Welcome

BEAUTIFUL SPACES Celebrating the faded elegance of autumn, p14; design tricks for creating a sense of space (above right), p22

Meet the
Contributors
“This month in the
garden I’ll be...”
When we think of an autumn garden, it’s
“Planting a small tree mostly in traditional hues – browns,
to replace a large
oranges and russet reds. But as lovely as
pittosporum that died
last winter.” Liz Potter those colours are, there can be so much
waxes lyrical on more to our plots as the days shorten
autumn’s beauty, p14
and the temperature drops.
“Potting up bedding
Starting on page 14 in this issue, Liz Potter
plants to grow in
cool, well-lit spots looks at the Decadent Dawdlers – those
indoors.” Sue Fisher summer plants that grow old gracefully - and
on Michaelmas daisies,
the Late-Season Lovelies, which always burst into life at this time of
p28
year. Combined, they make for a garden that is still a wonderful blend
“Sowing grass paths. It
will be nice underfoot of colour, even if they do not give off the fiery, hot hues of high
and great for the summer. At a time of the year when many folk are thinking of
environment.” Adrian putting their gardens to bed, it is great to realise that we can still
Thomas on creating
woodland areas, p44 enjoy one final hurrah before the frosts come with a vengeance!
“Harvesting the last Elsewhere, Greg Loades looks at ways in which we can
of the squashes and create the illusion of more space in our gardens (page 22).
getting them ready for While this is a fabulous thing to do in smaller ones, it’s
winter storage.” Geoff
Hodge’s guide to something that anyone can apply to their own outdoor space
wildlife cameras, p94 to great effect. We’ve got 11 simple techniques for you to
“Harvesting final consider, all of which will make it feel as if your garden is
tomatoes so I can much bigger – give one or two of them a try!
make green tomato
and chilli chutney!”
And of course we have all of our regulars – brilliant
Dan Masoliver on new garden tours, your list of vital jobs to do now, and our
perspectives, p144 must-have plant (this month it’s the aster, such an
“Picking pumpkins autumn stalwart). Another bumper issue – we hope
and squashes, and
PHOTOS: GAP PHOTOS

sowing overwintering you enjoy it.

broad beans.”
Gill Lockhart, designs
the magazine
GA Team

CONTACT US By post: Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Email: gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk
Web: www.gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk Social media: Find us on Facebook as Garden Answers Twitter @GardenAnswers Instagram as gardenanswers

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 Subscribe
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WIN
A VONHAUS
ADIRONDACK
WOODEN ARMCHAIR

11
109

14
AUTUMN’S
BLUSHING
A WOLF-GARTEN BEAUTIES
FOLDING SAW

October issue...
IN OUR

CELEBRATE
Star-like dahlia ‘Honka Red’
is a true garden dazzler
COVER: GAP PHOTOS/JONATHAN BUCKLEY
This season’s floral fireworks
6 STORY
Borders take on a new lease of life
as Michaelmas daisies add energy
and dahlias dazzle
Be inspired by…
8 Evergreens with a twist, graceful
grasses, books, events, buys to
harness the garden gold of fallen
28
Must have plants
Hardworking Michaelmas daisies
COVER
offer huge variety and spectacular
displays just when they’re needed
EASY GARDENING
32
What to do this month
Move trees and shrubs, make a leaf
bin, plant daffodil bulbs, show your

lawn some love, and much more

leaves, and so much more
On the cover
14 Autumn’s blushing beauties Autumn’s blushing beauties Make the most
14 40
22 Great ideas for creating space Faded elegance and unbeatable of golden
40 Plant for autumn glory COVER
STORY atmosphere, the garden can be a COVER
STORY firepower
44 Make a woodland haven treasure trove at this time of year Create a
50 Big on natural beauty
Design tricks for creating space spectacular
60 A steep slope is no obstacle 22
Simple but effective ideas that will seasonal glow
78 Grow salad in baskets COVER
94 The best wildlife cameras STORY help small gardens seem bigger and as the nights
make the most of your garden draw in

4 Garden Answers
 22
CLEVER 94
TRICKS FOR
CREATING BUYERS’ GUIDE:
WILDLIFE
104
SPACE
CAMERAS

READER
OFFER
SAVE £££s ON
PEONIES

90 READER
OFFER
DESIGN GET A GREAT
SOLUTIONS BARGAIN ON
ORIENTAL POPPIES

28 44 78
MUST HAVE WOODY GROW
PLANTS MARVELLOUS SALAD IN
IDEAS A BASKET

60
GARDEN
TOUR

WILDLIFE 70
Garden to visit GARDEN BUYS
Great Comp, in Kent, is a
COVER Buyers’ guide to wildlife cameras
44 Woody marvellous ideas STORY wonderfully heady mix of autumn 94
right now – a treat for all the senses Geoff Hodge has the lowdown on
Simple ways to create a woodland
COVER the best options for enjoying the
STORY area in your garden to benefit
hidden life going on in your garden
both you and local wildlife
GROW & EAT Save £££s on flamboyant peonies
104
BEAUTIFUL GARDENS 74
Life on the veg patch
Jenny Thompson is juggling
Get more than £20 off bare-roots
Half-price Oriental poppies
50
The natural way harvesting and sowing 106 Light up your borders this spring
This Cheshire garden is based on
Grow salad in a basket
COVER
organic, wildlife-friendly principles 78
STORY

and a true delight to experience

A step-by-step guide to enjoying YOUR GARDEN LIFE
homegrown salad in winter
“It’s such a sanctuary 101 Over to you
60 Readers share gardening stories
COVER
STORY
from the outside world”
A unique garden on a
ASK THE EXPERTS and fabulous photos
steep slope has Ask Garden Answers Puzzles and prizes
81 109
been filled with a All your garden questions answered Win a WOLF-Garten folding saw
COVER
tapestry of lush by our team of experts STORY and 60 tulip bulbs with our
planting by Design Solution crossword and wordsearch
gardener 90
Island beds, lawn paths and prairie Green view
Heather planting work together to add 114 Dan Masoliver finds true appreciation
Frances interest to a wildlife haven garden with a refreshed perspective

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 5
 T his season’s
FLORAL
FIREWORKS
Borders take on a new lease of life when
summer turns to autumn, with Michaelmas
daisies adding new energy, while dahlias,
inulas and persicaria carry on where
summer left off
PHOTOS: GAP PHOTOS/ELKE BORKOWSKI, SHUTTERSTOCK

PERFECT COMBOS Michaelmas

daises provide neat domes of
cool, fresh autumn blooms to
clothe border edges, while
catmint, verbena, persicaria,
rudbeckias and inulas show
their tremendous longevity, still
pumping out blooms

6 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

1 2 3
Give MIchaelmas Persicaria As autumn begins,
daisies plenty of amplexicaulis is stems of Verbena
space to grow a good choice for bonariensis sprawl
unobstructed and clay soil and starts through the border to
avoid growing them flowering in late summer. reach further than ever
on hot, exposed sites Divide regularly to and make new colour
to help reduce the control spread. combinations. H: 1.5m,
risk of mildew. H&S: 1.2m. S: 60cm.

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Be inspired by... Plants, books, events & buys for the month ahead

Cordyline
‘Pink Passion’

Skimmia japonica
‘Magic Marlot’

Cheilanthes
lanosa

Cyclamen
hederifolium

Euphorbia
myrsinites
Patio
project

EVERGREENS WITH A TWIST

A
n evergreen container can still be a colourful feature and
is very valuable in the autumn garden. Evergreen doesn’t
have to mean green if you grow the vibrant swords of
PHOTO: GAP PHOTOS

cordyline ‘Pink Passion’. Its mix of pink and purple will mix well
with purple plants hanging on in the border. An evergreen fern,
skimmia and euphorbia bring a textured understorey, while
reliable ivy offers the final flourish.

8 Garden Answers
 ❤CELEBRATE

Seasonal gold
GET THE LOOK STAR PERFORMERS

‘Labyrinth’

Celebrate the beauty and usefulness of

autumn leaves in the garden this month and
for the rest of autumn

Garden Life Lawn Rake

£29.99 Light and easy to use,
with stainless steel head,
marshallsgarden.com.
AWARDS FOR TOP
DAHLIAS TO GROW
The Royal Horticultural Society has
handed Award of Garden Merit (AGM)
status to 29 dahlias, after a trial of
more than 90 different cultivars
reached its conclusion at RHS
Garden Wisley.
Judges, including dahlia national
collection holders, flower farmers and
expert gardeners, looked at how long
Easy leaf collector
the plants flowered, bloom and foliage
£14.99 Lightweight woven
quality, vigour and overall disease
tarpaulin, coopersof
stortford.co.uk.
resistance. The AGM status is a sign
that the plant is a reliable one for
gardeners to grow in their gardens.
Among the AGM winners were:
‘Totally Tangerine’, an anemone-
Autumn leaf centred dahlia with gorgeous coral
clear umbrella flowers that was found to grow
£12.95 especially well in containers; pale
Domed-canopy apricot ‘Labyrinth’ with its large
umbrella for autumn informal flowers and complementary
rain, brollies dark stems and dark green
Hand leaf grabs
galore.co.uk. foliage; ‘Crème de
£7.99
Durable but lightweight, Cassis’, a strong
gardeningexpress.co.uk. grower with pretty,
two-tone lilac and
plum waterlily
flower; and ‘Zundert
Mystery Fox’, a ball ‘Totally
dahlia with “a wall” of Tangerine’
terracotta orange
flowers. All the dahlias were
Leaf mould overwintered in the ground, with a
bags mulch of Strulch to protect them in
£8.95 cold weather.
Set of two bags Lots of other dahlia cultivars met
made from
the trial judges’ stringent standards for
biodegradable
the Award of Garden Merit. For more
leaf jute,
information, visit rhs.org.uk/trials and
sarahraven.com.
the ‘Trials Bookcase’ where you’ll find
a report that lists the full results.”
Japanese
maple ‘Zundert
heatchange Mystery
PHOTOS: RHS / NICOLA STOCKEN

mug Fox’
£14.99
Enjoy a
Long-handled leaf gardener’s
collectors tea break with
£29.95 this colour-
Scissor-action grabbers changing mug,
to save back strain, culturevulture
sarahraven.com. direct.co.uk.

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 inspired

Wish list
B e These graceful grasses

b y ..
give the garden an extra
autumn flourish

.
Panicum virgatum
‘Shenandoah’
An upright grass
with dainty
maroon flowers
from summer,
accompanied by
rich burgundy
streaks on
the foliage
in autumn.
✿ H&S: 90cm,
£6.74, Crocus,
crocus.co.uk.

Miscanthus
sinensis ‘Flamingo’
A graceful grass
that hangs down
handsomely under the
weight of its tassel-like Pennisetum ‘Red Head’
flowers in autumn. Beautiful fountains of bottlebrush flowers
✿ H: 2m, S: 1m, £12.55, go from red to purple-brown by autumn.
Knoll Gardens, Needs a sunny, sharply-drained spot.
knollgardens.co.uk. ✿ H: 1m, S: 60cm, £14,
Hayloft, hayloft.co.uk.

Acorus ‘Ogon’ Anemanthele lessoniana Carex ‘Everillo’

A superb evergreen plant
for damp soil and shade,
Molinia arundinacea ‘Windspiel’ with glowing, glossy
Clouds of wispy, straw-coloured beads strands that shine brightly
add some frothy autumnal atmosphere in all seasons.
while letting the light filter through it. ✿ H: 30cm, S: 40cm,
✿ H: 2.5m, S: 1m, £4.99, £11.99, Knoll Gardens,
J Parkers, jparkers.co.uk. knollgardens.co.uk.
Fountains of colour light
up the garden as the
temperature drops and this
semi-evergreen shows off
slender foliage in burnt
orange and rusty red.
✿ H & S: 1m, £5.99,
Crocus, crocus.co.uk.
Sharp colour through
autumn is guaranteed
with this easy evergreen
that starts lime-green
before ageing to
beautiful golden yellow.
✿ H & S: 45cm, £12.99,
Hillier, hillier.co.uk.

10 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

What’s on...
FREE FOR YOU

GARDEN SHOW APPLE ID DAY

Friday to Sunday,
September 29-October 1,
Broadlands, Romsey,
Hampshire SO51 8GG
Celebrate autumn with
specialist growers, arts,
crafts, food and talks, £10.
● thegardenshows.com/
broadlands
HERITAGE
ORCHARD DAYS
October 1, 14 and 15,
10am-12noon or 1-3pm,
Brogdale National Fruit
WIN A VONHAUS ADIRONDACK Collection, Brogdale Road,
Faversham, Kent ME13 8XZ
WOODEN ARMCHAIR! PYO from heritage apples
and pears, juice pressing
This month we have a classic VonHaus Adirondack wooden and ciders, £10.
armchair worth £149.99 up for grabs. ● brogdalecollections.co.uk
ITS FEATURES INCLUDE: WREATH WORKSHOP
● This classic wood armed chair offers enduring style and elegance Saturday, October 7,
10am-1pm, Willow &
and will make a timeless addition to your garden, patio or deck.
Thyme, Gore Lodge,
● Made from durable acacia hardwood, this natural wooden chair
Padbury, Bucks MK18 2AW
will blend beautifully into your outdoor surroundings and provide
Use the season’s bounty to
the perfect place to relax and enjoy your garden. create a wreath, £75.
● Its rustic charm and natural wood finish make it a welcome ● willowandthyme.co.uk
addition to any garden, patio, terrace or balcony – plus, its neutral
design means it’ll seamlessly integrate with many existing APPLE FESTIVAL
furniture collections. Saturday-Sunday, October
● The traditional slatted style of this beautiful chair is 7-8, 10am-4pm, Woodside
enhanced by the oiled finish, which creates Plant Centre, Ancrum,
a gentle shine. Simply apply teak oil Jedburgh, Scottish Borders
occasionally to maintain. TD8 6TU
Apple displays and sales,
For your chance to win, visit juicing and apple-related
gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk/freeforyou food and drink. Free entry
by midnight on October 10, 2023. ● bordersorganic
(Delivery to mainland UK only). gardeners.org
Sunday, October 8,
10.30am-4pm, Acorn Bank,
Temple Sowerby, Penrith,
Cumbria CA10 1SP
Bring three fruits, leaves
and information about
your tree for apple experts
from the North West to
identify. Garden entry £9,
apple ID free.
● nationaltrust.org.uk/
acornbank
APPLE EVENTS
The Newt in Somerset,
Bruton, Somerset BA7 7NG
Guided dawn walk in the
orchards with breakfast
(Thursday, October 12,
7.15am, and October 26,
7.40am), £45.
Home Ground cyder
making workshop
(Wednesday, October 11
and 18, 10am–2pm), £125.
Apple Day weekend
(October 21-22, 9am-
4.30pm), juice pressing,
games, displays, cyder
tastings and tractor tours.
● thenewtinsomerset.com
AUTUMN FAIR
Sunday, October 15,
10am-4.30pm;
Hergest Croft Gardens,
Ridgebourne Road,
Kington, Herefordshire
HR5 3EG
Garden and specialist
nurseries plant sale, £8.
● hergest.co.uk

Quick Gone to seed FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK,

quiz Textural seed heads are another autumn highlight.

Can you identify the following?
TWITTER & INSTAGRAM
@gardenanswers

A Perennial with huge, B Colourful flowers C Drought-tolerant D Nectar-rich mauve E Tender perennial F Large deciduous
yellow, bowl-shaped May–July, for damp climber for a sunny pincushion flowers with big leaves, fiery tree whose big
flowers in early spring but sunny spots, spot smothered in June–October thrive flowers and spiky yellow midsummer
and striking red and form green pods yellow flowers in poor soils and sun. green seed pods flowers give rise to
black seed heads in that dry to brown June–October that Papery seeds with maturing to brown its common name
autumn – and a then split to reveal develop silky seed a starry centre turn as the mahogany, and mature into
tongue-twisting name. black shiny seeds. heads in winter. black as they ripen. shiny seeds ripen. intricate seed pods.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 11
 nspired
ei
B ❤
b y ..
.
CHANCE TO GROW
AN HISTORIC APPLE
Ten saplings
propagated from
the apple tree that
inspired Sir Isaac
Newton’s theory
of gravity are being
auctioned for charity.
The online auction,
organised by The
National Trust and Blue Diamond
Garden Centres, will raise money for the
future care of Woolthorpe Manor in
Lincolnshire, Sir Isaac’s birthplace and
the location of the tree where he
famously saw an apple fall. The country
cottage where Sir Isaac was born is now
cared for by the National Trust and is
visited by thousands of people each
year who want to see the spot where his
great scientific discovery was made.
The 10 highest bidders will be
presented with their sapling at
Woolsthorpe Manor on October 21.
The auction is live until 8pm on
September 29. Visit bluediamond.gg/
newtons-apple-tree for details.
30-minute
makes
Attractive houseplant pots really
give your indoor plant displays a lift
and there’s nothing like a bespoke
pot that can’t be bought in any
shop! Because they’re decorated
using nail polish, you can make a
pot to suit any colour scheme.
1 Put on rubber gloves, then fill a
watertight plastic container with
lukewarm water and pour in a good
glug of nail polish. Start with the
lightest colour first if you are mixing
more than one colour.
2 Add your final colour (no more
than three is best), then stir the
mix by holding a toothpick and
swirling it around in the water
3 Dip your pot into the water so
that the side of the pot is in
contact with the water surface then
gently turn your pot until the nail
12 Garden Answers
❤ CELEBRATE
UNDER THREAT
TWISTED QUINCE IS THREATENED
PLANT OF THE YEAR!
A rare ornamental quince with twisted commercial potential as an ornamental
stems has been crowned Plant garden plant and also be well suited to
Heritage’s Threatened Plant of the Year floristry. It is a very worthy and relevant
2023. Plant Heritage knows of only five champion and would make an excellent
of these plants existing in the UK. The addition to any garden.”
winning plant – one of only two cultivars David, who has been growing the plant in
of chaenomeles to have twisted stems his sloping, north-facing garden since 2020
– is owned by Chaenomeles National said: “‘Contorta’ provides an important
Collection Holder David Ford, who looks source of nectar for early bumblebees, which
after the plant in his private suburban no longer fully hibernate due to climate
garden in Surrey. change. It is now more important than ever
The plant originated from Japan in 1929 but to conserve the cultivated plants that we
despite being grown in the UK for some time, have, as it is so hard to predict which ones
‘Contorta’ has faded in popularity, although will be horticulturally and/or ecologically
Gill Groombridge of Plant Heritage says the important in the future. I will happily
plant has many merits. “With its attractive continue to play my part with my National
flowers and contorted branches it could have Plant Collection.”
Book of the month
Chatsworth by Alan Titchmarsh
Ebury, £35
If you visited the
grand gardens at
Chatsworth House in
Derbyshire this
summer, this
sumptuous coffee
table book will be an
inspiring reminder, as
one of the nation’s
best-loved garden broadcasters and
authors takes you on an entertaining
tour through the gardens, with lots
of dramatic photographs of the
polish has attached itself to all garden along the way.
sides of the pot.
4
Stand the pot on kitchen paper
so the nail polish can dry. Once QUIZ ANSWERS
touch dry, coat the outside of the
pot with a couple of coats of clear
enamel paint or clear acrylic
A Paeonia
mlokosewitschii
D Scabiosa
columbaria
B Iris sibirica E Canna indica
sealer to seal in the pattern.
C Clematis F Liriodendron
tangutica tulipifera
 AUTUMN’S

Blushing
BEAUTIES

The autumnal
garden has a faded
elegance that’s
unbeatable for
atmosphere. Liz
Potter reveals the
Decadent Dawdlers
and Late-season
Lovelies for a rosy
romantic glow

A beautifully colourful
late summer/early
autumn border
bursting with dahlia
‘Preference’, cosmos
and Rudbeckia hirta

14 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

A red chair complements

the pots of chysanthemums,
pelargoniums and dahlias
on this colourful terrace

A
s September tips into October, a soil improver and they’ll reward you with
cool breeze rifles through my dozens of fragrant blowsy blooms. Go
small country garden. for a fragrant shrub rose such as
Towering stems of soft-apricot ‘The Lark
bronze fennel brace themselves Ascending’ (H&S: 1.5m) or
against it, scattering seed far pale-pink climber ‘The
and wide, while shivering Generous Gardener’
cornus foliage starts to (H: 4.5m). These subtle hues
blush pink. Tufts of set the tone for any gentle,
sun-bleached stipa bob romantic scheme, their
and dip as Japanese semi- and double flowers
anemones unfurl dazzling attracting bees. New
hot pink flowers like flags. Autumn this year is ‘Dannahue’
has arrived. (H: 1.1m, S: 1.25m),
These subtle changes, brought on by a
dip in temperature and shortening days, are but a
drum-roll for the main seasonal finale: the vibrant
transformation of deciduous plants as their
chlorophyll ebbs away. Statuesque stunners such
as Acer palmatum, Rhus typhina, Cercis
canadensis and Liquidambar styraciflua steal
the show in a mantle of orange, gold, pink and red.
But theirs is not the only story here: there are lots of
charming little subplots to savour at this time of
year. Certain summer-flowering plants are still
PHOTO: ALAMY, GAP PHOTOS, SHUTTERSTOCK

producing buds and blooms – a picture of faded

elegance draped with sparkling dew-laden
cobwebs. Many of these Decadent Dawdlers will
have already enjoyed their moment in the sun and
are now returning for an autumn encore; others
simply keep flowering non-stop.

