Autumn garden

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 388, 28 May 1991, Page 16

Autumn garden

Frompage 14 very ridged foliage. This also is a deciduous shrub growing to about two metres. If only it would retain its glorious coloured foliage all winter. Lower growing shrubs are the berberis atropurpurea with quite striking red/purple foliage, while berberis 'rosy glow' has the same red/purple foliage "striped with pink. Growing to about one metre in height both are deciduous shrubs. For a good ground cover in the purple shades ajuga 'reptans' could fill the bill. It retains it's foliage colour all the year round and has the bonus of beautiful rich blue flower stems in summer. There are also very attractive variegated varieties of this one.

The nandia "pygmea" or "burden's dwarf" are always good for colour. Soft greens and yellows in summer turning fiery red in winter. A really good accent plant for a border or a rockery is calluna 'Robert Chapman'. A blaze of bright orange all year round deepening in winter. A real eye catcher. For grey and grey/blue foliage the Lavendars have a myriad uses and for silvery grey senecio 'greyii' is a good choice. Growing to about a metre in height it is quite a compact shrub. Needs thinning in spring to prevent it going woody in the centre. For borders or rockeries santolina champarissus is a nice feathery blue/grey and the perennia helichryssums show almost silver in the sunlight. There are many more too numerous to mention here but deserving a mention are the conifers which offer such a wonderful range of colour and which come in all shapes ahd sizes.