Looking back, and forward, on the autumn garden

Ruapehu Bulletin, 11 July 1995, Page 14

Looking back, and forward, on the autumn garden

The chill of some weeks ago persuaded the deciduous trees to at last part with their leaves somewhat later this year I think. We seem to miss that glorious blaze of autumn colour ~ the tall poplars down by the river were dropping their leaves whilst they were still green and the last leaves did not seem to have that richness of colour. One tree which never disappoints me is my favourite flowering cherry Prunus serrulate 'Sheirotae', commonly called the Mt Fuji cherry. The long horizontal branches of our specimen were clothed in gold, a lovely sight from my kitchen wiridow and I really enjoyed watching three little gingerkittens playing on the lawn with the fallen golden leaves. Cotinus cogyria, the European smoke bush, was quite lovely with the foliage turning a deep red among the mass of frothy pink flower heads which really do resemble a puff of smoke. The dogwoods too showed a rich autumn colour and what could be more delightful than the soft gold and green of the English beech Fagus sylvatica.

One of the fondest memories of my childhood is of walking through the beech woods in autumn upon a thick carpet of richly golden leaves, kicking them high into the air to fall like golden snowflakes. Crisp autumn air, blue sky, sunlight filtering through the branches and as daylight turned to twilight ~ home to Sunday tea of crumpets toasted by the fire on a long metal toasting fork and eaten dripping with butter. The English beech is a noble tree but growing as it does to 10m or more with a 6m crown, it needs space. Liquidamber, noted for its glorious autumn colour, is another of the larger trees which merit a place in the large garden but, growing to 10m with quite a large spread, it really is too big for a small one. There are a number of smaUer trees which colour well in autumn and would be quite at home in the smaller garden. The Japanese maples being

one of the number if given wind protection. Acerpalmatumvariety 'Worplesdon' has avery attractively shaped leaf, colours well and grows to only 7m. It will not damage in the wind so badly as the finer leafed varieties. Unless you can give complete protection from the wind, avoid the very lacy leaved filigree maples ~ so beautiful but even a stiff breeze will shrivel the leaves. Ginko biloba 'Autumn Gold' is another noted for its brilliant autumn display, growing to only. 3.5m but this too requires some protection from strong winds. Cercis canadesis 'Forest Pansy', growing to only 3m x 3m, is a lovely small tree ~ the young brilliant red shoots slowly turning purple/black. This one is totally hardy and will withstand the wind. Malus joensis plena, the bechells crab apple, grows to 3 x 2m and has lovely autumn tones of

orange and red and has the bonus pink flowers in the spring. Some varieties of the crab apple are grown for their brilliant display of scarlet fruit which will last right through the winter. Malus 'Gorgeous' and M. Wright' s Scarlet' are two which come to mind, only growing to about 3m and perfectly hardy. One I always enjoy in our garden is Malus 'Starbright' a semi-weeping bush with masses of dainty white flowers in spring and tiny red fruits like little cherries in the autumn. Growing to only 2m it is totally hardy and has a high disease resistance. Two lovely flowering shrubs for springtime which can be planted now are Philadelphus 'Sybille' with single white orange centred flowers with a purple stain at the base and P. 'Frosty Morn' with masses of double white flowers on an upright bush. Another rather nice small shrub which will thrive in any soil and grows to only is Potentilla 'Red Ace', a deciduous shrub, it is very hardy and has masses of orange/red flowers all summer. It prefers a sunny position but will tolerate shade.