Repeat-flowering roses
These can bloom non-stop from June, provided you
keep the secateurs to hand and deadhead regularly. New rose ‘Dannahue’ and (above) pink
Feed them, water them then mulch with organic English rose, ‘The Generous Gardener’ ➤

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❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Morning frost on geranium ‘Gerwat’ (above) and autumnal foliage on smoke tree (right)

which is the colour of cinnamon dust, with a
lemon-lychee fragrance and cup-shaped
double blooms. After its final flush of flowers,
leave the hips for the blackbirds and thrushes,
until pruning in January or February.
Hardy geraniums
Another autumn stalwart, blooming from
May to the frosts. ‘Rozanne’ (H&S: 60cm) is a
popular choice – a wallichianum type prized
for its late flowers, sprawling habit and
tendency to clamber up its neighbours; ‘Bloom
Time’ is a pretty pink version. There are lots of
other species and cultivars, but many run out
of steam in late summer: sterile hybrids such
as magenta ‘Patricia’ offer best longevity.
Special salvias
Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ (H&S: 60cm)
will also flower for ages, its purple flower
spikes lasting from June until October. This
SEASONAL STALWARTS
GERANIUM GERANIUM
‘ROZANNE’ ‘PATRICIA’
A vigorous Low-growing
spreading perennial mounds of dark
to 60cm tall, with green leaves
saucer-shaped topped with
violet-blue flowers. magenta flowers.
much-loved variety responds well to the
‘Hampton Hack’ – cut it back after flowering
in June/July for a second flush in autumn.
Half-hardy salvia ‘Amistad’ (H: 1.2m,
S: 50cm) is another good doer. Deadhead its
brooding purple flowers, stems and bracts
for repeat flowers but leave plants intact
over winter to protect the roots and crown
from frost. Tender salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ will
also last into November but watch for
freezing night-time temperatures: in mild
gardens on light soil mulch in situ with a
No autumn border is
complete without a
colour-coordinated dahlia
deep layer of garden compost; in colder
gardens on heavier soil, protect with fleece
and/or lift them and place them into pots of
multipurpose compost. Keep in a cool, well-lit
room indoors or in a frost-free greenhouse.
SALVIA
‘INDIGO SPIRES’
Super-easy hylotelephiums
A vigorous variety Blushing hylotelephiums (formerly sedum)
bearing intense, are easy by comparison. They turn a fiery-red
indigo-coloured in autumn, then fade to rust in winter. Largely
blooms with even pest and problem-free, pink-flowered
darker calyces. ‘Herbstfreude’ (H: 60cm) is the one to go for,
H: 75cm. benefiting from a Chelsea Chop to keep the
stems from flopping outwards by late
summer. They’ll shrug off a wet, cold winter.
SALVIA ‘AMISTAD’
Bushy, upright Delightful dahlias
perennial plant to No autumn border is complete without a
1.2m with profuse, colour-coordinated dahlia or two, which start
large, deep purple, flowering in August and keep going until the
tubular flowers first frosts. Eye-catching Honka types, in
with black calyces. neon, black and citrus shades, offer a
star-shaped contrast to pristine pompon

16 Garden Answers
 Double herbaceous borders
with a grass path. Packed
with achillea, kniphofia,
Verbena bonariensis,
Lysimachia cilata
‘Firecracker’, hemerocallis,
crocosmia, stipa and Salvia
nemorosa ‘Caradonna’

Dahlia ‘Bishop of
Oxford’ with
mealy sage

Pretty hylotelephium
‘Karfunkelstein’ is
easy to grow

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 17
❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Lift dahlias’ plump tubers

after the first frost, and label
them for winter in the shed

Clockwise types, the latter resembling colourful golf balls

from top: Red on sticks. For luxurious, silky flowers in
and yellow cream-flushed pink, you can’t beat dinner-
leaves of Acer plate dahlia ‘Café au Lait’ (H: 1.5m) and its
palmatum sisters, ‘Café au Lait Royal’, ‘Café au Lait
glow beside Twist’ and ‘Café au Lait Rose’ – collectively
dahlias in sold as the Barista Collection. Stake these
October; whoppers to avoid flopping heads. The
Aster popular Bishop series (H& S: 1m) has
novi-belgii
purple-bronze foliage and fiery single flowers.
‘Fellowship’
Lift their plump tubers after the first frost,
with dahlia
and label them for winter in the shed.
‘Café au Lait’;
star-shaped
dahlia ‘Honka’
Penstemons & rudbeckias
Though technically tender, perennial
penstemons can also be left in the ground.
Hardier varieties such as striking wine-red
‘Andenken an Friedrich Hahn’ (H: 90cm,
S: 30cm) can survive severe winters in a

18 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Aster frikartii ‘Mönch’,

Rudbeckia fulgida
‘Goldsturm’ and Echinacea
purpurea ‘Magnus’

Red dahlia blooming

among helianthus
‘Lemon Queen’

sunny, sheltered location and well-drained
soil. Removing the faded stems encourages
the tubular flowers to keep coming.
Even in November rain, the yellow flowers
of rudbeckias dazzle in drifts and blocks,
accompanied by swooshy grasses.
They tend to flower from July into autumn,
creating little clumps of sunshine that evoke
the vast American prairies. Rudbeckia
fulgida sullivanti ‘Goldsturm’ (H: 60cm,
S: 45cm) is a ruggedly handsome option, while
taller R. laciniata ‘Herbstsonne’ (H: 2m,
S: 90cm) has striking green nose cones that
eventually fade to brown. Rudbeckia hirta
cultivars are short-lived perennials usually
grown as half-hardy annuals from seed
– ‘Cherry Brandy’ and ‘Cherokee Sunset’ are
exciting to grow from seed for planting out
after the May frosts, and really excellent value
for money.
Towering tall
For extra height, add in perennial sunflowers
such as helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ (H: 2.4m),
with its pale yellow flowers humming with
bees and butterflies, and Verbena
bonariensis (H: 1.5m), which fits in
everywhere and flowers forever. The rotund
orange-yellow rockets of Kniphofia rooperi
(H: 1.2m) are useful too: flowering from
August into autumn, preferring sun and a
humus-rich sandy soil.
Don’t forget that late-flowering, half-hardy
annuals, such as cosmos, cleome and
antirrhinum, offer a panoply of exciting
autumn flowers too, in a palette of sorbet
shades – apricot, salmon, iced tea, rose pink,
even minty green. These muted hues have a
delicate vintage look that’s perfect for the
romantic ‘faded elegance’ theme. Sow in
March in pots or trays of fresh seed compost
under cover, harden them off before planting
out next spring, and keep deadheading the
mature plants to prolong the display.
Waning summer flowers that grow old
gracefully are all very well, but how about
adding in a few fresh-faced ‘Late-season
Lovelies’? Fashionably late to the party are
slender Japanese anemones. These leafy
performers never disappoint, producing
delicate silky flowers that float on long wiry
MIXING FIERY HUES WITH MUTED TONES
RUDBECKIA SYMPHYOTRICHUM
‘CHEROKEE ‘LITTLE CARLOW’
SUNSET’ Masses of pale
Large, double and purple flowers with
semi-double a yellow centre.
daisy-like flowers. Ideal mid-border.
H: 60cm. H: 90cm.
stems from early autumn. Anemone
hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ (H& S: 1.2m) is
a chic-looking, white-flowered perennial
that’s inclined to travel in clay soil, while
‘September Charm’ (H: 90cm) is soft pink
and A. hupehensis japonica ‘Pamina’
(H: 90cm) a foxy double in lipstick-pink.
New England asters (Symphyotrichum
novae-angliae) offer an outstanding autumn
show that’s buzzing with pollinators,
mildew-resistant and blooms for weeks. Pinch
back the stems before midsummer for bushier,
more floriferous plants. Upright and feisty,
‘Andenken an Alma Pötschke’ (H: 90cm)
bears masses of cerise daisies with yellow
KNIPHOFIA
ROOPERI
Distinctive,
egg-shaped, bright
red flowers fading
to yellow over
broad, high foliage.
H: 1.2m.
ANEMONE
HYBRIDA
‘ELEGANS’
Tall, clump-forming
perennial (H: 1.2m)
with single purple-
pink flowers.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 19
❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Clockwise from far

left: pink
chrysanthemum
and heather flower
in a garden basket;
Cortaderia
selloana ‘Pumila’
seen through
autumn foliage of
Metasequoia
glyptostroboides;
seedheads of
love-in-a-mist
(nigella); silver
translucent seed
pods of honesty
(Lunaria annua)

centres; ‘Harrington’s Pink’ (H: 1.2m) is a softer

hue. Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’ is
another good garden choice (H: 90cm) bearing
little blue daisies with yellow centres.
Nerines and amarines also arrive in
September. A bulbous perennial, Nerine
bowdenii (H: 45cm) hails from South Africa
and prefers a dry, sunny spot, with cultivars in
white, pale pink and hot pink. Amarines are a
more recent introduction – a cross between
nerines and showy amaryllis – with bigger
blooms and more uniform flowering. Cultivars
in the BellaDiva series will hit the sweet spot,
all with dramatic, starry, swept-back petals.
Enjoying a comeback, chrysanthemums are
worth considering for classic autumn colour.
‘Allouise Salmon’ (H: 1.5m) is a soft coral,
flowering September into October. It’s frost
tender, so move indoors for winter. Hardier
options are orange ‘Paul Boissier’ (H: 1m), and
peach-apricot ‘Herbstbrokat’ (H: 90cm); both
need a warm, sheltered, sunny spot. In early
summer, pinch out the growing tips to make a
bushier plant. Lift and store tender
chrysanths in a frost-free place over winter, or
in milder gardens in well-drained soil, cover
with a compost mulch and cloche.
FLOWER POWERHOUSES
AMARINE PENSTEMON
BELLADIVA SERIES ‘ANDENKEN AN
A cross between FRIEDRICH HAHN’
nerine and Elegant spikes of
amaryllis with slim, small, tubular,
lily-like flowers. foxglove-like
H: 75cm. flowers. H: 90cm.
Supporting stars
Seedheads can play an attractive supporting
role in setting off all these autumn blooms,
mingling and punctuating borders with their
dramatic shapes. Think annual nigella,
honesty and oriental poppies; perennial
phlomis, echinacea and crocosmia; thistly
cirsium, eryngium and teasels.
Russian sage, salvia ‘Blue Spire’ (H: 1.2m,
S: 1m), goes with roses and blue autumn
flowers in silver-blue planting schemes – its
ghostly stems denuded of their blue flowers.
Cynara cardunculus (H: 1.5m, S: 1.2m) is
another head-turner, flowering from June to
September, then producing spiky seedheads
on stems of steel, like medieval maces.
ANTIRRHINUM Grasses too will lend atmosphere – the
‘CHANTILLY
ponderous, arching stems of golden oats, Stipa
BRONZE’
gigantea (H: 2.5m, S: 1.2m) and fluffy heads of
Usually grown as an
pampas grass Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’
annual (H: 90cm),
scented, open-
(H: 1.5m, S: 1.2m) are too good to miss.
faced, pink-orange
flowers.
Stretching the season
To maximise your autumn flower-power, be
sure to keep deadheading with the secateurs.
CHRYSANTHEMUM You can also keep feeding with a potassium-
‘HERBSTBROKAT’ rich feed. Keep plants watered in a dry spell
Compact plants – drying autumn winds can make plants
with sprays of small transpire faster than usual. And, keep an eye
brownish-red on the weather forecast for that first frost:
flowers until late armed with some sheets of fleece you can
autumn. H: 90cm). keep even the tender stunners going for a good
few weeks to come. ✿

20 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

SMALL
GARDEN
SERIES

Design tricks for

creating space
These simple but effective Curved lines
design techniques will help make a garden
appear larger
make small gardens seem
bigger than they are, and
make attractive use of all
the available space
Go curvy!
Sinuous lines, whether from paths, lawns, border
edges or blocks of plants, give the impression of
the space being bigger than it is and add a nice
flow to the garden.
Even in the tiniest of spaces, try arranging pots
in a curved line with some trailing plants tumbling
over the edges to maximise the space and add a
stylish flow to the area.

Hiding parts of the

garden encourages
WORDS: GREG LOADES. PHOTOS: ALAMY, GAP PHOTOS, SHUTTERSTOCK

visitors to explore
and creates a sense A curved hedge
of seclusion helps to break
up the space

Hide what lies beyond

If the whole of the garden can be seen from start to finish
when you look at it, with nothing concealed, it lacks a layer
of intrigue and mystique and will feel small. Break up the
space by hiding parts of it so that a visitor to the garden has
to explore to see all the elements of it. It could be done by
something as simple as placing a large evergreen shrub in a
container in the middle of the space, if you’ve just got a
balcony or patio, or by planting a short hedge or even a
little row of raspberry canes across the garden. If you can,
leave a gap so that there is a glimpse of what comes next,
maybe try leaving a space in the hedge then another layer
of mystery is added!

22 Garden Answers
Create garden zones
Splitting the garden into different
zones will get you in the mindset
of getting the absolute most
from your space as well as
preventing the place from
looking muddled. Decide on
what your priorities are and then
work out where you squeeze
them into the space. If you’re not
sure where to start, look at
where the sun hits the different
parts of the garden. This will
determine where you want to sit
and enjoy the garden, and it will
affect the type of plants that you
grow too. Deep shade is ideal for
a mini woodland garden, and hot
sun is the place to show off
succulents or plant up a
miniature gravel garden.

Dividing the garden

into different areas
ensures it feels well
thought out
➤

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 23
SMALL GARDEN Series

Head for heights

Using height to full advantage is a
game-changer in a small space
because when it comes to growing
up, you have as much space
available as any garden on earth!
As well as planting, hanging lights
across the width of the garden from
wall to wall or fence to fence or
along the tops of your garden
boundaries, will lead the eye
upwards and create a special
atmosphere that is hard to replicate
in bigger spaces. For planting, an
arch placed to cover a path can be
used to help frame a focal point
(maybe a sundial or sculpture) at the
end of it, or to break up the space.

Less lawn
means more
plants!

Reduce and shape your lawn

If your lawn is an accidentally irregular shape or a
very formal, straight-edged affair in an informal
garden, adding a swirling flourish to the edges will do
wonders for its overall look. It’s also an opportunity
to lose a little bit of the lawn, to allow a few more
plants and a bit less mowing! A circular lawn can be
an easy, evergreen focal point for the garden and
with dense planting around the edges it gives the
impression of having a theatre of plants. A circular
lawn will also link well with other round features such
as circular bistro tables and the globular heads of
alliums, santolina or mophead hydrangeas.

A curvy or circular
lawn complements
other round features

24 Garden Answers
 ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Make a secluded
seating area
There is surely nothing better
that can be done to enlarge the
feel of a small garden than to tuck
away a seating area in a hidden
corner. It could be a cosy bench
for two fitted into a recess in a
hedge or an egg chair in a shady
corner, camouflaged by
surrounding shrubbery.

Don’t be scared of big plants Exotic tree ferns

A small garden doesn’t have to mean small plants! In fact, are a great choice
one of the real advantages of a small space is that certain with their large
shrubs, trees or climbers become much more dramatic leaves, and left,
features when room is restricted. a potted
Just one or two plants with very big leaves, such as Fatsia Japanese maple
japonica, Tetrapanax papyrifera (hardy to -5C), or hosta
‘Sum and Substance’ will create a jungly feel in the garden
without the need for buying a lot of expensive exotic plants.
A single, large, potted Japanese maple may not be cheap
but will make a gorgeous feature for a small space.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 25
SMALL GARDEN Series

Co-ordinate your colours

You could also make the most of the height in
your garden by painting walls or fences bordering
the garden in a colour that blends with the colour
scheme of the garden. Also choose colours that
complement your planting for the outsides of
containers, decking or raised beds. Boundaries
can easily go unnoticed but hard-wearing,
coloured woodstain or masonry paint will bring
them to life.

Raise the levels

This can be easier said than done but even a
couple of beds mounded up to create mini
‘banks’ or borders topped up so the planting is
further above the ground will add more depth to
the garden and also allow plants to be shown off
better, without getting ‘lost’ at ground level.

