Surrey Homes | SH49 | November 2018 | Gift supplement inside

Garden
Taking stock
It’s not the end of the gardening year, says Jo Arnell, but time to look
back on the seasons gone by and plan for the next ones
November is a great month to reflect on
the growing year gone by. Before the light
and the colours slip completely from the
landscape, we can assess what has worked well, what
not so, and then make plans for next year’s borders.
Dreaming about next spring and summer and
visualising flowers in the future also helps to lessen the
blow of the coming dark, cold days. Any gaps left by
the ravages of the freezing spring and scorching summer
from earlier this year can be filled with good hardy plants
that might fare better in our unpredictable weather.
Some plants, on the other hand, have positively
thrived during the recent heatwave and reports of rare
and exotic specimens bearing fruit or flowering after
many barren years have been appearing. Mediterranean
plants have certainly enjoyed the summer, as have tender
meadow plants like Verbena bonariensis, Gaura, and the
diminutive Mexican daisy Erigeron karvinskianus.
Sadly, some less fruitful plants are only just clinging on and
will head into this winter in a weakened state, others have
already chucked in the trowel and lie buried in brown bins
or funeral pyre awaiting bonfire night. It is sad, but every
plant death brings a new beginning, a space to try again with
and an opportunity to grow something more rewarding.
Gap fillers
We can focus critically and more clearly on the borders now,
without the distraction of the flowers. If it’s all looking dismal
and bare, think about adding some plants for winter interest.
These can be evergreen, or have interesting bark, an elegant
form, an anchoring, focal point feature of some kind.
Try to make sure that plants that come into their
own during the winter either fade into the background
to make way for summer plants, preferably becoming
a foil for them, or best of all, will bring another
point of seasonal interest later in the year.
Structure
Herbaceous plants have been to the fore in gardening
recently and they are gorgeous, but sadly disappear
under the ground to wait out the winter, leaving the
borders looking a little sad (or at best poetic and full
of wildlife if you have left the dead top growth on).
If this is the case and there’s a lack of structure, think
carefully about the size and shape of the plants you intend
to use. Evergreens will give you the same look all through
the year, but deciduous shrubs can be very useful too if
they have an interesting shape or other structural feature.
November is a great month for planting trees and
shrubs. The soil is still fairly warm and roots will have
a good long time to settle in and start growing before
the pressure to support leaves begins again in spring.
Evergreens
I love the quiet handsomeness of evergreens like Viburnum
davidii or Hebe ‘Red Edge’ - they sit stalwart and demure,
waiting out the warmer months in the shadow of showier
plants, like unsung heroes in the borders. They are often
overlooked, especially among the dazzle of summer flowering
plants, but they really come into their own in the winter.
Many have big glossy leaves which reflect light, helping
the plant make the most of the low light levels, and
looking pleasingly sleek and shiny to us. Contrastingly,
if their leaves are tiny, they will form dense, punctuating
shapes that help to anchor a planting scheme. Winter
frost will positively enhance the look of many evergreens,
gilding the foliage and the bare bones of the border.
Winter shapes
Shrubs with hips and berries are lovely to look at and are of
vital importance as a food source for wildlife. It’s hard to beat
the fiery glow of Pyracantha - commonly called Firethorn,
because of its bright berries, or reliable old Cotoneaster
horizontalis for its sculptural, herringbone-shaped stems,
bee-friendly blossom, red autumn foliage and berries.
Red is not the only colour for berries either; the
Sorbus (Mountain Ash, or Rowan) family of trees have
been cultivated with yellow (S. ‘Joseph Rock), pink
(S. ‘Pink Pagoda), or white berries (S. Cashmiriana),
as well as the more usual orange or red.
Above: Pots cheer up a dull winter corner
135 surrey-homes.co.uk