It’s November, and we are turning the lights on at 4pm and closing the curtains. But, this is the month I like to look at my garden, sitting in a comfy seat, swaddled in a fleecy outdoor throw and contemplate spring and summer's gardening highs and lows and plan for next year’s display, whilst revelling in the late autumn colour.
The warm, wet, spring bought on plants such as roses to a beautiful peak in June and set them up for a great second flush of flowers in early September. Being on Yorkshire clay, my herbaceous highlights were Astrantia, astilbes and alstroemeria, all thrived in the wet spring, and being resistant to slugs, forged great clumps that flowered for weeks. So more of those are going in this month to replace the gaps of the decimated clumps of Hosta and rudbeckia that are being lifted into pots to be nurtured back next spring, surrounded by crushed oyster shells and copper tape around the top of the pots.
November can be bright and crisp. So, the best gardening tricks to make the most of the joy of a garden space at this time, is to turn to foliage and stems to deliver the wow factor. Dogwoods and acers can deliver both leaf and stem colour to bonfire brightness this month. Cornus ‘midwinter fire’ has glowing orange stems smothered in fiery foliage and holds the leaves well into December. Acer Sangu Kaku delivers the same with beautiful, serrated leaves that fall to the ground and produce a delicate framework on the lawn in frosty weather.
In the border, autumn flowering crocus put on a brave show with delicate lilac flowers and bright orange stamens, to compliment in an unusual colouration I recommend Callicarpa bodinirei, or beautyberry. It has striking purple clusters of berries all along it’s stem and in November the foliage glows bright gold that highlight the berries to their best advantage. The purple colour also distracts the foraging birds and these are always taken when the red and yellow berries have been used. So this beauty holds it’s colour well into January. Under plant it with early spring blue anemone blanda and February gold narcissus and that patch of garden will give you a complete winter of colour.
Plant of the month
Cotinus coggygria ‘smoke bush’
Cotinus bushes are a great addition to the garden throughout the year, the deep purple stems are covered in bright red or golden emerging leaves in spring, then the myriad flowers cover the plant in June that gives the plant it’s common name of smoke bush. In November the plant has a last brilliant display of turning leaves in bright oranges and citrus tones. Varieties to look out for are ‘Grace’ ‘Royal purple’ ‘Candy floss’ and ‘Golden spirit’
All varieties get about 2m x 2.5m and are ideal at the back of the border under planted with Cyclamen coum for early spring interest.
Nunnington Hall nr Helmsley.
This National Trust Garden has been managed organically since 2002, by applying excellent growing conditions and traditional horticultural methods. Wandering around you will see such things as a four-bay composting system, a wormery, ornamental fruit cages that keep out unwanted ‘fruit pickers’ such as blackbirds, and an organic vegetable patch full of cabbage, leeks and other winter hardy vegetables.
As well as all this the Hall uses an unusual, but sustainable, mulching approach by using sheep fleece around the base of young fruit trees which acts as an organic mulch. It suppresses the weed growth and help the soil to retain moisture, but slowly releases nutrients directly to the tree roots as the fleece decays. At this time of year, birds, mice and bumblebees enjoy the opportunity of collecting luxurious bedding for their nests.
How do I get the most from a north facing courtyard garden?
North facing gardens are the most challenging due to the lack of direct sunlight that reduces flowering. So, my advice is to go green and embrace a jungle look. Ferns, hostas, fatsia japonica, dwarf pines and ophiopogon (black grass) all lend themselves to shade. However for some taller structural flowering plants, hydrangea paniculata grows well in large containers and the lime green or white flowers last for months, some ageing to a soft pink as the year progresses. Roses that tolerate shade are , ‘Champagne moments’ and ‘Blue for you’, in bush form. For climbing roses grow ‘Constance Spry’ and ‘Danse de Feu’. Both types can be grown in containers and trained up a trellis or on wires to provide height and colour around the walls. Finally with our increasingly wet winters always raise the containers off the floor through the winter to allow the containers to drain so your plants are not sitting in water through the winter.
With our changing climate patterns, do you have any suggestions of plants that can stand cold wet winters and warmer summers?
‘Resilience’ is going to be a watchword used a lot in future garden plans. Our climate has certainly tested our gardening skills this year and my suggested plant list for resilient plants includes Cut leafed Alder, Alnus glutinous ‘Imperialis’ as a tree that thrives in wet soil. It has lovely fine cut leaves like a Japanese Acer and goes butter yellow in the autumn before the leaves drop. For resilient shrubs I recommend, viburnums, and physocarpus. Both are deciduous and can cope with winter waterlogging but recover quickly and add colour through the spring and summer and exhibit wonderful autumn colour before the leaves fall. For flower colour, candelabra primulas, marsh marigolds and Siberian iris all flower well in soil that is waterlogged over the winter.