A vibrant
contrasting
colour makes
greenery pop

Extend your shelf life Make room

Adding shelves of planting to the boundaries of the for a mirror
garden allows for more plants to be squeezed into a Place a mirror against a
tiny garden and allows for some ‘houseplant style’ wall, close to a seating area
displays. Purpose-made shelves that can be and the place will feel
screwed to the wall are readily available, or simple significantly more spacious
shelves held to a wall with metal brackets will do the as you relax with your
job. Repeat some of morning drink.
There’s no limits the planting from Place the mirror so that it
with vertical lower down, perhaps reflects as dense an area of
planting by planting trailing planting as possible and this
ivies or vincas high up will create a feeling of being
and then also using enveloped by plants and
them as ground surrounding greenery.
cover elsewhere, to Choose a mirror with a
blend the feature into patterned design on the
the rest of the front to reduce the risk of
garden. Free- birds flying into it, and don’t
standing plant place it too high up.
shelves will also allow Also, make sure to avoid
you to grow a lot of full sun when placing your
plants in a small mirror so that it doesn’t
space. become a fire hazard! ✿

26 Garden Answers
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 MUST
HAVE
plants
Spectacular
Michaelmas daisies
These hardy perennials offer huge variety and an
enchanting display, just when it’s needed
A
utumn sees tired summer borders
galvanised with a wonderfully
fresh injection of vibrant colour
from the garden’s last big hurrah of
the year, when brilliant blooms join forces
with turning foliage and jewel-like fruits, all
enhanced by the gorgeous clarity of the
autumn light. Michaelmas daisies are among
the most spectacular of the season’s
performers, renowned for their vivid colours
as well as softer shades. Thriving in good soil
WORDS: SUE FISHER. PHOTOS: ALAMY, GAP PHOTOS, SHUTTERSTOCK
and sun, these easy, hardy, and long-lived
herbaceous perennials offer exceptional
variety with hundreds of
cultivated varieties and some
enchanting species.
Pre-2015, all Michaelmas
daisies belonged to the genus
aster, but scientific study revealed
some great differences and resulted
in major name changes. So, while
Eurasian species remain classified
as asters, North American species
now have their own genera,
symphyotrichum, which
encompasses New England asters (S.
nova-angliae), New York asters (S.
nova-belgii), and small-flowered
28 Garden Answers
Bringing an
abundance
of late flowers
to the garden,
Michalemas
daisies blend
superbly with
fiery autumn
tree foliage
species from the same continent, including S.
ericoides and S. laterifolium. Several other
species now belong to the genera eurybia,
galatella and oreostemma. Knowing which
plants belong where does help choose the right
ones for a particular site or style, but don’t
stress overmuch at the names: expert Helen
Picton confirms it’s safe to collectively refer to
them as Michaelmas daisies.
With sizes ranging from knee-high mounds
to 2m giants, and flowers in sizes and shapes
from dainty little singles to big chunky
doubles, these daisies match a wealth of
different planting sites and styles.
Colours range from vivid purples and
glowing pinks to mauves, softer pastel
shades, and whites. While peak flowering
time is September and October, with such a
huge genus it’s unsurprising that some buck
the trend and flower at other times, with a
few blooming from as early as June and
others as late as November.
Looks aside, these plants are Hibernating insects love to shelter in the dry
magnificent biodiversity-boosters, too. stems and crinkled leaves, in turn drawing
The blooms are ideal for butterflies, bees foraging birds in search of winter food. For us
and other pollinators, but Michaelmas there is the ephemeral beauty of the dead
daisies just keep on giving for wildlife if standing stems, strung with misty webs in
not swept away in an autumn tidy-up. autumn or silvered with winter frost.
 ❤ CELEBRATE
❤

Did you
know?
Michaelmas is a Christian
festival named for Saint
Michael that falls at the
end of September, and is
also one of four ‘quarter
days’, observed since the
Middle Ages.

These plants are

magnificent
biodiversity-boosters

Right, striking lavender-

coloured Aster amellus
(European Michaelmas daisy);
above, Aster novae-angliae
with helianthus ‘Monarch’

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 29
MUST HAVE plants ❤
❤ CELEBRATE

Expert notes
Old Court Nurseries was
started in 1906 by
Michaelmas daisy breeder
Ernest Ballard and bought
by the Picton family in
1952. The nursery stock
beds were developed into
the now-famous Picton
Garden, housing the
National Collection that
stands at more than 430
cultivars, packed into the
2½ acre nursery and
garden site. Helen Picton
is the third generation of
the family to run the
business along with
husband Ross.
She describes why
Michaelmas daisies work
well in today’s gardens:
“They’re wonderfully
colourful late in the
season, perfectly hardy,
and as long as winter
drainage is decent, grow
in most soils. People have
now realised there’s such
a huge range – possibly
helped by the name
changes, which highlight
their different flowers and
uses. Small-flowered ones
suit naturalistic planting
styles while most
Michaelmas daisies are
stalwarts in mixed
borders. They’re brilliant
for insects too, though
which ones depends on
flowering time. For
example, hoverflies and
butterflies love Aster
amellus, while later,
small-flowered species
are popular with bees.”
Helen finds it hard to
pick favourites – “I love
them all!” – but highlights
a few. “Aster x frikartii
– either ‘Mönch’ or
‘Wunder von Stäfa’.
The prairie aster
(Symphyotrichum
turbinellum) is beautiful
and flowers in October,
with blue-green foliage.
Of the New England
asters, I adore ‘John
Dickinson’ as it’s so tall
but still stands up well.
The New York aster
‘Fellowship’ is old but
Picton Garden
in full bloom
Helen P
icton
such a good plant, and
one species that should How to grow
be around more is Aster Most Michaelmas daisies grow well in
peduncularis – heart- any reasonable, fertile soil apart from
shaped, furry leaves, extremes of wet or dry, and in sun
flowers on single stems for at least half the day. A few
and no mildew.” thrive in dry conditions and
● Old Court Nurseries shade. Avoid overcrowding as
& Picton Garden, growth is best in an open site,
Walwyn Rd, plus good air movement helps
Malvern, discourage mildew. Powdery
Herefordshire mildew disease may be a problem,
WR13 6QE. Visit particularly in periods of hot, dry
autumnasters. weather or on poor soil that tends to
co.uk for opening Aster dry out. Some cultivars are more
times and more frikartii susceptible than others, notably New
information. ‘Mönch’ York asters (Symphyotrichum
novi-belgii). Mitigate by improving the
water-holding capacity of soil with
plenty of organic matter.
Some taller or double, heavy-
flowered cultivars may need
supports, best placed
early in summer. Cut
back dead stems by
early spring.
Older, congested
clumps decline in
performance so Mildew-
divide every three to resistant aster
five years in March or ‘Helen Picton’
April to boost vigour and
propagate. Dig up and split into
chunks by levering apart with two
garden forks, or dig up in portions
using a spade. Discard the old centre.

OUR PICK OF THE BEST

Aster frikartii Eurybia divaricata Symphyotrichum Symphyotrichum Symphyotrichum

‘Wunder von Stäfa’ The wood aster has ericoides prostratum novi-belgii ‘Fellowship’ ‘Prairie Purple’
Single lavender-blue clouds of small white ‘Snow Flurry’ This New York aster Impressively tall
flowers borne on daisies borne on wiry Compact and wide has large, double, yet also self-
slender, stems, similar black stems above mound-forming with deep pink flowers that supporting, bearing
but shorter than low clumps of foliage. slender leaves, are abundantly borne masses of small,
‘Mönch’, also mildew Good ground cover, smothered in on sturdy stems. It also purple, yellow-centred
resistant. Sun or part copes with shade little white daisy has good mildew flowers. Good mildew
shade. H: 75cm, and dry soil. H: 45cm, flowers. H: 20cm, resistance. H: 1m, resistance. H: 1.5m,
S: 60cm. S: to 1m. S: 45cm. S: 60cm. S: 60cm.

30 Garden Answers
 WHAT
TO DO
THIS
Month
This is the ideal time for moving
trees and shrubs, cutting back
climbing roses, planting bulbs for
spring and harvesting autumn veg

HARVEST
CARROTS
Carrots growing in the ground or in pots
will have reached a good size this month
and are best harvested before winter if you
have heavy soil that doesn’t drain well.
Push a fork deep into the ground around
10cm away from the edge of the foliage and
slowly lever them up to loosen them. Then
grab hold of the foliage and pull them up.
On lighter soils, harvest as and when you
need them but cover the tops with a 10cm
layer of straw or a sheet of cardboard to
protect them from winter wet.

32 Garden Answers

Cut back climbing roses
Cut back the long whippy stems of
climbing roses now to prevent them
being damaged by winter storms.
Prune the stems to leave two to three
Plant a native hedge
Native hedges with their flowers,
foliage and fruits, are key habitats and
food sources for wildlife. Their dense,
sometimes thorny growth makes
them a good choice for security and
privacy, and autumn is the best time
to establish them.
● Buy young ‘bare-root whips’. Whips
around 60-90cm in height are cheap and
will quickly create a hedge. When they’re
delivered, pop the roots in a bucket of water.
● Plant the whips. Weed a strip 1m wide
and open up a slit in the soil with a spade.
Sprinkle in some mycorrhizal fungi
and insert the whip, then firm back the
soil. Snip a few centimetres off the top of
each whip to encourage side branches to
form. Space plants 40cm apart in a single
row, or stagger plants in two rows 30cm
apart for a dense hedge, aiming for five
plants per metre.
Prune climbing roses
now, ready for winter
buds, then tie the remaining sections
into the support using twine or flexi
ties. This is a good time to remove any
dead branches too.
Stagger plants in two rows
for a dense hedge. Above,
bullfinch on guelder rose
● Native hedging plants you can choose
from include hawthorn, dogwood (cornus),
hazel, holly, blackthorn and guelder rose
(Viburnum opulus).
Weatherwatch
An Indian summer may
bring pleasantly warm
days and lots of sunshine,
but as the clocks go back
and days shorten, frosts
are likely. The first of the
autumn storms may also sweep in from the
Atlantic, so now’s the time to
prepare the garden for
the months ahead and
to make the most of
any good weather.
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 33
EASY GARDENING
MOVE TREES
& SHRUBS
If a small tree or shrub needs
moving, it’s worth trying to move it
this month while the soil is warm
and damp. Follow these steps to
boost its chance of survival.
1
PREPARE THE HOLE
Water the plant the day
before and make a new
planting hole wider than the
anticipated rootball – then adjust it
later if needed. Only add compost
if soil is poor or sandy.
DIG UP THE PLANT
2 Gently dig around the plant
to see how far the roots
extend. Lift as much of the rootball
as possible. Some thicker roots may
need to be severed with secateurs.
Lift the rootball onto a tarpaulin or
sheet of plastic to carry it.
MATCH THE SOIL MARK
3 Carefully position the plant
in the new hole so the old
soil mark on the stem is level with
the hole’s rim. Backfill, ensuring
there are no air pockets. Firm in
place and water. Keep well-
watered during dry spells until the
plant roots are re-established. ➤
What to do this month... EASY GARDENING

GET SET FOR

DAINTY DAFFS

SMALL WONDERS
Plant your bulbs while
the soil is still warm

STAR POWER
Tête-à-tête is one of
the most popular dwarf
daffodil varieties

Unlike their loftier

relatives, these petite
plants can stand up to
all kinds of weather

T
he large daffodils you see in parks
and municipal planting schemes
look fantastic planted en masse,
swaying in the breeze, but they’re not
always well-suited to smaller gardens
where they can look out of proportion.
Their size also means they’re more easily
damaged by squally spring weather, and ‘W.P. MILNER’ This ‘ELKA’ Pure white petals ‘TOPOLINO’ Pretty
the clumps of tall leaves can die back in a delicate-looking narcissus with pale lemon-coloured narcissus that’s very
sprawling fashion. is perfect for edging paths. trumpets are a delight. good for naturalising.
To combat these issues, consider H: 20cm, S: 10cm. H: 20cm, S: 10cm. H: 25cm, S: 10cm.
growing these daintier cultivars, no more
than H: 25cm. Their scaled-down size
means they’re well suited to borders under
deciduous shrubs, where their smaller
flowers and shorter leaves look very much
at home. Even better, they’re also more
able to withstand troublesome weather
such as wind, rain and spring snow.
If you can, it’s best to plant your
daffodils before mid-October while the
soil’s still warm.
To do this, make a hole in the ground
that’s three times the depth of the bulb,
then pop the bulb in the hole with the
pointy end upwards. Once this is done, ‘RIP VAN WINKLE’ ‘CANALICULATUS’ Fragrant ‘JACK SNIPE’ Striking
cover the bulb with soil. Try to plant in Clusters of golden petals yellow cups. Good for pots reflexed white petals
clumps of at least five, with 5-7cm between form a spiky flowerhead. and window boxes. and yellow trumpets.
each bulb. ➤ H: 15cm, S: 10cm. H: 15cm, S: 10cm. H: 25cm, S: 10cm.

34 Garden Answers
What to do this month... EASY GARDENING

Love your lawn

Give your lawn some TLC now,
so it looks its best next year.

1 Scarify: Use a spring-tine rake

(which has long, flexible prongs) to
remove dead grass, debris and moss.
It’s best to kill the moss first by
applying a mosskiller, to avoid
spreading it further. Scarifying allows
air, rain and light to reach the turf.

2 Aerate: Relieve soil compaction

under the turf by spiking your
lawn with a garden fork or hollow-tine
aerator. Create holes that are 10-15cm
apart and the same depth.

3 Top dress: Apply a top dressing

mix or make your own (three
parts loam, six parts sharp sand and
one part well-rotted compost). Brush
this across the surface, working it into
the holes created by aerating. Use
2-3kg of the mix per square metre.

PLANT GLADIOLI
Unlike the corms of large-flowered, corms are planted
summer-blooming gladioli, which are with the pointy end
planted in spring, some daintier facing upwards. Space
species can be planted in autumn. them 10-15cm apart and
Flowering in mid-to-late spring, Gladiolus plant them 10-12cm deep, which
nanus (above), G. colvillii ‘The Bride’ and helps them stand upright, otherwise
G. byzantinus like free-draining soil, so add the foliage and flower spikes have a
grit to the planting area and make sure the tendency to flop.

Make a leaf bin Move citrus plants

As leaves start to fall, it’s a Make leaf
good time to construct mould indoors now
a storage area so you can for free! Citrus plants aren’t hardy in most parts of
collect the leaves to make the UK, so those grown in pots outdoors
leaf mould. over summer need to come inside now.
● Create posts Take four
wooden stakes (or garden ● Where can I keep them?
canes) about 1.5m long and A frost-free
shaped to a point at one greenhouse, porch
end. Position them in a or conservatory
square or rectangle, using a is ideal: they
lump hammer or mallet to hit need a bright
them into the ground. spot above
● Fence them in Wrap around the posts 5C.
with chicken wire, securing it in place with ● Do they
galvanised U-shaped nails. Over the coming need
weeks, fill the container with leaves. watering?
● Moisten the leaves During dry spells, Keep the compost
keep the leaves damp because they’ll rot slightly dry so they don’t
more quickly than if they’re too dry. (acid-loving) plants. In rot in cold, damp soil.
● Make separate bins fact, you can even add ● Should I keep them cosy?
If you plan to compost conifer needles, your Christmas tree, Temperature extremes can
make a separate bin. shredded into little cause leaf and blossom
They’ll rot down to pieces, when you’ve drop, so position them
provide a great mulch finished with it in the away from cold draughts
for ericaceous new year. and radiators.

36 Garden Answers
TAKE THE WEIGHT, RTLY CRAFTED G
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EFFORT AND TIME D
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UP TO
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DE
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OUT OF GARDENING

NG
50%

OOLS
STRO
Easier to hold, easier to use LIGHTER
STRO

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THAN STANDARD

TO
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ND DE

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ERTLY CRAFTED GA

wilkinsonsword-tools.co.uk
What to do this month... EASY GARDENING

Tend to your pond PROPAGATION

Remove dead leaves and plant debris from

your pond this month to avoid a build-up of
decomposing vegetation. To tidy up
It’s time to take
perennial marginals and allow more light in,
cut back the upright leaf blades and stems HARDWOOD CUTTINGS
to about 15cm above the water surface.
Use a fine dipping net to remove some of the Make new shrubs for free by
silt and weeds, and leave them at the pondside
for a few days so that amphibians and water
taking hardwood cuttings from
insects can crawl back into the pond. Then add colourful roses, fruit bushes
the dried debris to your compost heap. and favourite climbers
Cover the pond with netting to stop autumn
leaves falling in.

Taking hardwood cuttings is one of a bud. This lets water drain away and
the best ways to propagate new ensures you keep cuttings the right
shrubs. Now, just as leaves start to way up. Use a straight cut at the

Don’t forget...
POT ON CUTTINGS Last year’s
hardwood (and this year’s
softwood) cuttings may need
potting on into individual pots to
give them space. Use John Innes
No. 2 compost.
CHECK CLIMBER SUPPORTS
Make sure that trellis and obelisks
are sound, then tie in to the support
any summer growth that could get
damaged by winter storms.
CLEAR AWAY PLANT STAKES
As plants start to die down, pull out
plant stakes and other supports in
your borders. Wash or wipe off any
soil, give them a clean and then
fall, is a good time to do it, but any
time between now and the end of
winter is fine.
While softwood and semi-ripe
cuttings (taken in spring or summer)
need lots of care, hardwood
cuttings require minimal attention.
However, new growth is slow and it
can be six to 12 months before you
pot them on.
● Plants to try: abelia, deutzia, cornus,
currants, forsythia, gooseberry,
lonicera, parthenocissus and willow.
How to do it
1. Select healthy, vigorous shoots
from this year’s growth and cut with
clean, sharp secateurs above a bud.
Snip away the soft tip.
base, below a bud.
3. Dip the bottom in hormone
rooting powder. Tap off any excess.
This encourages roots to form and
also includes a fungicide to protect
from rotting.
4. Fill pots with a 50:50 mix of
multipurpose compost and coarse
grit. Insert stems with two-thirds of
the cutting in the compost. Allow
10cm between cuttings.
5. Water well Put pots in a
sheltered spot or cold frame.
In cold weather, cover them with
horticultural fleece.
6. Grow them on and keep them
safe until next summer or autumn,
ensuring they don’t dry out. If there
are signs of roots at the base of the
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK, ALAMY, GAP PHOTOS, NEIL HEPWORTH

allow wooden supports and canes 2. Prepare each stem to give you pot and new shoots, pot up
to dry out well before bundling them a 15-30cm–long cutting. Make a individually into John Innes No. 2
up and storing them in a shed sloping cut at the top just above compost, water and label.
or garage.
RAISE
CONTAINER
PLANTS OFF
THE GROUND
Use bricks or
pot feet so
they don’t
sit in pools
of rainwater,
which can Cut with clean, Make a sloping cut Insert stems into the
cause plant sharp secateurs just above a bud compost
roots to rot.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 39
 YEAR
ROUND
colour
OCTOBER

Orange dahlias and yellow

zinnias glow against a backdrop
of smoky purple shiso with
feathery pennisetum
seedheads adding texture

40 Garden Answers
 EASY GARDENING

Make the most of

GOLDEN FIREPOWER
Create a spectacular seasonal glow as your garden
embraces the autumn months

E
arly autumn is the final hurrah STEP 2 CHOOSE THE RIGHT PLANTS
for summer’s temporary stars,
the tender plants whose show
will be abruptly ended by the arrival
of the first frosts.
For a brief moment the combination
of mild days, recent rain and low,
warm light can add up to golden scenes Colour
like this one, made all the more precious
by its very impermanence. Dahlias and
palette
zinnias offer unrivalled early autumn Zingy orange,
firepower while pennisetum and the smoky purple,
crinkly purple foliage of perilla bring pinky reds and green
texture, movement and a backcloth DAHLIA ‘SYLVIA’ PERILLA FRUTESCENS CRISPA

3easy
against which the last flowers can shine. Perfect balls of tightly rolled Purple shiso is a half-hardy
soft orange petals. Flowering annual herb grown for its

STEP 1 DESIGN YOUR

steps July to the frosts, their strong
stems make excellent cut
fragrant, crinkled, purple
leaves that looks great in
flowers for your home. ornamental schemes.
BORDER H: 90cm, S: 60cm. H: 60cm, S: 45cm.
Perilla frutescens Pennisetum
crispa Dahlia ‘Sylvia’ advena
‘Rubrum’
PHOTO: GAP PHOTOS/CHRISTA BRAND – WEIHENSTEPHAN GARDENS, GERMANY ILLUSTRATION: GILL LOCKHART

PENNISETUM ‘KARLEY ROSE’ PENNISETUM ADVENA

Narrow arching leaves and
from mid-summer swaying
feathery panicles of pink-
brown plumes. Not reliably
hardy, treat as an annual.
H&S: 90cm.
‘RUBRUM’
Dramatic tender grass with
burgundy-red foliage and
purple panicles ageing to
brown. Intolerant of cold and
wet. H: 1.2m, S: 60cm.

