29th October

· Basic Bricklaying – 31st October

· Sustainable Cutting Garden – 5th November

· Renovation Pruning – 13th November

· Pruning Shrubs & Roses – 19th November

· Fruit Tree Care – 20th November

Abelia x grandiflora (Image: Norfolk School of Gardening)

Plant of the Week

Abelia × grandiflora is a beautiful, long-flowering, semi-evergreen shrub that brings elegance and structure to a mixed border.

A hybrid of Abelia chinensis and Abelia uniflora from China, it bears arching branches clothed in glossy, deep green leaves that often take on bronze or purplish tones in cooler weather.

From June onwards, it produces a profusion of dainty, fragrant, pink-flushed, trumpet-shaped flowers that attract bees and butterflies right through summer and into autumn.

It grows happily to around 3m but can be pruned after flowering to maintain shape and size.

Slightly tender, it benefits from a sheltered position, ideally against a warm wall—perfect for a cottage-style or informal garden.