All Too Soon Autumn Rushes In

September has gone so quickly, like most months this year, and the autumn colour has been stunning here in the nursery so far. Trees and shrubs such as Cornus, Nyssa, Cercidiphyllum, Acers, Euonymus and Prunus are all a glow in shades of reds, oranges and yellows, brightening up the sales area even on the dullest of days. Late flowering perennials and grasses are adding their own colourful hues with Heleniums, Rudbeckias and Solidago in oranges and yellows. 

Prunus 'Koji no Mai' and Berberis

Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'

Crab Apples

Tagetes 'Honeycomb'

Rosa rugosa 

Helenium 'Chelsea'

Not to be undone by their hot showy cousins, the pale pinks and blues of Asters and reds and pinks of Persicaria are equally worth growing. Most will flower right through autumn until the first frosts.

Aster in the entrance borders

Butterflies love Sedums

Echinacea and Delphiniums

Sedums, Lythrum and Persicaria give good late summer colour in the gardens

I was excited to pick my first runner beans earlier in the month from the plants I've grown in the garden in the nursery. Its a while since I've grown these and quite often we get frost up here before the beans have grown to a useful size. I'm growing them in the border that will eventually be the bee border in the wildlife garden. Did you know bumblebees love runner bean flower nectar, indeed most flowers from the fabacaea (legume) family. This variety is Scarlet Emperor, I love it's bright showy flowers and is worth growing even if they don't get to bean stage.

Flowers of Runner bean 'Scarlet Emperor'

Speaking of frost, we had our first of the season this weekend, brrrrrrrr. It didn’t last long once the sun was up but its left it’s mark on the Heliotrope and runner beans. We were lucky not to get too much damage from storm Ali, just a lot of tree debris down, which didn’t take too long to pick up.

I always like to think this time of year in the nursery becomes a bit more relaxed, but there is always many tasks that need done to keep everything going. I do try to get on with or start a new garden project at this time of year. At the moment I am still working on the pink border which will be like a full stop at the end of the stock beds, dividing it from the last area of nursery on the top terrace. I've finished stripping off the grass and weeds and digging it over. Next is the exciting bit, planting new hedging to fill in the gaps and the rest of the plants.

Spring bulbs are now available to buy in the nursery, we are doing our pick and mix range again, with bulbs priced individually, so you can buy as many or as little as you like. No need to be stuck buying a bag of twenty when you only wanted ten. Why not plant them with some of our own grown polyanthus, wall flowers and winter pansies for winter and spring interest.

Plant some of our winter pansies with bulbs
for colour through winter into spring

I’ve been adding a few planters for inspiration in the sales area, one is mound forming alpines in an old meatal drawer. The other is a collection of pots all containing plants for shade. It’s in front of the new fence where it is very shady, so perfect to fill in a space and give customers ideas if they have a shady patio or area in their garden where they want to have some containers.

Adiantum aleuticum 'Imbricatum'

Dryopteris wallichiana

Dryopteris affinis 'Pinderi'

Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Bob's Best'

Hosta 'Devon Green'

Skimmia × confusa 'Kew Green'

Leucojum vernum

Polygonatum hybridum

Viola odorata 'Alba'

We held out first workshop in the nursery a couple of weeks ago where we talked about designing a border. It went very well and our four attendees all enjoyed it. It was a lovely way to spend a colder afternoon.

In other news I've been out and about helping David with various bat surveys and things, or just tagging along to spend time together. This is him doing some of the radio tracking at Whitmuir, which is part of a project he is running about the bats and what they do here on the farm.

We've not gone far on our days off as we're pretty tired and run down after a very full on spring and summer. I've been catching up on things at home which has been good, a lot of clear outs and trips to the charity shops too. A couple of Tuesdays ago we visited Laureston Castle grounds which gave Bracken a good walk. We explored the Chinese garden and enjoyed views of the River Forth and beyond, finishing up with lunch in the wee cafe at the side of the castle.

Laureston Castle

Part of the Chinese garden

Beautiful acers

Views of the Chinese Garden

The building next to the cafe is clothed in a beautiful Parthenocissus

Carrot cake cupcakes using more of our Winchester mill flour

If you are stuck for something to do, there's always the lovely walk up the side of Flotterston in the middle of the Pentland hills, again another local relaxing day off last Tuesday.

Sloes almost ready for picking

So there we are, a very autumnal catch up both in the nursery and out and about. With the storms, rain, colouring foliage and lots of hedgerow berries, autumn is well and truly here. It won't be long until the nursery closes for winter (I can't believe I'm saying that already!) Where has 2018 gone?

Catch you soon, have a great week.

#autumn #autumnharvest #autumncolour #seasonal

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