ZINNIA PROFUSION SERIES ZINNIA ELEGANS

Bushy zinnia with single ‘BENARY’S GIANT ORANGE’
Pennisetum daisy-like flowers bred for Fully double, glowing orange
orientale Zinnia elegans disease resistance and no flowers on tall, sturdy stems.
‘Karley Rose’ Zinnia ‘Profusion ‘Benary’s Giant deadheading. Try ‘Profusion Half-hardy annual, brilliant
Orange’ Orange’ Apricot’ and ‘Profusion flowers for cutting. H: 1.2m,
Orange’. H: 45cm, S: 60cm. S: 60cm.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 41
 EASY GARDENING
STEP 3
GET
PLANTING
To get such a luxuriant
display in a few short
months, you require a
sunny site and a fertile,
moist but well-drained
soil to help power the
rapid growth for this
modern bedding
scheme. This autumn,
break up compacted
ground and clear the
site of perennial weeds
before working in lashings of well-
rotted, weed-free organic matter. After
planting, add a mulch to help keep down
annual weeds, retain moisture and
gradually improve soil structure.
Order the dahlias
1 Order dahlias now and you’ll be able to
source whatever cultivar tickles your
fancy. Specialist suppliers dispatch tubers
from late winter onwards. If you have a
frost-free greenhouse or sunny windowsill, it’s
worth potting up tubers in March. The first
shoots can be used to take basal cuttings that
root quickly and flower in their first year.
Plant out after all risk of frost, working in
further compost to the planting hole. Beware
slug and snail damage to young shoots and
add a short strong stake to loop around
supporting string as the dahlias grow. In dry
spells give them an occasional deep soak and
deadhead every couple of days to keep the
display going. A liquid fertiliser can help if you
think the soil is on the poor side. After they’ve
been blackened by frosts, either dig them up
to store in old potting compost in the shed or
leave them in the ground with the added same intolerance to cold, wet conditions. Plant
container-grown specimens from early June
protection of a dry mulch. The latter works
when the ground is warm and there’s no risk
well in all but the worst winters; just watch
out for new shoots being eaten in spring.of frost, adding extra grit as well as compost.
...or try
this
Partner orange dahlias with dark-stemmed
Ricinus communis and Angelica sylvestris
42 Garden Answers
MAKE THE DISPLAY LAST
2 Sow the
perilla
Pick up perilla seed from
veg or herb catalogues.
Sow this half-hardy
annual in trays under
cover in April, barely
covering the seed with
compost and keep just
moist until germination.
Prick out and pot on before
planting out 30cm apart
after all risk of frost. Pinch WINTER: MISCANTHUS SINENSIS
out young plants to ensure ‘KLEINE FONTÄNE’
a bushy display. Popular in Upright fountains of foliage and
Japanese cooking, the pink feathery flowers that bleach
leaves have a flavour between cinnamon and into winter, giving strong
mint and are most tender when young. Even structural presence. H&S: 1.5m.
the flowers are edible.
3 Sow the zinnias
Zinnias worship sunshine and warmth,
so don’t sow them the second the sun comes
out. Whether you’re sowing large ‘Benary’s
Giant’ cultivars, or one of the small Profusion
Series hybrids, leave sowing until mid-May
under glass so that they can grow quickly
without any check before going out into warm
summer soil. They dislike root disturbance so
use modules and plant out before they have SPRING: EUPHORBIA
the chance to become pot bound. Pinch back EPITHYMOIDES ‘MAJOR’
young plants and don’t crowd them – stressed Mound-forming perennial with
plants are more prone to disease and damping lime-green flowers April to July,
off. If you don’t have propagation space, look earning it the nickname of
out for young plug plants online or pot plants cushion spurge. H&S: 60cm.
at your local nursery. Deadhead ‘Benary’s
Giant’ types regularly but the smaller
‘Profusion Series’ produce a succession of
flowers and don’t need deadheading.
4 Plant the pennisetum
These two pennisetums share the
‘Karley Rose’ is all grace with its SUMMER: CANNA ‘DURBAN’
wiry arching leaves and feathery Impressive paddle-shaped leaves
cream plumes. It’s the hardier of striped in pink, orange and purple
the two and it’s worth leaving and striking, tall, orange flowers.
plants at the end of the season H: 1.5m, S: 60cm.
with top growth untouched and a
dry protective mulch to see if they
survive the winter. Don’t be too
quick to give up on plants in spring
as they’re slow into growth.
‘Hameln’ is a more robust cultivar.
P. advena ‘Rubrum’ has broader
leaves and a more sultry tropical
appearance. Sadly, it isn’t hardy in
the UK so treat as a centrepiece
bedding plant, or lift plants and
overwinter in a frost-free AUTUMN: RICINUS
greenhouse or conservatory COMMUNIS ‘IMPALA’
before they’re hit by the first Large palmate purple-red foliage
frosts. Keep on the dry side then and red seedpods on fast-growing
split and pot up into fresh compost tender shrub, treated as an
once growth begins in spring.✿ annual. Highly toxic. H&S: 1.5m.
Autumn
WILDLIFE
Woody
MARVELLOUS IDEAS
Adrian Thomas looks at how to create a woodland
area in your garden to benefit both you and wildlife
I
n the home, many of us are skilled at fitting
as much as we can into a small space, and
what we don’t do is limit ourselves to storing
everything on the floor – how illogical would
that be? No, we put up shelves and install
sets of drawers and mount kitchen units: we
think vertically.
It’s a great lesson to take into
the garden, and I don’t mean
in how to organise your
shed and greenhouse
(although, of course, it’s
very useful there, too!).
I mean as inspiration for
filling your space with
plants and benefitting
wildlife in the process.
It’s all about taking Squirrel scampering
advantage of the fact that up a beech tree
plants are excellent at creating
their own stacking system, layer
after layer from the ground right up to the
canopy. The sky is almost the limit!
You can see it to natural effect in our best
woodlands. Mature trees tower into the sky,
branching out in full grandeur, hogging the
limelight, but they create vast spaces beneath
them. This is where shrubs and saplings can
grow, while beneath them is a rich ground layer particular, the shade cast by trees is
of bulbs, flowering plants and ferns.
Acer palmatum and cornus work well On the one hand, you could see all these
together in a woodland scheme plants as if engaged in a desperate battle for
44 Garden Answers
Mahonia
media
‘Charity’
glows in this
beautiful
woodland
garden, with
a rustic
wooden
archway
inviting you
to explore
supremacy, with the ancient trees winning
the lion’s share of the light. But it’s more fitting
to view it as a community living harmoniously
together, each species occupying its own
niche, and many actually aiding those around
them with their presence.
So, the trees may look dominant but
they are actually feeding the
woodland floor beneath with
their leaves when they fall
each autumn, and we now
know so much more (but
still have plenty to learn)
about the great
interconnected web of
fungi threads that engage
the trees and woodland
plants in a network of
underground chemical
communication and collaboration.
This storeyed effect is a multi-layer
cake that you can cook up in your own garden.
I don’t mean all over it – not many of us want
to turn our entire garden into dense forest.
But having an area that is tiered in its planting
will add height and structure and diversity.
The benefits of woodland areas in gardens
extend to the environment as a whole. In
wonderfully cooling. Recent research found
that tree cover in cities can reduce the land
temperature by between as much as 12
 A woodland garden is
excellent at intercepting
the worst extremes of
other weather effects

Here, a dry stone wall

provides a backdrop
to woodland planting
with ferns,
polygonatum and
Corylus maxima
‘Purpurea’

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 45
 WILDLIFE
Wildlife of the garden woods
All manner of wildlife will make use of a woodland
area, but here are some to look for:
● Tree layer: Blue tit, great tit, squirrels, chaffinch,
great spotted woodpecker.
● Shrub layer: Blackbird, dunnock, long-tailed tit,
bullfinch, holly blue butterfly, bush-crickets.
● Ground layer: Robin, wren, ground beetles, fungi,
millipedes, wood mouse, hedgehog, woodlice.
Great spotted
woodpecker
Holly blue butterfly
Wood
mouse
degrees centigrade. I’m sure that in the
ridiculous 40-degree Celsius summer
temperatures of 2022, many of you found
that sunny parts of the garden were no-go, but
sitting in the shade was a blessed release.
A woodland garden is also excellent at
intercepting the worst extremes of other
weather effects, whether it be taking the
brunt of torrential rain or ameliorating hard
frosts. If you have a pond in a shady position,
even under the bare winter branches of
deciduous trees, the surface is much less
prone to freezing than one in the open.
The shady earth is similarly protected,
giving blackbirds and other thrushes the
chance to rootle about for food in harsh
weather when they’re frozen out elsewhere,
and they get equivalent benefits in summer
when sunny areas are baked hard.
Autumn is the ideal time to get a woodland
area prepared and planted, and it can be
surprisingly swift to create. After that, there is
little maintenance to be done, and trees and
shrubs grow far quicker than most people
think. So, seize the moment and create your
46 Garden Answers
little piece of woodland magic, and in
doing so help your local environment
and welcome in more wildlife. flowers, fruit – which means a super-abundance of food
Natural inspiration ● It provides a complex structure, a maze of opportunities
For all the encouragement you need to
make a woodland area, visit one of our
ancient woodland nature reserves. ● It creates an environment full of diverse conditions.
They have something going for them in
all seasons; the mass of forest floor
flowers in spring, the lush green cathedrals
of summer, the flash of autumn leaf colour, or
the stark winter beauty.
Some 13% of the UK landscape is covered
in woodland, However, only 2.5% is ancient
woodland, which are areas thought to have
been in place since at least 1600AD. Sadly, in
many places and even in nature reserves, the
ground and shrub storeys are being munched
into oblivion by deer, either non-natives such
as the muntjac or by native deer populations.
Try visiting different woodland types to
see the contrasts. An ancient oak woodland is
likely to have an understorey of hazel and
holly, bluebells and wood anemones, foxgloves
Hedgehog
Squirrels will love
your woodland
hideaway
Why are
woodland gardens
good for wildlife?
There are three main reasons why
having a woodland area, even a small one,
will help boost nature
● It maximises the volume of plant material – leaves,
for all sorts of creatures.
for wildlife to perch, nest and evade predators, and a
spaghetti junction of highways they can pass along.
The tops of trees are wind-blasted, sun-baked,
rain-lashed places, while the area underneath is
dark, moist and still. That variety
provides different homes for
different creatures.
and wood-sage. However, a native pinewood
like those in the Highlands of Scotland have a
ground cover of plants such as bilberry,
heather and mosses. Woodland on the chalk
and limestone may have ash as the dominant
tree, while beechwoods, also often on the
chalk, have such a dense canopy that only a
very few specialised plants will grow beneath
such as rare orchids.
 Making a small woodland garden
Start by planning where
your woodland area will go,
somewhere where it’s not
going to cast shade all over
your favourite vegetable
bed or your favourite
sunbathing spot. It can be a
useful way of screening off
ugly buildings.
● A simple layout is a single
large tree towards the
centre back, but give it
breathing room if against a
wall or hedge. Then aim for
maybe three shrubs arcing
around in front of the tree,
and the ground plants can
be woven underneath them
all, sun-lovers to the front.
● Prepare the soil well,
digging it and removing
all weeds.
● Choose tree and shrub
types that will ultimately be
the right scale for your
garden. You don’t want
something that will grow so
big it will dominate the
whole garden or those of
neighbours. Now is the time
of year to buy bare-rooted
trees and shrubs which are
cheap and easy to handle,
and it’s also prime time to
plant bulbs.
● Choose trees and shrubs
that will complement each
other, with contrasting leaf
shapes and colours, and
those with colourful flowers
or berries.
● Once everything is
planted and watered in,
mulch the ground with a
layer of bark chippings.
● As the trees and shrubs
grow, most can have their
‘skirts’ lifted, removing the
lower branches to give you
maximum planting
opportunities underneath.
In autumn, when you rake
leaves off lawns and drives,
add them to your woodland
garden as extra mulch.
● Your woodland garden is
perfect for a hedgehog
house – they’ll enjoy the
dark, cool but relatively
frost-free environment.

TREES
Ideally choose something that will have a strong main trunk (a ‘standard’) to
carry the foliage above all the vegetation below.

Silver birch
(Betula pendula)
Can grow tall but is
quite slender and airy
(H: to 20m, S: 5m).
Try Himalayan birch
B. utilis jacquemontii
for smaller gardens,
with its immaculate
white bark.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) Common rowan

Usually seen as tightly clipped (Sorbus aucuparia)
hedges, but left to grow White blossom and
naturally, it can become clusters of red berries
a glorious small tree, loved by blackbirds.
the white May Try smaller species
blossom a joy. such as Sorbus
H: to 12m, S: to 6m. vilmorinii if tight on
space. H: to 15m,
S: 5-7m.

Crab apple (malus)

Wonderful blossom and plentiful small red
or yellow fruit for the birds in autumn.
H: rarely over 8m, S: to 6m.

Wild cherry (Prunus avium)

Not for small gardens.
Masses of white blossom
that buzz with bees, and
then small red cherries in
late summer. H: to 20m,
S: to 8m.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 47
 SUPER SHRUBS

Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)

Easy to keep to about 1.5-2m with late
winter coppicing. Small white flowers,
black berries, and red stems in winter.

Mahonia
Shade tolerant,
with holly-like
leaves and an
upright candelabra
of yellow flowers in
winter. H: 2m,
Spindle
S: 1.5m.
‘Red Cascade’
A low-growing
Winter honeysuckle
version of our native
(Lonicera purpusii)
spindle, Euonymus
A little raggedy
europaeus, with
in shape but
bright red leaves
compensated by
in autumn and
the winter flowers
pink berries.
for early bees.
H: 3m, S: 2.5m.
H: 2m, S: 1.5m.

Fatsia
If you want a tropical
look to your woodland,
try this with its glossy Holly
palmate leaves and Keep trimmed to the height
Daphne Most varieties will cope with shade and the balls of small white you want. Remember to
native spurge-laurel D. laureola and D. mezereum flowers on stiff spoked buy female plants if you
especially so. H: 1.5m, S: 1m. stems. H: 2m, S: 1.5m. want the red berries.

48 Garden Answers
 WILDLIFE

GROUND LAYER PLANTS WILDLIFE GARDEN

JOBS FOR OCTOBER
Wood anemone
(Anemone nemorosa)
A native woodland
plant, often on
clay soils, with
delicate leaves
and radiant
simple white
flowers in spring.
H: 15cm, S: 20cm.

FEED YOUR HEDGEHOGS to

1 get them into condition for
hibernation, putting out
water and special hedgehog food or
Bugle (Ajuga reptans) Lungwort (pulmonaria) tinned cat or dog food.
In late spring, spikes of Attractive, white- COLLECT TREE
purple flowers pop up
from beds of often
spotted leaves and
rich blue, pink or
2 SEEDS to start
your woodland
purple leaves. white flowers in early from scratch. Look for
Creeping stems can spring, much visited hazelnuts, acorns, or
spread out indefinitely. by bees. H: 20cm, collect tree berries
H: 15cm. S: 30cm. and squash the
seeds out of
them. Sow in
pots and leave out
all winter.
CLEAR OUT NESTBOXES
3 – this is definitely your best
opportunity, avoiding the
all-important breeding season and it
means you can give birds clean roost
sites for winter.

Geranium macrorrhizum
From the woods of south-east
Europe, with soft palmate
leaves and dotted with simple
pink or white flowers.
H: 15cm, S: 30cm.
PLANTS TO AVOID
The following plants are all invasive,
are causing problems out in the
countryside, and are to be avoided:
Spotted dead-nettle
(Lamium maculatum)
A woodland plant from mainland
Europe, with whorls of red or white
hooded flowers and often attractively
variegated leaves. H: 15cm, S: 30cm.
Look out for...
● TIPSY insects enjoying fallen fruit as
it ferments, such as red admiral
butterflies and wasps.
● THOUSANDS of ivy bees massing at
ivy blossom, smaller than a honeybee
and with distinct yellow and black
stripes on their bodies.
● LISTEN for the quavering, haunting
hoots of tawny owls as they resume
territorial duties.
PHOTOS: ALAMY, GAP PHOTOS, SHUTTERSTOCK

●Variegated ●Wood spurge

yellow archangel (Euphorbia ● Spanish bluebell
Lamium amygdaloides (Hyacinthoides hispanica)
galeobdolon. robbiae).

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 49
 BEAUTIFUL GARDENS

WARMING WELCOME Hot

colours blend beautifully, from
the tall warm orange Mexican
sunflower (tithonia, left) to the
wine red spires of persicaria
and swathes of crocosmia
planted through the border

50 Garden Answers
 Garden
TOUR

The natural way

This Cheshire garden is based on organic,
wildlife-friendly principles and proves that
such a space can still look lovingly tended
and beautiful

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 51
 M
ilford House Farm is proof that you
IN THE GARDEN WITH… can have a beautiful outdoor space
and garden organically. The lawn
Heather Pope MBE wraps around the house as you
and Chris Pope
make your way through the garden. It’s cut a
AT Milford few times a year, around the edges only to
House Farm, make paths, and no feeds, mosskillers or
Cheshire weedkillers are used on it. The centre of the
SIZE Half lawn is left to its own devices and contains
an acre lots of different common wildflowers. There’s
SOIL Neutral also a lot of moss growing unabated. “It keeps
to alkaline heavy clay the lawn nice and soft, and stays greener than
FEATURES Large veg patch, walled the grass in dry weather,” Heather says. “A
garden, organically-grown plants, recent visitor commented how soft it felt, and
WORDS: GEOFF HODGE. PHOTOS: NEIL HEPWORTH
ABOVE A framework of evergreens play
an underrated role in providing
permanence and structure to the
garden; (clockwise from top right)
Diagonally laid slabs make a gravel
pathway more dynamic; vegetables are
planted with flowers and the rich orange
of pumpkins and pot marigolds in an
unusual but attractive plant combo; kept
in check, bamboo is a graceful feature
they wander, is the white and green island
bed. Plants include a common jasmine that
climbs a large frame, carnations, Stachys

wildlife-friendly lawn
I wasn’t sure whether to tell them that was
because of the moss!”
One of Heather’s favourite features of the
garden, and a delight for any plant lover as
The lawn wraps around
the house as you make your
way through the garden
byzantina (lamb’s ear), white and green
variegated hostas, Lamium maculatum
‘Beacon Silver’ (“although the purple flowers
spoil the overall effect!”), lots of ferns, white
foxgloves grown from seed, white-flowered
honesty, white-flowered borage, white
buddleja and pretty Exochorda macrantha
‘The Bride’, with its dainty white spring
blossom. Other beds and borders in the garden
are also coordinated with combinations of hot
colours – oranges, reds and yellows – grown
together, as well as combos of pinks, purples
and blues. “I have to be strict with myself, but

52 Garden Answers
 GardenTOUR

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 53
 GardenTOUR
sometimes, for instance, some plants of the
white-flowered borage in the island bed will
come up blue, and I just haven’t got the heart
to dig them up!”
Another of Heather’s rules is to ensure as
little soil as possible is visible. “I do use some
ground cover plants, such as stachys and
hardy geraniums, but I like to fill areas with
full growth, using large clumps of perennials. I
prefer to see the area covered and plants blend
54 Garden Answers
into each other. Any gaps that appear are filled
with annuals, grown from seed, all of which
help to keep the weeds down.” Heather also
cleverly fills gaps by growing gladioli, lilies and
scented-leaved pelargoniums in pots and
dropping them into gaps when they come into
flower, sometimes pot-and-all.
The hedges that provide a solid backdrop
for the bustling borders are cut in August and
September and in winter, so as not to disturb
FLOWER POWER (clockwise from top
left) A conifer hedge is the backdrop for a
densely planted border; the border’s wide
curve creates more contrasts in colour
and texture through the planting; purple
aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ spends summer
outside decorating the pond; Michaelmas
daisies bring late colour; Persicaria
amplexicaulis light up the end of summer;
a dovecote makes a striking feature
nesting birds, and the garden has a massive
bird population, which Heather feeds daily.
There are bird boxes and log piles made from
the trimmings and prunings from the large
number of trees in the garden, plus the hedge
clippings. “We don’t have bonfires because
this releases pollutants into the atmosphere.”
The orchard contains an open mix of
fruiting, ornamental and native trees,
including willows and silver poplars. Heather
I prefer to see the
area covered and
plants blend into
each other

