Le Mie Ricompense
You just can’t beat late September for the arrival of the autumn fashion show. Everywhere you go, you’ll be greeted with piercing citrus yellows, burning oranges and seductive scarlets- which look all the more gorgeous on days when the skies are clear and blue-fingers crossed on that one..!
Throughout the summer, plants can be very, very green - depending on how dry it’s been of course. However, this drenching of green is because the chlorophyll produce oodles of energy stores and, whilst in full production, this can mask the other pigments. As production of chlorophyll ceases in the autumn, the yellows and oranges of the carotenoides come through and into their own!
And, in some years, the (hopefully) warmer days in September can increase the sugar production within the plants, plus increasing the development of anthocyanins, which are those pigments that glow crimson, red and purple!
So, it’s obvious that foliage gives us great autumn colour, but how else can we jazz up our September to November gardens?? It can be easy to overlook other options, but let’s discuss some right now!
Autumn-flowering bedding plants!
Don’t be shy about ripping out your Petunias and replacing them with a quick fix of Primroses! There are quite a few spring-flowering bedding items that can actually begin their carnival of colour during those cooler autumn months. Never underestimate the power of a Pansy or Primrose!
Frothy fillers for pots come in the shape of Myosotis (Forget-me-nots) and turn to Wallflowers for the ultimate looks-after-itself plant, heck they even sprout from walls, hence their common name.
Decorative seed-heads
Never be too hasty when cutting down your perennial plants though, for there is beauty in their fading moments!
Grasses such as Miscanthus offer firework-esque flowerhead during the summer, which stay well preserved well into autumn. Or check out the whorls of the unusual Phlomis, and perhaps even have a try at harvesting some of the seed yourself.
Berries- but not just for the birds
Autumn really is a busy time for unique colours in your garden. Not only is there the rustic revolving door of leaf colours, but you’ll also see a lot of berries, in a LOT of colours, some quite surprising.
Pyracantha is a great ‘security plant’, the prickles of a Pyracantha hedge can keep any burglar at bay! But, did you know their berries appear in red, orange or yellow. Plant 3 different types together for a real show! Or, what about the BLUE seedpods of Decaisnea fargesii, they look positively otherworldly!
Later season flowering plants
Plan your garden well and you’ll never be without colour. Face up to the fact that most herbaceous perennials burn out by midsummer, so you need to be ready with a backdraft of fabulous autumn flowering gems.
Asters, Chrysanthemums and Japanese Anemones are all classic border plants which don’t start showing their wares until mid September onwards, once the days become shorter. Thanks to this, they have become iconic and rather signs of an autumn garden, often cloaked with crispy orange fallen leaves.
And a little bit of the unexpected..
Galanthus reginae-olgae is the official name for a botanical oddity- the autumn flowering Snowdrop. Wouldn’t it be fun to tease your gardening friends with this surprising gem, they’ll be quickly checking their calendars to double-check the date!