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 55
GardenTOUR

BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL (clockwise

from above) Sunflowers and dahlias add
height and fresh flowers as summer
enters its final throes; crocosmia add
warmth to a sunny, well-drained spot;
schizostylis such as S. coccinea ‘Major’
are dependable for an injection of late
summer colour

has supplemented the old ‘Bramley’s Seedling’

apples that were there when they moved in
with quince, medlars, mulberries and
‘Williams’ Bon Chrétien’ pears. It also has a
large wildlife pond, created by simply digging
into the natural clay. This is home to lots of
newts and toads. Heather doesn’t use garden
chemicals, pesticides or weedkillers, and feeds
plants with a seaweed fertiliser. “Most of the
plant nutrition comes from the annual
applications of copious mulches and from the
fact that the soil isn’t dug over,” she explains. growing something new every year. This year
One of the main features at Milford House I tried chickpeas for the first time. I’m not
Farm is the 16x10m walled garden where
Heather grows lots of fruit and veg. She grows
overwhelmed by the crop, but they have nice
foliage and I’ll grow more next year.” The
Most of the nutrition comes
tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse vegetables are planted in patches, fitting from the annual application
and a wide range of vegetables, including
salad leaves, early potatoes, onions and
among surrounding plants including the wall
shrubs, perennials and dahlias, wherever
of copious mulches
different squashes and pumpkins. “I tried there’s space. Heather grows the squashes and

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 57

NON-STOP INTEREST (clockwise from
top left) Mixing up the heights of patio
containers shows off a diverse range of
tender plants; the lawn is allowed to
grow naturally without chemicals and still
provides a foil for the surrounding
planting; an obelisk clothed in annual
ipomoea adds vertical interest to the
border; Tithonia rotundifolia attract
insects; a seating area placed as the
paths winds is an effective focal point
pumpkins around the edges of the beds,
allowing them to spill onto the paths. “I
encourage them onto the gravel as this keeps
them clean, gives them plenty of light and
helps them ripen.”
While Heather is the main gardener, doing
all the usual tasks of growing, planting,
planning and deadheading, her husband Chris
helps with jobs that need two pairs of hands
and cuts the grass. For Heather, the garden is
It gives me endless work,
worry and extreme
pleasure and happiness
her main hobby. “Although it’s been called an
‘obsession’, and it gives me endless work,
worry and extreme pleasure and happiness in
equal measures. I can pop outside for 10
minutes to do something and then come back
indoors two hours later!” She started
gardening from the age of four or five and
received rigorous training from her father,
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 59
GardenTOUR
who is a great gardener, and insisted
everything had to be done properly.
“When I was younger, we visited gardens
when on holiday. I saw lots of walled gardens
and always wanted one. Maybe I had
delusions of grandeur!” says Heather. Her
father was a builder and his contact built the
walls, although the swags and pillars were left
to her father to complete. “Due to the costs
involved, we created it over a three-year
period. The low walls around the beds make
them easier to work on. The paths are made
from paving slabs laid in a diamond design
for aesthetics and gravel to reduce the cost
of paving the whole area. When you walk
in there on a sunny day, you’d think there
was a lid on it as it’s significantly warmer
than the rest of the garden.” ✿
 BEAUTIFUL GARDENS

“It’s such a
sanctuary from the
outside world”
Gardener Heather Frances has
created a unique garden on a
steep slope, filled with a tapestry
of lush planting

60 Garden Answers
 Garden
TOUR

SMOOTH LINES
The edge of the
slope is softened
by cheerful pot of
summer annuals,
which blend the main
part of the garden
into the patio

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 61
 GardenTOUR
IN THE GARDEN WITH…
Heather Frances
AT: Bridgnorth, Shropshire
SIZE: Between ¼ and ⅓ of an acre
SOIL TYPE: Sandy and dry
SPECIAL FEATURES: Slope
packed with a tapestry of planting,
summerhouse with beautiful views
of the surrounding countryside, patio
with summer flowers in pots and
nearby flowerbeds
OPEN: By appointment through the
National Garden Scheme in 2024.
WORDS: SIMON CANEY. PHOTOS: NEIL HEPWORTH
Visit ngs.org.uk for more details.
62 Garden Answers
A
s many gardeners will testify,
working with a slope of any nature
can be a tricky proposition. And a
garden such as that belonging to
Heather Frances would fill many with
absolute dread. At somewhere between a
quarter and a third of an acre, it’s completely
sloping from front to back, yet for Heather it
has posed no problems. Evergreens and
grasses punctuate the slope, giving a
year-round presence around which Heather
can plant up lots of colour.
“I think evergreens are important in any
garden,” she says. “I love the cottage garden
with masses of planting and lots of colour, but
those evergreens make a big difference later in
the year when nothing else is happening.
They give the garden a real structure.”
I love the cottage garden
with masses of planting
and lots of colour
ABOVE (clockwise from top left) The
gravelled area presents the perfect
chance to sit among flowers; a Japanese
maple adds height towards the bottom
of the slope; raised levels allow different
vantage points; pink dianthus, lime-green
alchemilla and mustard yellow Californian
poppies line a path edge; ivy is allowed
to scramble to create a natural feel
And while that’s very true, it’s in summer
that this garden comes into its own, with
dense planting that takes the breath away. A
host of flowers, including sweet peas, violas,
crocosmia, alstroemeria, salvias, campion and
erigeron, bloom away happily on the plot that
Heather gardens completely organically.
At the base of the slope behind the house,
a plethora of pots adorn the patio with an
explosion of colour from petunias,
osteospermums, cosmos, fuchsias and
pelargoniums.
“Someone said the way everything tilts
towards the house and the patio gives it a
tapestry effect, which I suppose is what I
wanted to create,” says Heather. The artfully
placed collection of summer-flowering plants
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 63
 GardenTOUR

POTS APLENTY
(clockwise from
top left) The
retaining wall at the
bottom of the
slope is a handy
home for placing
potted
pelargoniums for
an extra pop of
colour; the
summerhouse at
the top is the
perfect hideaway;
Heather has
cleverly arranged
her pots to make a
tiered ‘border’ at
the edge of the
patio

in containers provides a seamless transition
between the foot of the slope and the
beginning of the patio, softening the edges of
the hard landscaping and creating a
wonderful flow of varied planting.
As you journey up the steps of the slope,
planting combinations can be admired at
close quarters and the different forms of
plants, from gentle splayed fern fronds to lax
flowering stems of alchemilla, are shown off
beautifully because of the elevation of their
homes. A glimpse of the summerhouse at the
top of the slope makes a great, subtle focal
point as you head up to the top.
There is something about a sloping site that
makes a garden seem very natural and
Heather’s planting has an easy naturalism;
swathes of stipa shimmer in the breeze, while
ivy and honeysuckle effortlessly adorn the
boundaries and hide any sign of the garden
beginning and ending.
Heather has a very pragmatic approach to
planting in the garden. “Put the right plant in
the right place. You will quickly see which

64 Garden Answers
 As you journey up the steps
of the slope, planting
combinations can be
admired at close quarters

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 65
GardenTOUR

PACKED WITH PLANTING (clockwise

from top left) Contrasting stipas (short
S. tenuissima and tall S. gigantea) add
a shimmer in the second half of summer;
grey-leaved santolina, rosemary and
conifers are handy evergreens that
knit the planting together; a simple
wooden picket fence is an effective way
to frame a pathway

plants are happy on a slope and which are not,

so if something isn’t doing well, take it out and
try it somewhere else. You can’t have plants
that don’t earn their keep!”
Previous owners had put in two basic
terraced areas a third of the way up the slope
but the rest of the garden was something of a
wilderness apart from a patio near the house.
However, they had done one other crucial
thing and laid a winding gravel path with
steps made from sleepers; while other houses
nearby have straight paths from top to bottom
that leave little to the imagination, Heather’s
garden feels like it has surprises waiting think I must be mad to enjoy gardening here just disappear,” she says. “We now have three
around every corner. but I don’t really think about it. I just thought it flat areas which I suppose you might call
“Our previous house had a much smaller had real potential to be a lovely garden.” garden rooms. Gardening on a slope with no
garden but it was on a slope too,” says Heather. Heather has added more terracing and flat areas at all is really difficult!”
“It was what I was used to. And when we installed barriers to retain the soil where it A further flat area was created at the top of
moved here 12 years ago we loved the house should be. “It’s very sandy and well-drained the garden for the summerhouse, which
because of the views it gave us. Some people so it can get dry. Without the barriers it would commands the very best views across the

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 67
 GardenTOUR

SPACE FOR EVERYTHING (clockwise

from top) The beauty of the slope is that
shorter plants can be grown alongside
tall ones without the view of them being
obstructed; a hardy fuchsia drips with
strawberry red flowers on the patio; the
solid backdrop of dense ivy is the perfect
framing for a secluded seating point; hot
red crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ blooms add sharp
colour in the second half of summer

Severn Valley. But it’s the planting that really

captures the imagination. Heather admits she
didn’t approach it with a grand overall vision
but has tackled it piecemeal bit by bit, and the
result is a garden full of interest that is unlike
almost any other.
“I often read about gardeners talking about
the plans they had when they started their
garden but I didn’t have one at all!” she says.
“But along the way I’ve found out which plants
like to be where. It’s all about ‘right plant,
right place’ for me. I like to make sure the
soil is healthy. I make a lot of compost and
leaf mould.”
It’s hard work on such testing terrain but
Heather doesn’t view it as such. “It’s a real
labour of love,” she says. “I just love being
Along the way I’ve found
outside in the garden. It’s such a sanctuary out which plants like
away from the madness of the outside world
and I’d go as far as saying the garden is like one
to be where
of my best friends.” ✿

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 69
 GardenTOUR

GARDEN TO VISIT

Great Comp in Kent

A HEADY MIX
OF AUTUMN
Explore this seasonal paradise of
mesmerising colour and foliage with
delights around every corner

N
estling in the depths of
Kent is Great Comp, home
of William Dyson’s
collection of salvias, which this
month are blooming their socks
off and adding bursts of colour all
through the garden. But this is
not all that Great Comp has to
offer in October. Its assortment of
magnificent trees and mature
shrubs are a delight to walk
among thanks to their stature
and heady mix of autumnal tints
and rich foliage colours.
Since it was built in the 1700s,
Great Comp has been home to
many families, including, in the
early 1900s, Frances Maxwell,
a suffragette and campaigner for
women’s sport. The seven acres
of gardens we enjoy today were
created by Roderick and Joy
Cameron, who became owners in
1957. Now in the care of the Great
Comp Charitable Trust, the
garden continues to flourish
under William’s watchful eye.
Fact file
Great Comp
Garden
Comp Lane, Platt,
Nr Sevenoaks,
Kent, TN15 8QS;
WORDS: ANISA GRESS. PHOTOS: GAP PHOTOS, VIKKI RIMMER
Roderick’s love of Italy and
inspiration from gardens such as
Bodnant and Sissinghurst can be
seen in Great Comp’s sweeping
borders and the ruins and follies
he built.
From The Square directly in
front of the house is an enticing
walk through The Sweep. Much
like a theatre with its layers of
scenery, it beckons you to
meander slowly towards the
fields and woodland beyond,
admiring the different ‘sets’ of Miscanthus sinensis
plants that reveal themselves on ‘Krater’ and shrubby
either side. To the left, you are salvias line a pathway
leading to an autumn
border of dahlias, salvias
and asters; above right,
It beckons you to a brick moongate
covered in ivy frames a
meander slowly view of the main lawn
towards the fields
and woodland
dwarfed by towering grasses,
gently waving stems of purple
Verbena bonariensis and a
mature oak showing a promise of
the autumn colour yet to come.
Opposite, papery hydrangea
flowers sparkle in the morning
mists and foliage of the smoke
bush is slowly changing to deep

Greatcomp rose pink, adding to its already

appealing fluffy seedheads.
garden.co.uk;
Beyond is the darker form of
01732 885094.
Open daily until smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria
October 31, 10am-5pm; ‘Royal Purple,’ with opulent
November, Thursday- claret leaves.
Sunday 11am-3pm. At the end of The Sweep a
decision has to be made. Either
turn left to walk through
woodland and paths which peel
off into other parts of the garden,
or right, to the Italian Garden and
eventually back to The Square.
One edge of The Square is
occupied by the house itself, with
The Hot Border is still
ablaze in October
large pots on the terrace
brimming with salvias and
benches perfect for taking a bit
of time out. The Hot Border is
ablaze with yellow and orange
dahlias held above burgundy
foliage, bright achillea and
bursts of argyranthemum
‘Meteor Red’. Opposite, and in
contrast, is the Cool Border
dominated by pale lavender
asters. Naturally salvias feature
here too, and looking particularly
good are the Mexican forms,
adapted to perform during the
shorter daylight hours of autumn.
● A bulb fair on October 15 will
have everything from snowdrops
to tulips to bring your garden
alive next spring. ✿

70 Garden Answers
 Garden
TOUR

Garden highlights

● The Italian garden with

fountain, viaduct and
medieval frieze offers a
change of pace and is the
perfect place to spend a
few quiet moments.

● To celebrate the 50th

anniversary of the garden
being open to the public,
the Golden Border, which
curves by the Crescent
Lawn, is jam-packed with
rudbeckia, helianthus,
solidago and the very
much admired dahlia
‘Mystic Illusion’.

● Dotted throughout the

garden, Roderick’s follies,
from columns to ruins,
provide backdrops and
lots of different individual
points of interest.

● Autumn light brings out

a certain magic in the
Salvia Border’s
ornamental grasses,
where the bright red
salvia ‘Royal Bumble’
Mature shrubs and trees are a treat along The Sweep, glowing in their autumnal glory flourishes.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 71
 MAKE YOUR GARDEN

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72 Garden Answers
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 GROW YOUR OWN

Life on the
VEG PATCH October is a surprisingly busy month and Jenny
Thompson is juggling harvesting and sowing
while enjoying the autumnal atmosphere

Fact file
Name: Jenny
Thompson
Location:
South Devon
Patch type: Small
village allotment
surrounded by rolling
Devon hills
Size: 10x10m
Soil: Red Devon clay mulched with
spent mushroom compost
Aspect: Open and sunny, but with a
north-facing hedge on one border
casting some shade
Top 5 crops: Salad leaves, kale,
sweetcorn, blueberries, parsnips
Failures: Strangely, radish – flea
beetles ravish them!
Organic tip: Don’t rip out the whole
plant when clearing beds of annuals.
Leave roots to rot down, feeding the soil
Find out more: Instagram @organic_
allotment_girl, Facebook @organic.
allotment.girl

74 Garden Answers
 GROW & EAT

October is here and the colour

palette of my allotment is clinging to the
vibrant, bright greens of summer, but make no
mistake, the dark, warm orange hues of
autumn are coming.
The end of the month sees the clocks
turning back an hour, putting an abrupt end
to after work stints on the plot. But as the sun
takes a step back the light becomes beautiful,
casting magical long shadows across the
surprisingly full vegetable beds.
There is actually a lot to
harvest in October. I still
have some tomatoes
waiting to be picked,
the last of my squash
to bring in, plus the
maincrop potatoes to
lift. There are masses Produce is bountiful but there’s always time to sit and enjoy the new season
of kale plants and I
might even lift a daunting thing to eat once you have I can grow. I will never be without Tuscan kale
parsnip or two. I think harvested it, kale allows me to strip for its rich deep green texture, but I also love
autumn brings some of the leaves as I need them. I pull down firmly ‘Dazzling Blue’, ‘Redbor’, ‘Red Russian’, and
best vegetables, all perfect to on the bottom leaves, discarding any that ‘KX-1’. They are vibrantly varied and with so
make their appearance in a hearty bowl of look a bit ropey and this stripping of leaves many different textures and flavours I don’t
piping hot stew. from the bottom encourages the plant to keep think I will ever get bored of growing and
Kale is one of my most favourite things to growing. Sometimes they get so tall they look eating kale.
eat from the allotment. I adore it because like palm trees! The other reason I love kale is While I could get lost in the harvesting and
compared to a cabbage that can be quite a the variety of different colours and textures cooking, I need to remember there are still a ➤

About us... October is a

month to savour
with bags full of
produce to
gather as
daylight wanes

little and often

Kale is picked

Pum
p kins
w ith st
e ms
Leeks, swedes, runner beans and beetroot intac
t

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 75
 GROW & EAT
lot of jobs to keep on top of as October is a
surprisingly busy month!
I find now is an ideal time to plant garlic
cloves. Garlic needs a long growing season
with a good cold spell to
encourage the bulbs to
develop. Garlic is super
easy and I love being
rewarded in May/June
Spent mushroom
with big fat garlic bulbs for compost often provides
so little effort. Onions are
easy too, especially if you the best value for money
plant sets. An onion set is
basically an immature
onion that someone else has started growing
from seed, then harvested and kept dormant
ready for you to pop in the ground and get it
going again. My favourite autumn planting
onion is ‘Senshyu Yellow’ a Japanese variety,
which is really low maintenance and always
does well for me.
Another vegetable that I will direct sow
now is broad beans. They are incredibly hardy
and will survive even the harshest of winters.
Autumn-sown broad beans will crop earlier
and suffer fewer pest problems than their
spring-sown counterparts. ‘Aquadulce
Claudia’ is the best variety for over-wintering.
I always sow peas in October as well. There
is a hardy dwarf variety called ‘Meteor’ that’s
meant to be great for overwintering and
providing a nice early crop the following year.
Like I say, I always sow them, but they always
fail! I am not one to be beaten though and I feel
that this year is my year! I am going to get
them started in modules in the cold frame this
76 Garden Answers
HARVESTING AND
SOWING (clockwise
from left) there’s
still lots of lovely
produce to harvest
as we move through
autumn, including
tasty toms; onion
sets are being
planted now; broad
beans are super
hardy and, sown
now, will handle
what winter has to
throw at them
time and then give them a covering of mesh to
see if that helps them make it through to
2024. Wish me luck!
Aside from the harvests, the other gift that
autumn brings is fallen
leaves. They are such an
excellent tonic for the
vegetable patch and I don’t
waste a single one! I rake
them up and stuff them
into a black bin bag, add
some water, poke a few
holes and leave it out of
sight somewhere. In two
years, I will have an excellent compost ready
for me. If I’m feeling impatient, fallen leaves
still make a great mulch and I will just layer
them directly onto my empty beds and let
them decompose on the surface over the
winter. The worms just love them.
By now my climbing beans have come to an
end and it’s time to clear them away and put
the canes into the shed for another year. This
leaves plenty of bare soil that needs mulching
and, as well as fallen leaves, I will also spread load it into so logistically it’s not a great
the contents of my compost bins. If that still solution for me. However, whatever you can
doesn’t feel like enough, I will put my hand in get your hands on, the value of mulching the
my pocket and buy a bulk delivery of compost. soil with a thick layer of compost pays such
Spent mushroom compost often provides the great dividends for the following year. I have
best value for money, but I always check that been doing this every autumn for more than
the original compost was peat free as sadly a six years and my soil is rich, aerated and, most
lot of mushrooms are still grown in peat. importantly, full of soil creatures and worms.
If you are lucky, there might be the option of No-dig really does work.
collecting municipal waste compost for free My baskets are full, my beds are slowly
from your local council. I do have this available clearing and the sun is fading fast, but I will be
locally, but I have a small car and no trailer to grabbing every last second of it. ✿
 Easy
VEG
PROJECT

Growing salad
IN A BASKET
Fresh, succulent homegrown salad is a
treat in winter and growing it in a wicker
basket will make it a beautiful feature too

78 Garden Answers

1 What you need
Use a sturdy willow
basket to grow your salad in.
The handle will make it easy to
move the plants around without
disturbing their roots.
4 Sow the seed
Sprinkle the seed evenly
over the compost surface and
disperse any piles of seed, so
that you get an even coverage
of leaves later.
7 Water in
Gently water the seed
using a watering can with a
rose-head sprinkler attachment.
Keep moving the can as you
water, so that no puddles form.
GROW & EAT
WHAT TO
SOW IN YOUR
WILLOW
BASKET...
Mizuna
Salads suitable
for sowing now for a
winter harvest
include corn salad,
mizuna, rocket,
pak choi or, for
a real ‘taste of
2 Make a liner
Line the basket with
3 Fill it up
Fill the basket almost to
summer’ treat in the
winter months, try
black polythene or an old the top with a good quality sowing some
compost bag. Make sure that multipurpose compost. Firm it pea seeds to
you pierce holes in the bag down gently, so the surface is harvest as
for drainage. 2cm below the basket’s top. young
succulent
Corn
shoots. salad
Make sure to
keep the sowings in
as well-lit a spot as
possible because
the seedlings will
stretch towards a
light source in winter.
Simply turning the
basket around every
couple of days will
help you to
encourage stocky,
upright seedlings to
develop.
Pea
5 Cover your sowings
Put a thin layer of sieved
6 Label your crop
Add a label to the
shoots
compost over the seeds you’ve compost edge, away from
sown, covering them with where you have sown. Make
a layer equal to the depth of sure to write the label with a
the seed. waterproof pen.
8 Leave them to grow
After sowing, grow them
in a sheltered spot for a couple
9 Enjoy your salad
Growth will be slow and steady, but gently water
of weeks if weather is mild. If each time the compost is dry and you’ll have welcome
below 10C, move to a cold fresh pickings through winter. These can be snipped off
frame or cool greenhouse. with sharp scissors for a cut-and-come-again harvest.
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 79
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 Ask the Your
questions
answered

Our experts will help you get the best from your garden

PRUNING CLIMBERS
Inside
82 Shrubs
83 Bulbs Solution of
83 Yuccas & palms
85 Border plants the month
87 Fruit & veg
89 Pests & diseases
90 Design solutions
Our experts
GEOFF STEBBINGS
gives expert answers
to all your gardening
problems. Geoff is an
author and gardening writer, and
was head gardener at Myddelton
House, north London.

GEOFF HODGE will be

answering subscriber
questions in our new Live
Zoom Q&A events.
Geoff is a horticultural author, radio
broadcaster and speaker, and

Q
former online editor for the RHS.

IAN HODGSON casts an How do we prune mixed

expert eye over unruly
borders, providing advice
on how to revamp them.
Ian is author of Great Gardens, in
association with the Society of
Garden Designers.
CONTACT US Send us
By post: Garden Answers, your
Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch queries!
Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA
Email:
gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk
Web: www.gardenanswersmagazine.
co.uk
Social media: Find us on
Facebook as Garden Answers
Twitter @GardenAnswers
Instagram as gardenanswers
evergreen climbers?
JACQUIE SIMPSON, WORTHING, AND BRYAN LEYMAN, KELSEY, LINCS
A It can be tricky to prune climbers when several are grown together because
one will always be more vigorous than the others and is likely to overwhelm
them. To keep them all in check takes care and skill. It is easier if at least some of
the climbers can be spring-pruned, cutting them back hard to prevent a tangle.
Jacquie’s hardy passionflower on her pergola (inset) blooms on new growth, so
can be cut back any time from spring to midsummer and will continue to bloom.
She can lightly tidy up the plant in autumn but it’s best to leave hard pruning till
spring so the old growth protects the lower parts from frost in winter. By pruning
in March she can lightly trim the jasmine at the same time and possibly the
clematis if it is a late-flowering kind, like Brian’s ‘Jackmanii’ one growing with
honeysuckle on his archway. He can prune this hard, down to about 30cm so the
annual stems, which bloom at their tips, are easy to prune out.
Rambling roses, which produce new canes that need training in summer, are
more complicated. It’s usually best to grow a climber with a permanent framework,
such as a wisteria with another climber that can be pruned back hard each year.
Annuals are useful too, such as sweet peas, morning glory and canary creeper.
➤

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 81
Q&A
Why won’t camellias flower outside? Do I cut back pelargoniums? Read on

SHRUBS

Beware blackspot Q Will boiler vent

affect which shrub
we can plant?
UNA LEAHY, BY EMAIL

A Any shrub commonly grown

as a wall shrub could be planted
in this spot and shouldn’t be
affected by the boiler vent, nor
pose a structural problem. I
assume there’s a least some shade
here. Add some horizontal Q When might
supports and you could train a pineapple guava
winter jasmine or chaenomeles,
which will cover the area well
produce flowers?
and provide colour in spring or CHRISTOPHER YIANNITSAROS,
winter. Both tolerate some shade. LONDON

Q
A Your pineapple guava (Acca or
What causes new rose Feijoa sellowiana) is very ‘tight’
growth to blacken at the tips? in its pot and is probably drying
out too much between waterings.
MARGARET ALLISON, POLGOOTH, CORNWALL This plant likes full sun, warmth
and good drainage, but would

A Popular because of its sweet perfume, ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’ is prone

to disease and your rose is infected with blackspot. The new
growth probably is or has been infested with greenfly, which have
grow better if potted on into a
larger pot. Keep it moist in winter
and repot in spring, using John
naturally been controlled by ladybirds, but the distorted growth Innes No 3 compost. Also try
remains. Don’t worry about the new growth this late in the season, but pruning back some of the long
roses vulnerable to blackspot and rust should be controlled by spraying stems because flowers are
early in the season. Then, if aphids are seen, rub them off by hand. produced on the fresh regrowth.

Q Why do camellias
Weed it or feed it? only open in water?
JAN LEWIS, BY EMAIL

A It’s strange that your camellias

produce buds that open when cut
and brought into the home, but
refuse to open outdoors. Perhaps
the plants are in a very exposed or
cold site so the buds are frosted. It
is also possible, though not likely,
that the plants are dry in spring
– especially if they are in pots or
against a wall or in a raised bed.
However, it really is still a bit of
a mystery!

Q Can you ID this plant that’s

growing in our front garden? Q Do I need to A Keep them frost free over
winter, in a cool greenhouse,
AMANDA JONES, BY EMAIL
cut back 15cm-tall at about 5C or on a sunny
A This is the herb fennel, which you have cut back but it has
red pelargonium windowsill. They should be
probably regrown from the base. and produced its attractive cuttings before quite dry. Wait until spring to
cut them back, repot and start
ferny foliage and yellow flowers loved by pollinators. After overwintering? them into growth again.
flowering it will produce seeds that make many new plants. STEVE GOODRIDGE, BY EMAIL
Cut it back before they go to seed if you wish to prevent this.

82 Garden Answers
 PROBLEMS SOLVED

BULBS
YUCCAS & PALMS
Boxing clever

Q Is a pest causing
this distortion?
ANITA PRITCHARD, BY EMAIL

A Yucca elephantipes is not

usually considered a hardy plant
so your garden must be sheltered
and not subject to severe winter

Q
cold for it to have survived for 20
Which spring bulbs suit windowboxes? years. The damage to the new
foliage might be due to climatic
HILARY SHEPPARD, BY EMAIL
conditions such as extreme heat
shrivelling the young foliage so
A The light only comes from one side in a windowbox, so any bulbs are prone to ‘stretch’ to
reach the light and will be taller and floppier than in the garden. So short varieties are
better. Prone to falling over, hyacinths are best avoided unless you like drooping stems or buy
it doesn’t expand properly, or to
persistent wet, causing similar
issues. It should grow out of this
smaller-sized bulbs with less dense flower spikes. Dwarf daffodils and tulips are a good choice.
– it’s not pest related.
‘Tête-à-tête’ is among the best and the double form, ‘Tête Bouclé’, is a good alternative. Both
flower in March, into April. The Greigii tulips, usually with purple-striped foliage, are short and
bloom in April and ‘Red Riding Hood’, with scarlet blooms, is readily available and inexpensive.
Muscari (grape hyacinths) in shades of blue and white are good value too and bloom in April.
They look great supplemented with primroses and polyanthus or pansies and violas (above).

Q Can you name this very

large bulb whose flower
broke off in a storm?
SUE RYAN, BY EMAIL

A Your plant is a crinum – probably Crinum

powellii. This sun-loving bulb originates Q What might have
from streams and lakesides in tropical
regions and is borderline hardy so prefers a
killed this palm?
sheltered spot. It has huge bulbs and takes BARRY PROCKTER, BY EMAIL
time to establish and produce its scented, A I believe it’s a trachycarpus
trumpet-like flowers.
Q Do I lift gladioli or can I (inset), which are hardy so it’s very
unlikely that it was killed by cold. It
leave them in the ground? looks as though it’s planted in the
NEIL HARRISON, BY EMAIL soil so it’s unlikely that it died
through drought either. The one
A It is traditional to lift and dry gladioli
factor that affects
in autumn because, on heavy, wet soils
trachycarpus is
especially, the corms can die over winter.
waterlogged soil so
But recent mild winters have meant that
that seems the most
gladioli frequently survive when left in the
likely cause of its
ground. The problem is that gladioli often
demise. Like most
produce masses of tiny cormlets from which
palms, it won’t
a mass of leaves appear that won’t flower
produce shoots from
because they’re too crowded. Lifting the
the base if sawn off,
corms and separating these cormlets keeps
but I’d wait a year to
large corms vigorous. You can grow the
see if new leaves appear.
cormlets on to maturity if you wish.
➤

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 83
PROBLEMS SOLVED

BORDER PLANTS

Treasure hunting
Q Can you get pink
leucanthemums?
FREDERICK KOPELAK, BY EMAIL

A Leucanthemums are usually

white, although there are some
yellow cultivars available, but no
pink kinds. But there are pink
argyranthemums, which are
commonly called marguerites,
but these are tender, shrubby
perennials and not hardy
herbaceous plants. Burncoose
Nurseries (01209 860316) offers
‘Raspberry Ruffles’ from £6
for a 1L pot.
Q Where can I buy
yellow-coloured

trollius plants?
MRS H SCHOLEY, MARYPORT,
CUMBRIA
A You can get a good range of
these moisture-loving perennials
from farmyardnurseries.co.uk
(01559 363389 for £6.99 for
a 2L plant), crocus.co.uk (01344
578000 for £5.99 for a 9cm
potted plant), and thompson-
morgan.com (0844 573 1818
for £14.99 for a 1L plant), for
dispatch in spring 2024.
Q
Why are healthy cosmos
showing no signs of blooming?
DOROTHY IRVING, BY EMAIL
A Cosmos are usually sown in March or April but May is not too late.
I am afraid that the lack of flowers is because of the plant and not
down to you. Cosmos bipinnatus is naturally a plant that only flowers
when days are short and nights are long and some poor mixes of seed
will contain these primitive kinds that do not flower in summer. As
such they make huge plants that keep growing and will not flower until
October. For this reason it is always worth buying good quality, named
varieties and not cheap anonymous mixtures.

Q Do the stamens
Wildlife wonders on this lily look
rather peculiar?
J DOWSON, BY EMAIL

A There are hundreds of Oriental

lilies, and I can’t name this one,
but it is similar to ‘Stargazer’.
Lilies are highly variable and
include pollenless kinds with no
stamens. Your flowers appear to
be slightly distorted and it is the Q Which plant is
stigma in the centre that looks taking over my lawn
misshapen rather than the
stamens, which look normal. and borders?
ANGELA SPILSBURY, BY EMAIL

A Alchemilla mollis or lady’s

mantle is planted as ground cover
Q Is this butterfly or moth new to UK? for the delicate leaves and lime
MAVE TURNER, BY EMAIL green flowers – it can be invasive.
It has woody rhizomes but seed is
A The Jersey tiger moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) was
more likely to spread, so shear off
traditionally only found in the Channel Isles in the UK. But it
the flowers as soon as they open.
has started to spread and is now found throughout the south
Dig up as many plants as you can,
of England and is becoming common in London. It is a showy
then smother them with black
moth that flies during the day as well as at night and
plastic or weed fabric. If you can’t
the caterpillars feed on nettles.
remove lawn plants by hand, use
a lawn weedkiller. ➤

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 85
 PROBLEMS SOLVED

FRUIT & VEG LAWN CARE

Sub-standard berries
Q Why are my
blueberries
small and hard,
rather than plump
and juicy? Q What attacks
JEAN BARNISH, BY EMAIL lawns, tearing up
large chunks of turf?
A Blueberry bushes need to be
grown in acid soil so your plant
is probably best suited to a pot but
BERYL PERHAM AND GINA
O’MEARA, BOTH BY EMAIL
it obviously needs more regular A Foxes, birds and badgers will
watering if the fruits are small and all dig up the lawn to get to
hard, though it could be that the fruits leatherjackets or chafer grubs
were not ripe when you picked them. beneath the surface, which feed
on the grass roots. Both can be
controlled with nematodes,
Q Did carpet and applied in August to October or
April and May, when the soil is
plastic covering moist. In addition to reducing the
cause white rot in direct damage to the lawn caused
allotment onions? by the grubs, they should avoid
the digging activities of larger
JANE ARGUILE, BY EMAIL
pests. The nematodes are
A White rot is a serious disease available from suppliers including
and will make it impossible to nematodesdirect.co.uk.
grow onions or related crops
in the soil for several years.
The carpet mulch will not have
caused the problem but it may
have produced constantly moist
conditions that then encouraged
the problem. However, if there
was no white rot in the soil
previously it would not have
caused the issue.

Q Are deer to blame for decimated Q Help! My friend

climbing beans? used weedkiller on
DEREK MONK, BY EMAIL her lawn instead
A Deer might be to blame, but snails are more likely culprits of weed and feed
because they’ve been serious pests this year with the wet
JANE CONSTANTINE, BY EMAIL
weather. If deer are the problem, you can try deterring them
by hanging up CDs or other shiny, glittering and noisy A Provided the weedkiller used
objects, such as empty food cans. was glyphosate based, the soil
won’t be affected. So, although
the grass is dead, new seed can
be sown and now is an ideal time.
Q Flowering stems on two of my blackberry Start by cultivating the soil, to
plants suddenly died, yet new growth is loosen the surface and reduce
now appearing. Was it a fungal attack? compaction, then rake and level it.
Firm well by treading and remove
PETER CHAPPEL, BY EMAIL any stones. Then rake again and
A Although there could be a fungal issue, this is less likely because other sow fresh grass seed. Keep the
plants as well as the new canes on the blackberry are unaffected. It is seed and soil moist until the seed
more likely that some physical damage was done to the base of the old germinates. By next spring
cane. The best action is to cut it out at the base and then tie in the new the lawn will be ready to walk
canes so they can crop next year. on and disaster averted. ➤

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 87
 PROBLEMS SOLVED

PESTS, DISEASES & DISORDERS

Off the scale

Q Can you ID strange lumps on our plants?
KEN ROWBOTTOM AND NICHOLAS FRAME, BOTH BY EMAIL

A Scale insects affect the

stems of trees and shrubs,
sucking sap and weakening

Q
the plant. You can apply an
insecticide but if the tree is
small and they are easy to
Is there any way to save
access, it is possibly easier just affected fuchsia plants?
to scrub or scrape them off. RON LONG AND SYLVIA OLD, BOTH BY EMAIL
The small size of the plums
on Ken’s tree (right) is possibly
unrelated and could be
because of the dry weather
A Fuchsia gall mite is a microscopic pest that was only discovered in
the UK in 2007, but is spreading rapidly and becoming a serious
problem. The mites don’t kill the plants but cause flowers and foliage to
in June or because they were become seriously distorted. Rapid intervention is essential but there is
not thinned and the tree is no chemical control. You need to cut off all affected shoots and ideally
carrying a heavy crop. all the upper part of the plant, where the mites will be present and
With Nicholas’s mimosa, dispose of these, but don’t add to the compost heap. Regrowth may be
there is a mixture of hard and free from infection but could become reinfected. The mites are thought
fluffy lumps because the to be killed by frost and hardy fuchsias grown outside are usually less
female scales ‘lift’ when affected. If frost does not kill the top growth, cut back in spring to
mature to expose the eggs remove foliage so they sprout from the base. Keeping greenhouse
covered in waxy ‘wool’. plants as cold as possible in winter may help with control.

Q Why are hydrangeas mouldy?

Plant identification GILLIAN LADD, BY EMAIL

A The mouldy appearance of the inner, fertile florets

on this lacecap hydrangea might have been caused
by the wet and cold July. But if it’s in a pot, it could be
the plant dried out at some time earlier in summer.
Luckily, they don’t add much to the display, compared
to the larger, ray florets around the edge, so the amount
of colour on your plant won’t be affected.

ASK THE EXPERTS

Send us your questions!

Need some gardening advice? Fill in this form and post it to
us, or email your query to gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk

Dear Garden Answers,

My gardening problem is

Q Are my neighbours’ lovely

pink flowers nerines?
PHOTOS: ALAMY, SHUTTERSTOCK

JUDITH BROOME, BY EMAIL

A These bright pink flowers are indeed Nerine bowdenii.

The strappy foliage is not usually present when the flowers
are produced but a few leaves might appear. It prefers very My name & address
well-drained soil and a sunny spot. They can be slow to
establish but are well worth the wait to see the bright flowers
in October when there are so few flowers in the garden. Send to: Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House,
Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 89
 PROBLEMS SOLVED

Design Solutions
Island beds, lawn paths and prairie planting work
together to add interest to this wildlife haven garden

Create lawn
pathways
Having removed the paved
path which sat incongruously in
the garden, the lawn, now
surrounding the island beds, forms
different pathways through the
garden. Choose a different route
each time through wet
weather to protect the lawn
from turning to mud.

Draw
the eye
The repeated planting
scheme in the island beds
leads the eye down the
length of the garden.
Including grasses and
stately seedheads ensures
structure and interest
continues into
winter.

H ow can we add colour and texture

to our woodland garden?
This question comes from the owner of this
newly acquired garden, nestled into the top of
a woodland nature reserve. They are lucky
enough to welcome lots of wildlife, including
foxes and muntjac deer on a regular basis,
however, they would like to add more interest
to the garden but are not sure where to start.
DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION: SARA EDWARDS
With master of prairie planting Piet
Oudolf's field at Hauser & Wirth Somerset art
gallery in mind, I have chosen to introduce
some island beds to the centre of the lawn,
thereby creating different grass paths down
through the garden to the woodland beyond.
Having fallen out of fashion in recent years,
too. Because the garden has been visited by
muntjac deer in the past, I have kept the
planting, especially around the boundaries, to
predominantly deer-resistant plants, hoping
to deter them from wanting to dine on them. It
should be noted that ‘resistant’ has been used,
not ‘proof’ and it all comes down to what other
food is available to the deer.
The British Deer Society says: “A good way
to maintain a healthy, diverse garden able to
cope with occasional deer visits is to provide
natural food alternatives to your prize roses.

Inspired by an earlier prairie-style planting
feature, they would like to ensure the area is
still in keeping with its natural surroundings
while adding more colour and a tad more
structure. With tall trees flanking the edges
of the garden, introducing sun-loving plants
that thrive in full sun or part shade is going
to be quite tricky because shadows will be
cast over the garden as the sun moves
throughout the day.
island beds take the planting areas away from
the shady edges of the garden, and into the
light. These oval beds are planted with a
mixture of prairie-style herbaceous perennials
and ornamental grasses.
The boundaries of the lawn have also been
curved, creating additional areas for planting
under the trees, allowing for more shade-
loving plants to be included and bringing
additional colour and texture to these borders,
This can be achieved simply by allowing
brambles, rosebay willowherb, rowan
(mountain ash), dandelion, campion, hoary
cinquefoil, sweet lupin, redleg, ribwort and
yarrow to grow in the garden.”
Here this would easily be achieved in the
lower part of the garden by the gate, which is
the point where the deer are most likely to
enter. If you are keen to have plants such as
roses in a garden that deer frequent, consider

90 Garden Answers
 Work with
wildlife
Wildlife-friendly gardens
have been in fashion for many
years now, but rabbits, deer,
squirrels, slugs and snails are not as
welcome as garden birds, bees and
butterflies, due to the damage they SARA EDWARDS
can inflict. The RHS website has launched her
useful information on resistant garden design
plants and practices to allow practice in 2019
all wildlife to happily at RHS Malvern
co-exist. Spring Festival
Add with her RHS
focal points Gold medal and
If you don’t get visited by Best in Category
the real thing, why not add Green Living
some focal point sculptures like Space Garden
these metal stag and deer ‘Defiance’. She
silhouettes, from which your made her RHS
plants will always be safe. Made Chelsea Flower
from metal that rusts with Show debut in
age, they draw the eye 2021 with the IBC
down into the Pocket Forest.
garden. Find out more
at no30design.
co.uk; Instagram
@no30
designstudio

Find
discreet
solutions
When designing a garden,
however beautiful that garden
is, it must function on a
practical level too, and washing
lines are often an important
part of that function.
Retractable ones offer a
perfect, discreet
solution.

MOODBOARD

BEFORE

planting them close to the house where

human activity is more likely to deter them.
Spring bulbs and shade-tolerant perennials,
such as hellebores, pulmonaria, lamprocapnos, Clockwise from above: island beds of prairie planting
epimediums and tiarellas can be planted in by Piet Oudolf at Hauser & Wirth Somerset; mixing
the borders to bring colour and interest early shade-loving plants beneath the conifers; accommodating
in the year before the vibrant prairie plants visiting deer without them destroying the borders
take over the display and really shine.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 91
Notebook 9

8
10

1 Dryopteris
erythrosora
This semi-evergreen
2 Geranium
pyrenaicum
‘Bill Wallis’
11

fern has copper-tinted Small, rich purple 6

fronds when young that flowers on purple-
slowly mature to dark tinged stems summer
green. Dappled, full and autumn. Full sun,
or part shade. H: 60cm, light shade. H: 30cm,
S: 40cm. S: 50cm.
12
5

13
4

2
14

3 Kniphofia
‘Tawny King’
Fantastic ‘pokers’ with
4 Agastache
‘Blackadder’
Perennial which
15
dark bronze stems and has lovely whorls
tubular, cream flowers of long-lasting,
from apricot buds in smoky violet summer
July with evergreen, flowers and pointed,
strappy leaves. Sun, aromatic leaves, loved 1
light shade. H: 1.2m, by butterflies. Sun.
S: 1m. H: 90cm, S: 40cm.

7 Deschampsia
cespitosa
Forming
evergreen
tussocks of stiff
green leaves
topped by open,
arching, silvery-
purple spikelets
all summer, it
tolerates drought
once established.

5 6
Digitalis lutea Anemanthele Sun, light shade.
Perennial foxglove lessoniana H: 1.5m, S: 1.2m.
that annually produces Wonderful pheasant’s
elegant airy spires of
pretty, creamy-yellow
blooms absolutely loved
tail grass forms a
fountain-like clump of
slender evergreen
8 Achillea ‘Walther Funcke’
Orange-red flattened yarrow flowers
add horizontal interest in the planting
by bees and other foliage with yellow, scheme. Maturing to creamy yellow, they
pollinators, June to orange and red are held high on upright stems, which
August. Part shade. markings. Full sun, light emerge from a loose clump of ferny
H: 90cm, S: 45cm. shade. H&S: 1m. foliage. Full sun. H&S: 60cm.

92 Garden Answers
 Design Solutions
9 Sanguisorba
officinalis
‘Red Thunder’
10 Calamagrostis
acutiflora
‘Karl Foerster’
Herbaceous perennial This lovely deciduous
with abundant oval, upright grass, is one
pompon-shaped, of the earliest to
deep burgundy flowers appear in spring and
July to September on has good year-round
tall, branching stems interest. It bears
that bees find feathery plumes in the
extremely attractive. summer and bleached
For best results, stems catching frost
grow in moist, through winter.
well-drained soil. Full Dappled or part
sun to partial shade. shade, full sun. H: 1.8m,
H: 2m, S: 60cm. S: 60cm.

11 Molinia caerulea
arundinacea
‘Transparent’
12 Alchemilla mollis
An herbaceous
perennial forming a
13 Nepeta faassenii
‘Junior Walker’
A compact catmint,
14 Stipa tenuissima
This neat,
compact, perennial
15 Echinacea pallida
Large, pale pink,
daisy-like flowers with
The purple, feathery clump of softly hairy, with flowers smothered grass bears closely unusual, reflexed petals
flowers of this light green leaves with in bees, and aromatic packed, stiff, thread-like and prominent, burnt
deciduous grass scalloped, toothed foliage loved by cats. stems. In summer, orange centres July to
create gentle edges. Small, yellow Use it to line path masses of elegant pale September. It attracts
movement as they flowers above the edges where the scent feathery seed heads bees and butterflies,
catch every breeze. foliage in early summer. is released in early are held above the and birds will flock to
Full sun, part shade. Full sun, full/part shade. summer. Full sun, part foliage. Full sun. the seed heads. Full
H: 2m, S: 80cm. H&S: 50cm. shade. H&S: 40cm. H: 60cm, S: 30cm. sun. H: 1.2m, S: 60cm.

Shopping RHS Serenity Vileda Get

the
look
swing seat Cordomatic
£3,946.20 Retractable
red cedar, Washing Line
2.3x1.2m footprint, £14.99 15m,
sittingspiritually.co.uk vileda.co.uk

PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING

PHOTOS: ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK

Ancient Stone Salt

Glaze Bird Bath Rustic Steel Garden Hagrid, The Stag
£199.99 Bird Feeder Garden Sculpture
H: 64cm, bowl £45.94 Removable tray £515 166x120cm,
diameter: 53cm, and mounting pole, devenick
gardenesque.com indooroutdoors.co.uk designs.co.uk

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 93
 BUYERS’
GUIDE
GARDEN LIFE
Geoff Hodge looks at wildlife cameras so you
can watch what’s going on in your garden at
any time of the day or night
M
any of us are getting more engaged
with attracting and caring for
wildlife in the garden. And,
because of our nosey natures, we
want to see what the creatures who visit our
gardens are getting up to when they’re there,
and wildlife cameras are now very popular.
It’s not surprising that we want to watch
and even video wildlife since much of what
animals do can be very interesting and often
extremely entertaining. Seeing eggs hatching
and watching the baby birds being raised by
their frantic parents using a nestbox cam or
finding out who has been eating your roses
overnight with a garden or trail cam are all
possible. We’re all used to seeing secret
filming of wildlife on TV documentaries, and
now we can do it ourselves with something
closer to our heart – and our homes – thanks
to the innovative cameras now on the
market, which have also come
down in price. But it’s not
necessarily a good thing to go as
cheap as possible. As Adrian
PHOTOS: ALAMY, SHUTTERSTOCK
NOCTURNAL MISCHIEF
A camera catches fox
cubs emerging from
their garden den
94 Garden Answers
Hidden
Thomas from the RSPB and GA’s wildlife
writer says: “You definitely get what you pay
for!” And of course, you need the local wildlife
to play ball and turn up in the first place!
Trail and garden cams
Trail and garden cams can be positioned in
any strategic position in the garden. Most
trail cams are small ,compact and have a
camouflage design body. They’re on stand-by
mode until triggered when something passes
in front of the passive infrared (PIR) sensor.
Of course, that could also be the local feral cat
community or a burglar! The best cameras
have multiple PIR sensors at different angles
to capture movement across a wider field of
view (FOV). They take colour images in
daylight and the majority
switch to black and white
images when it’s dark,
using infrared
light that won’t scare animals. When
triggered, they capture a few still images,
moving video images or both, which are
saved to a SD memory card – the same kind
found in most digital cameras, but WiFi-
enabled models also allow you to view the
action live. For the majority of models, you
have to buy the card separately. How many
images and how much video you can store on
a SD card is determined by its memory
capacity, measured in gigabytes (GB). Check
the maximum GB the camera can handle;
cards with a higher storage capacity won’t
work in them.
Trail cams are usually operated by
batteries that can last for several weeks,
because the camera is generally only active
for a few seconds every
time. Some models
have solar panels to
recharge the batteries.
Larger garden cams
need mains electricity.
 GARDEN BUYS

ON THE MARKET BIRD FEEDERS

GREEN FEATHERS
BIRD FEEDER
CAMERA
WITH WIFI
CONNECTION
£225
3 megapixel
camera, watch
live via the app
GARDENATURE BIRD
or record to the
FEEDER VIEWCAM ULTRA
supplied
HIGH RESOLUTION £119.95
micro-SD card.
752x582 pixels, house-side
power supply, wired
connections for TV or
computer.
RF CONCEPTS
BIRD CAM £198
2 megapixel
camera, wireless,
battery powered, GREEN BACKYARD BIRD
watch live or record FEEDER WITH MINI IP CAMERA
to a micro-SD card. £197 3 megapixel camera, watch
live via the app or record to a
micro-SD card.

Other things to check of a nestbox to look down into the main transmit the images by WiFi or via a mini
Field of view (FOV) is the area the camera nesting chamber below, or next to a feeder to aerial and receiver.
covers, usually measured in degrees. A larger impolitely stare at the birds having their Like trail cams, they use infrared LED
FOV captures a wider area, but objects look dinner. Hedgehog house cams are similarly lights to illuminate the interior, so faint they
smaller, whereas a smaller FOV captures less, mounted inside these structures. You can don’t disturb the wildlife, producing colour
but in better definition. either buy a separate camera and install it images by day and black and white images at
Trigger time and shutter speed measure yourself, but it’s easier to buy one with a night. Controllable daytime LEDs ensure
how long it takes the PIR sensor to detect a pre-installed camera. The vast majority of better image quality even in low-light
moving object and for the camera to activate; these are powered by mains electricity, conditions. A built-in microphone allows you
the shorter the trigger time, the better the either using an outdoor plug socket or in to clearly hear everything going on.
camera, and it’ll capture fast moving subjects. those using a house-side power supply. The You can watch live video on your TV or
Recovery time measures how long it takes electric cable is bundled up with either AV on your computer, smartphone or tablet,
the camera to be ready to shoot again. This is (audio visual) cables that go into the back of often using an app. And, brilliantly, motion
especially important if the camera can shoot your TV, and/or with network cables to detection with instant messaging ensures
video and images at the same time; a long connect to your computer. Other models you won’t miss any interesting moments!
recovery time means the camera will take a
few seconds to recover after taking an image
before recording the video, by which time the
subject may have moved on.
Lo-glow and no-glow refers to the infrared
WHAT TO LOOK FOR HOUSING
Make sure that
the body is dust
LEDs that produce the ‘invisible light’ used at POWER GREEN FEATHERS and waterproof;
night. Lo-glow cameras produce a very faint SOURCE GARDEN look for an IP rating
red glow that can spook animals, whereas This will either be WILDLIFE TRAIL of 55 and
no-glow ones use a higher infrared frequency battery or reduced CAMERA HD £149 above.
that is only visible when you look directly at voltage mains 12 megapixel SCREEN
the LEDs. But this does affect picture quality electricity. camera, battery Good trail
and images can appear somewhat blurry. powered, image cams have a mini
and video, record screen inside,
Nestbox and feeder cams to an optional helping you to
Nestbox and bird feeder cams are small WIFI micro-SD card. decide where to
cameras that are either mounted on the lid ENABLED
point it.
If the camera is
WiFi enabled, make
sure your signal CAMERA MICROPHONE
strength is strong ATTACHMENT QUALITY
We want to see what the enough. Make sure the Measured in
An in-built
microphone
creatures that visit our camera can be megapixels; higher will also capture
firmly attached to numbers mean
gardens are getting up to whatever you better image
sound.

mount it on. quality.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 95
 GARDEN BUYS
ON THE MARKET
TRAIL AND
GARDEN CAMS
CAMPARK TC06 £119.43
60 megapixel camera,
image and video, colour
night time, watch live via
the app or record to an
optional micro-SD card.
GREEN BACKYARD WILDLIFE
TRAIL CAMERA £162.50
2 megapixel camera, battery
powered, image and video,
watch live or record to an
optional micro-SD card.
SPYPOINT FORCE PRO
£210.99 30 megapixel
camera, battery
powered, image and
video, record to an
optional micro-SD card.
97 Garden Answers
BROWNING DEFENDER
WIRELESS PRO SCOUT
£103.51 18 megapixel camera,
battery powered, image and
video, watch live via
the app or record
to an optional
micro-SD card.
RSPB WILDLIFE
CAMERA £189
14 megapixel camera,
battery powered,
image and video,
record to an optional
micro-SD card.
BUSHNELL CORE
NO GLOW TRAIL
CAMERA £184.99 NHBS WIFI BULLET
24 megapixel WILDLIFE CAMERA
camera, battery £137.99 2 megapixel
powered, camera, image and video,
image and watch live via the app
video, record or record to
to an optional an optional
micro-SD card. micro-SD card.
LTL ACORN 6210WMC
PLUS £146.29
12 megapixel camera,
battery powered,
image and video,
record to an optional
micro-SD card.
GARDENATURE GARDEN WILDLIFE
CAMERA KIT £114 2 megapixel camera,
house-side power supply, wired
connections for TV.
VOSKER V200-INTL LTE SOLAR
CELLULAR CAMERA £599.99
Battery and solar
GREEN FEATHERS WIFI
powered, image
WILDLIFE CAMERA From
and video, watch
£129 2 megapixel camera,
live or record to
image and video, watch live
included
or record to an optional
micro-SD card.
micro-SD card.
GREEN BACKYARD MULTI-PURPOSE
OUTDOOR TV CAMERA WITH HDMI BOX
£98.65 1920x1080 pixels, wired HDMI
connection for TV.
 GARDEN BUYS

ON THE MARKET GREEN BACKYARD

WIFI BIRD BOX

BIRDBOXES CAMERA BUNDLE

£169.45 3 megapixel
camera, watch live or
GARDENATURE SOLAR POWERED record on computer,
BATTERY WIFI BIRD BOX CAMERA tablet or smartphone.
SYSTEM £219.99 3 megapixel
camera,
motion
detector
triggers the GREEN FEATHERS WIFI BIRD
camera to BOX CAMERA DELUXE BUNDLE
begin £197.50 2 megapixel camera, watch live via the
recording app or record to an optional micro-SD card.
and can be
watched via
the app.

RSPB WIFI
CAMERA
NESTBOX
SYSTEM
£220
2 megapixel
camera, watch
live via the app
RSPB NEST BOX CAMERA SYSTEM or record to an GARDENATURE WIFI BIRD BOX CAMERA
optional SYSTEM £179.99 4 megapixel camera,
£160 752x582 pixels, house-side
micro-SD card. watch live via the app or record to an
power supply, AV/HDMI wired
connections for TV or computer. optional micro-SD card

HEDGEHOG HOUSES GREEN FEATHERS

HEDGEHOG BOX CAMERA
DELUXE BUNDLE WIFI
GREEN FEATHERS HEDGEHOG BOX CONNECTION
CAMERA DELUXE BUNDLE TV CABLE £222 3 megapixel camera,
CONNECTION watch live via the app or
£122 3 megapixel camera, record to an optional
house-side power supply, micro-SD card.
wired connection
for TV, other
connection
options
available.

NHBS WIRED HEDGEHOG CAMERA KIT

£109.39 512x582 pixels, house-side
power supply, wired connections for
TV or computer (HD camera £198.35
and WiFi camera £214.40 models
also available).

Suppliers ● Browning Trail Cameras, browningtrailcameras.com ● Bushnell and Vosker from Scott County International, 01556
503587, scottcountry.co.uk ● Campark, campark.net/en-gb ● Gardenature, 01255 429931, gardenature.co.uk ● Green Backyard,
green-backyard.com ● Green Feathers, 0117 325 8128, green-feathers.co.uk ● LTL Acorn and Spypoint from UK Wildlife Cameras,
0203 727 5239, ukwildlifecameras.co.uk ● NHBS, 01803 865913, nhbs.com ● RF Concepts, 0203 051 5202, rfconcepts.co.uk
● RSPB, 0345 0347733, shopping.rspb.org.uk

99 Garden Answers
 YOUR GARDEN LIFE

WRITE TO US AT Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch

Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk

Star
TEL 01733 395076 WEBSITE gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk

Beautiful butterflies
This sweet brimstone perched so
gracefully and appeared like a leaf.
Its perfect disguise ensured a safe
dining experience. Another amazing
gift of gardening!
Aldeen, by email
IN IT TOGETHER letter
Thank you for your inspiring Wildplay
article (August, p44). Even though we
only have a small back garden in London,
you’ve given my four-year-old daughter
and I lots of fun things to do together that
helpfully don’t require lots of props or
preparation. While exploring our garden
mini-beasts, we discovered this amazing
spider in the middle of eating/subduing
a large fly on the agapanthus. My
daughter initially spotted the fly and
when I took a closer look I noticed the
spider camouflaged against the white
petals. We were fascinated and both of
us took a photo on my phone. It was
a lovely thing to share together and
shows how exciting the garden can be
whatever your age.
Molly Igra, London

CONGRATULATIONS As author of this month’s star

letter, Molly wins this complete set-up for feeding
garden birds from the RSPB: a classic seed feeder,
nut and nibble feeder and lots of lovely bird food.
● The kit is part of the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home
initiative. For more information on this and other
RSPB products, go to rspbshop.co.uk. All proceeds
go towards helping birds and wildlife.
Red admirals on buddleja.
Marcus Edmeades, by email;
and Nikki Campana, Surrey

Lovely comma Going bananas!

butterfly is such Five years ago,
a delight to see. I transplanted my banana
Margaret tree into the garden. When
Jamieson, it’s cold, I wrap it in fleece,
by email bubble wrap and a rotary dryer
cover to allow it
to survive the North
Derbyshire winter.
Imagine my surprise and
delight when this year not
This small blue only has the plant survived
butterfly seems but has also rewarded me with
to be enjoying my both a flower and bananas. I’ve always
runner beans! The gift that keeps on giving said that there’s no way the tree would
Marilyn Inspired by your moveable feast project (July, produce anything as it is growing
McClelland, p80), a rusty wheelbarrow that my children outdoors this far north but I am pleased
Devon gave me years ago as a present has been given to say that this year it has made me out
new life. Although it’s been replaced with a to be a liar!
newer model I’m delighted I can still enjoy it! Glyn Ashley, by email
Penny Walmsley, by email

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 101

 YOUR GARDEN LIFE
SUMMER’S BOUNTY
Here’s this month’s round-up of your top garden performers... thanks for sharing!
15-head sunflower. Desiree
Saunders, Newton Abbot
Marvellous mallows.
Margaret Maller, Glos
Our front garden, GA
seed cosmos. Carol
Silversides, by email
Delicate beauty
Prize At noon I photographed this dragonfly as
photo
it settled on flowers in our garden. The
delicate wings look like lace and seem
hardly sufficient to carry its weight, yet it
manages to fly from flower to flower.
Marie Sidaway, by email
102 Garden Answers
Extremely fluffy cotinus. Dazzling dahlias.
Jill Smith, by email Steve Watkin, by email
Perfect poppy. Andrea Passion fruit bounty. Jacqui
Bowyer, by email Portwood, Manchester
Dainty blue asters. Mallows successfully
Carole Sampson, grown from free seeds!
Braunton, Devon Di Newhouse, by email
WIN SECATEURS
WORTH £61.99!
Send us a high-res photo of your
favourite plants or wildlife with a
short description and you could
win this pair of Felco No 6
secateurs, which are a compact
model, perfect for gardeners with
small or medium-sized hands.
● Forged aluminium alloy handles
and high-quality steel blades.
● Offset cutting head; ideal for
efficient pruning.
● Shock absorbers to alleviate
stress when carrying out a lot
of pruning in one go.
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£22
when you
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Doubly good
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peonies in early summer next year

T
here is nothing quite as
impressive in the early
summer garden than the
voluptuous flowers of a
peony, and these specially selected
double-flowering varieties will give
you even more flower power.
Flamboyant, fringed, double, lightly
fragrant flowers that resemble large
pompons bloom above attractive,
dark green, glossy foliage.
Choose from three charming
cultivars: pink ‘Bouquet Perfect’,
scarlet ‘Lancaster Imperial’ or
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Buy 1 x bare-root plant for £16
or the double-flowering Peony
Collection of three bare-roots (1 of
each plant) for £26 – saving £22!

‘Bouquet Perfect’

‘Lancaster
Imperial’

‘Many Happy
Returns’

104 Garden Answers

 GARDEN BUYS

SWEET WILLIAMS FROM £1/PLANT

DIANTHUS BARBAROSSA MIX

A cottage garden mix of sweet Williams in complementary

shades appear above evergreen foliage, filling your borders
and containers with sweet, spicy fragrance. From June to
September, clusters of pink, white, purple and red flowers
with frayed edges appear on upright stems. Loved by
pollinators, they also make excellent cut flowers. H: 60cm,
S: 40cm. Supplied as bare-roots, delivery from November.
● Buy 10 x bare-root plants for £18
● Buy 20 x for £25 – save £11
● Buy 30 x for £30 – just £1 each

ORDER COUPON Title.................. Initial................. Surname ...................................................

● ORDER BY POST: Send coupon to Garden Answers Reader Offer,
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426245 and quote ROGA ● ORDER ONLINE: hayloft.co.uk/ROGA

Code Description Qty Price Cost ....................................................................... Postcode..........................

Pink peony ‘Bouquet Perfect’

ROGA-37PB1 £16 Daytime phone number........................................................................
x 1 bare-root plant

Red peony ‘Lancaster Imperial’

ROGA-37PL1 £16 Email address............................................................................................
x 1 bare-root plant

White peony ‘Many Happy

ROGA-37PM1 £16 I enclose a cheque for £ ............…........ made payable to Hayloft
Returns’ x 1 bare-root plant

Double-flowering Peony
ROGA-37PC3 Collection x 3 bare-root plants £26 with my name and address on the back.
(1 of each cultivar) – save £22!
Or charge my Visa/Mastercard/Maestro
ROGA-37DM10 Dianthus Barbarossa Mix x 10 £18

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TERMS & CONDITIONS Dispatched in November. Offer closes 31 October 2023. Please note your contract for supply of
goods is with Hayloft, Manor Farm, Pensham, Worcs WR103HB. Full T&Cs available on request. All items are subject to availability.
All orders will receive an order acknowledgement. Occasionally the advertised delivery date may change, however, this will be
clearly stated on your order confirmation. Offer available to UK addresses only. Reader offer cannot be used in conjunction
with any other promotions or discounts.
Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 105
ORIENTAL 4
bare-root
POPPIES
poppies only
£9.99
save £12!

Light up your borders in late spring and early

summer with this less-than-half-price offer!

T
hese flamboyant Oriental
poppies will light up your
borders in late spring and early
summer. They thrive in full sun and
are happy in poor, dry soil. These
clump-forming perennials create
neat rosettes of deeply-cut leaves
covered with coarse hairs, bringing
fabulous texture to borders. Their
large satiny flowers provide a splash
of colour in summer, followed by
attractive rounded seed heads.
H: 90cm, S: 60cm.
This collection comprises: Papaver
orientale ‘Beauty of Livermere’ (red
blooms with black centre markings);
‘Royal Wedding’ (glistening white
petals and a dark centre); ‘Victoria
Louise’ (apricot pink, crepe paper
petals form large flowers with black
markings); ‘Queen Alexandra’ (large
vibrant flowers of a vivid coral pink).
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and you save £12. ‘Beauty of
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106 Garden Answers

 GARDEN BUYS

TRY THESE MONEY-SAVING OFFERS TOO!

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Vibrant red lupin ‘My Castle’, pure
white ‘Noble Maiden’ and bicolour
‘The Governor’ will deliver colour
and structure to early summer
plantings. Reliable and easy to grow,
these hardy perennials return bigger
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S: 75cm. Supplied as bare-roots.
● Buy 6 for £14.99 – save £20.96
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Scented and compact wallflower This magnificent mix combines blue

‘Harlequin Mixed’ comes in a agapanthus ‘Queen of the Ocean’ and
palette of harmonious but vibrant white ‘Polar Ice’ for a striking two-
hot pinks, sizzling oranges and cool tone display. In summer, these
creams. Flowering non-stop from impressive perennials lend their
spring to early summer, these stature to borders and patio pots,
bare-roots can be planted straight where their architectural seed heads
out into beds and pots to create a continue the display into autumn. The
fantastic tapestry of scented blooms are also magnificent in cut
colour. Grown as a biennial, it will flower displays. Hardy in many parts
cope with even the poorest soils. of the UK, if good drainage and winter
H&S: 30cm. Supplied as bulbs. mulch is provided. H: 1.2m, S: 60cm.
● Buy 10 for £9.99 – save £2. Supplied as bare-roots.
● Buy 20 for £14.99 – save £8.99. ● Buy 6 for £14.99 – save £20.95
● Buy 30 for £19.99 – save £15.98! ● Buy 12 for £19.99 – save £51.89

HOW TO ORDER & SUBSCRIBER SAVINGS

● SHOP ONLINE at thompson-morgan.com/TM_GA103 ● SHOP BY POST Fill in this form and send to Garden
Garden Answers subscribers can go to thompson-morgan.com/ Answers, Oriental Poppy Collection Offer, Dept TM_
TM_GA104 to enjoy 10% off (see subs price below) GA103/GA104, Poplar Lane, Ipswich IP8 3BU.
Please include payment by cheque payable to T&M,
Code Description Qty Price Subs Cost or fill your credit/debit card details where shown.
price

Poppy Oriental Collection (4 x

KA8201 £9.99 £8.99 Title.................. Initial................. Surname .............................................
bare-roots) £21.99 – save £12

Poppy Oriental Collection (8 x

KC2088 £12.99 £11.69 Address.......................................................................................................
bare-roots) £43.98 – save £30.99

Wallflower ‘Harlequin Mix’ (10 x .......................................................................................................................

KF2529 £9.99 £8.99
bare-roots) £11.99 – save £2

Wallflower ‘Harlequin Mix’ (20 x .......................................................................................................................

KF2530 £14.99 £13.49
bare-roots) £23.98 – save £8.99
Postcode.......................... Phone no ......................................................
Wallflower ‘Harlequin Mix’ (30 x
KF2531 £19.99 £17.99
bare-roots) £35.97 – save £15.98
Email address ............................................................................................
Lupin Red, White & Blue
KC2078 Collection (6 x bare-roots) £14.99 £13.49
£35.95 – save £20.96 I enclose a cheque for £ .................... made payable to

Lupin Red, White & Blue Thompson & Morgan with my name and address on the back.
V78593P Collection (12 x bare-roots) £19.99 £17.99
£71.90 – save £51.91
OR charge my Visa/Mastercard/Maestro
Agapanthus Blue & White
73718 Collection (6 x bare-roots) £14.99 £13.49
£35.94 – save £20.95 Card number................................................................................

Agapanthus Blue & White Start date.......................................Expiry date.........................

74991 Collection (12 x bare-roots) £19.99 £17.99
£71.88 – save £51.89
CSC digits.....................................................................................
Postage 1 £6.99

TOTAL Signature.....................................................................................................

TERMS & CONDITIONS All orders will be despatched from December 2023 onwards. All other orders will be acknowledged with a despatch date in
writing, by letter or email. Offer closes October 30, 2023, or until stock lasts ● Please note that your contract for supply of goods is with Thompson & Morgan,
Poplar Lane, Ipswich IP8 3BU ● If in the event of unprecedented demand this offer is oversubscribed, T&M reserves the right to send suitable substitute varieties
● Please tick ■ this box if you would like to receive offers from Thompson & Morgan ● Full Terms & Conditions available on request
● All offers are subject to availability ● Images are for illustration purposes only. This product cannot be delivered to the following postcodes HS, IV41-IV49, IV51,
IV55-56, KW15-KW17, PA34, PA41-48, PA60-PA78, PA80, PH40-PH44, TR21-TR25, ZE1-ZE3. We are currently unable to ship seeds or plants to Northern Ireland

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 107

 YOUR GARDEN LIFE

COMPETITION

Win these gardening goodies

Enter this month’s crossword and you could win one of two WOLF-Garten
folding pruning saws worth £44.99 each! Entry form is overleaf

WIN 2x WOLF-
Garten folding
saws worth
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Enter this month’s crossword for
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worth £44.99 each.
This month’s
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ideal for helping gardeners
with their winter pruning.
The folding pruning saw is
ideal for sawing through
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teeth enable powerful
pruning with minimal effort
and leave a smooth cutting
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This tool has two different
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in tight areas and the blade folds
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There is also a soft-touch,
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● More information at
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CLUES ACROSS CLUES DOWN
1 Ocean lending its name to a series 1 Salvia - - - - - -, tender perennial
of giant hybrid delphiniums (7) embracing the popular ‘Blue Angel’ (6)
5 Botanical name of the larch 2 Cold - - - - -, unheated structure in
genus (5) which young plants are grown on (5)
6 The reedmace, bulrush or cattail genus 3 Common name of Salvia sclarea, a
– a wetland perennial (5) biennial grown for its colourful bracts (5)
8 - - - - - - - monanthos, semi-evergreen 4 Cormous S. African flower commonly
alpine with yellow flowers in summer (7) known as the corn lily (4)
10 Slow-growing epiphyte, Platycerium 7 Solanum tuberosum, root vegetable
or - - - - horn fern (4) brought to Europe from S. America
11 Metallic element (symbol Zn) in the 16th century (6)
important to plants in forming 9 Sticky upper part of a bloom’s pistil
chlorophyll (4) receptive to pollen (6)
15 Erect, often toxic perennial also called 12 Half-hardy, purple-flowering vine,
monkshood or wolfbane (7) - - - - - - scandens or cathedral bells (6)
16 Brassica family genus of which 13 Common name for any woody plant
aizoides is yellow whitlow grass (5) of the syringa genus (5)
17 Daisy-flowered genus with species 14 Common English name for a tree
including helenium or elecampane (5) of the genus cedrus (5)
18 The so-called ‘carline thistle’ genus 15 Upper angle between a stem axis
of the aster family (7) and a leaf stalk (4)

AUGUST CROSSWORD SOLUTION CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR AUGUST WINNERS!

Across: 1 Bergamot, 6 Olea, 7 Star, 8 Dill, 9 Lewisia, 12 Althaea, 15 Soot, Crossword: Hilary Pooley, Norwich; Stephen Webb, Mountain
17 Vine, 18 Dior, 19 Freesia. Down: 1 Basil, 2 Garlic, 3 Multi, 4 Toad, 5 Perlite, Ash; and Elaine Hawkins, Bristol, each win a Wilkinson Sword
10 Eucomis, 11 Chives, 13 Lance, 14 Avens, 16 Turf. Ultralight Digging Spade. Wordsearch: Roger Mingay wins
October solutions in our December issue 3 x rudbeckia ‘Prairie Glow’ and a £30 Hayloft voucher.

Subscribe at www.greatmagazines.co.uk 109

 YOUR GARDEN LIFE

Wordsearch G N E R L A D L K A W W X L A
Enter our wordsearch to win 60 x
Timeless Tulip Collection bulbs and X O X R U U A I U X O Y N C Y
a £10 Hayloft voucher. The words are
all spring bulbs to plant now. They N O L T I N N T Y L W M E O O
may appear in any direction and/or
overlap but you need to find them all I M J D M F U A G O U X Z O J
for a chance to win. Please use the
X N O U O M N N R T O O A L N
entry coupon below.
Y M T T N F M M U A R J H A M
WORDS TO FIND:
AUTUMN BLUE AUTUMN STAR X U B B U U A A U A U T N U U
AUTUMN DAYS AUTUMNAL
AUTUMN FIRE CAMANO AUTUMN A T L L T A F U T T G T M T T
AUTUMN GLOW COOL AUTUMN
AUTUMN HAZE GOLD OF Z U Y U U O J S T L U I U U U
AUTUMN JOY AUTUMN
AUTUMN KING LUNAR AUTUMN
TOUCH OF
E A A T H X N O W U T A T M A
AUTUMN MIST
AUTUMN MOON AUTUMN
D X U C X M D L O G M X U N N
U A U T U M N K I N G N A E O
HOW TO ENTER
1. Please complete the crossword
and/or wordsearch grid(s) C O Y T S I M N M U T U A Z O
2. Fill in this entry coupon
3. Send the page to: October Puzzles, T X U Z S Y A D N M U T U A C
Garden Answers, Media House, Lynch
Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA or email C A M A N O A U T U M N X W X
a scan of your entry marked October
Puzzles to gardenanswers@bauermedia.
co.uk Closing date is 17 October 2023
I have entered (please tick): WIN 60 tulip bulbs + £10 voucher
Crossword
Wordsearch Enter this month’s wordsearch
and you could win 60 Timeless
Name ........................................................... Tulipa Collection bulbs (worth
£40) featuring a quartet of
Address ....................................................... different double flowers,
plus a £10 Hayloft voucher.
.......................................................................
Offering romantic-looking,
....................................................................... generous double blooms to
enhance pots, borders and floral
Postcode..................................................... bouquets each April to May, the
Timeless Tulipa Collection
Phone number............................................ comprises AGM-holding
‘Angelique’ (pink and cream,
Email ...........................................................
April–May, H: 45cm); ‘La Belle
H Bauer Publishing (publishers of Garden Epoque’ (pink, yellow and bronze,
Answers) may like to contact you. ■ Please tick April, H: 50cm); new variety‘Pink
here if you are happy to hear from us by email.
We will never pass these details to any other Star’ (pink streaks, May, H: 35cm);
organisation. Please see our privacy policy at
bauerdatapromise.co.uk
and new ‘White Heart’ (pure CLAIM
white, April-May, H: 40cm). Plant
in well-drained soil in full sun.
20% OFF
In addition, Hayloft is offering ONLINE!
Terms & conditions: Competitions are open to
residents of the UK only, aged 18 years or over, GA readers an exclusive 20% QUOTE
except employees of H Bauer Publishing, or discount off its entire range with GA2023
anyone else professionally associated with the
competitions. The decision of the judges is final
offer code GA2023. You’ll receive
and no correspondence will be entered into. Hayloft offers and news when you
The winners will be selected at random from the sign up for its newsletter.
eligible entrants and notified within 30 days of Hayloft.co.uk offers more than ● Winning vouchers are valid for one year,
the closing date. All prizes are non-transferable
and there are no cash alternatives. The winners’ 3,000 cultivars of rare, unusual and exciting and can only be redeemed against an
names can be obtained by writing to the editorial plants, delivered to your door from its order from Hayloft Plants catalogue or
office (see Over to You). The Promoter is H Bauer family-run nursery in Worcestershire. online. Vouchers can be used in payment
Publishing whose registered office is at The
Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PL. Call the Hayloft team on 01386 562999 or or part-payment of goods, but cannot be
Registered company no. LP003328. email customercare@hayloft.co.uk. exchanged for cash.

110 Garden Answers

GardeningDirectory
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 GardeningDirectory
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 Garden A refreshed
VIEW
perspective
Sometimes all we need is a change of
scenery to rediscover the beauty of our most
dependable stalwarts, muses Dan Oliver
R
ecently I returned from a trip to Spain.
My father is Spanish and moved back to
the country’s east coast 20 years ago. I
visit as often as I can, though invariably
not as often as I’d like. Still, I deeply value these
brief, infrequent visits. For the opportunity to
spend time with family, of course, but also
for another more subtle but no
less valuable reason: to refresh
my perspective.
They say that familiarity
breeds contempt. In fact, I’d
take it further: in my own How might it feel for a
● Dan Masoliver is a
trained horticulturist and
experience, certainly when it plant-loving Spaniard
comes to the plants in my
freelance writer from garden and in the local to arrive on these
London. He is author
of The Earthworm, a
neighbourhood streets and shores and see such
parks, I find that familiarity
newsletter that takes also tends to breed boredom. staple British flora?
a sideways look at the Indifference. Apathy.
world of gardens, There are certain plants that
gardening and are such staples in our gardens, roadside verges,
horticulture woodlands and hedgerows, that we can become
almost blind to their existence. During my
horticultural studies, I remember learning about
a group of species informally classified as “car
park plants”. Rather than be celebrated for their
resilience, these specimens – comprising the likes
of euonymus, berberis, viburnum and others –
were instead disparaged for their ubiquity.
ILLUSTRATION: GILL LOCKHART
114 Garden Answers
These poor plants’ only crime is to be reliable
(and affordable) enough to be used a little too
often by public planting designers. And yet still
the horticultural snobs among us turn our noses
up at them. And I’m ashamed to say that I can be
guilty of doing the same for many of our native
plants. Hawthorn hedges; churchyard hollies
and yews; city streets lined
with mountain ash and silver
birch. Yawn!
So you can imagine the
feeling as I stepped out of the
air-conditioned airport onto
Spanish soil. Metres-high
Nerium oleander bloomed
bountifully and incandescently
bright in a sunny spectrum of
pinks and white. Shrubby
verbenas occupied every corner,
with their clusters of yellow, red
and orange flowers having the
look of burning balls of fire, set ablaze by the hot
Spanish sun. And best of all, there were the walls,
balconies and pillars draped in the unbeatably
beautiful bracts of bougainvillea.
I wasn’t just enjoying all these plants; I was
jealous of them. Or rather, of the locals who are
able effortlessly to grow such beauties in their
gardens, and to see them on their streets. How
lucky they are to have these plants on their
doorstep, I thought.
And then I got home. The sky was moody.
The wind was up. As I walked home from
the train station, a strong breeze bustled the
branches of a silver birch. I noticed the squirrels
bouncing between beech trees, and a mountain
ash, its canopy covered in ripening berries, soon
to be a buffet for all manner of birds. How
casually had I overlooked these treasures.
I had been away for only a few days, and yet
in that time it was as if the reset button had been
hit on my perspective. It struck me: how might it
feel for a plant-loving Spaniard, sick of endless
avenues lined with oleanders, to arrive on these
shores and see such staple British flora? I can well
imagine their envy.
And my own garden, too, seemed lovelier
to me after my time away, though in reality it
was much the same as it had been before I’d
left. But then sometimes perhaps, when we’re
feeling bored by our borders, it’s not something
within the garden that needs to change, but
something within the gardener. ✿