My Garden Journal 2022 November

November sees us well into autumn but the garden seems to continue to be confused with trees unable to decide whether to colour up, drop leaves or stay green on their branches.

Looking at the first two pages, I considered the effects of autumn on trees and shrubs and on the opposite page I shared photos of some of our hesperanthas.

Concerning trees and shrubs in autumn I wrote, “November sees autumn well established in our garden, but our trees and shrubs of deciduous character are confused about whether to change foliage colour or not.”

Some have turned red, others just becoming yellow but others are still completely green.

The opposite page is where I shared photos of some of our hesperanthas, where I noted that “We have several varieties of hesperantha now established throughout our borders. They are currently flowering well, glowing in any dull light.”

Over the page to the next double page spread I looked at the importance of reds in the November garden. I wrote, “In the first week of November the most noticeable colour around the garden is red, the reds of foliage, flowers and fruits.”

I then shared selection of photos of red features in our garden at that time.

The following two pages were all about berries.

The first page looked at the berries on our callicarpa shrubs, both the purple and white berried cultivars. I noted that, “Jewel-like berries give lots of interest in our garden now. Callicarpa in both purple and white are highlighted by the low rays of the sun.”

I then shared some photos of our callicarpa.

More berries feature on the opposite page where I wrote, “The whites and greens of Hedera helix and Fatsia japonica are also highlighted by the low rays of the autumn sun. In shade they appear more like yellows and greens.”

Two photos of the shrub Clerodendron trichotomum sit below and I noted that, “The brightest and most unusual berries of all are those of Clerodendron trichotomum with the bright glossy turquoise berries sitting within deep cerise calyces. Wonderful!”

On the next two pages I looked at the changing foliage on trees and shrubs and then at a true surprise.

I wrote, “We can’t leave November without another look at the changing faces of tree and shrub foliage.|”

On the page opposite I shared photos of a truly unexpected surprise we found in ‘Arabella’s Garden’ while dead heading dahlias. I noted that, “Occasionally our gardens give us exciting and very unexpected surprises. We have a mature specimen of the climber ‘Akebia quinata’ also known as the Chocolate Vine. Deep ruby purplish flowers hang in long racemes . These are also sweetly scented. Recently though we spotted a pale grey-purple pod hanging, a single fruit among the foliage, about four inches long. As it opened seeds were revealed looking like a small head of sweetcorn. Where the grey coating peeled off it revealed glossy black seeds.”

The final double page spread for my report on my November Garden Journal 2022 shows jobs we have been busy doing and one of my sketches using Japanese Brush Pens, featuring flower heads of “Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield”. I noted on the job page that, “Every month is a busy month for us as we love being outside in the garden. But our time outside in November is being controlled by the weather. Heavy showers arrive most times and drive us indoors or into the greenhouse. We have insulated the greenhouse with bubblewrap and moved non-hardy plants in there. I tied up bundles of hollow stems to give places for wildlife to shelter in over winter.”

Below the greenhouse photos I wrote, “Meanwhile outside we continued to develop our ‘Secret Garden’, removing and potting up the plants and re-shaping the borders.”

Onto the penultimate page I shared some notes concerning persicarias and showed a sketch I created of ‘Persicaria ampexicaulis ‘Blackfield’. I noted that, “Persicaria amplexicaulis in all its variety is one of the most valuable herbaceous perennials for any garden. We grow several cultivars and they flower late summer and well into autumn. This year the drought made them suffer badly with foliage dying down. We cut some down to within inches of the ground to see what happened and were amazed by their rapid re-growth and renewed flush of flowers.”

And so to the final page of entries for my garden journal in November, where I showed my watercolour sketch of one of Jude’s many vases of flowers and foliage we have around the house created with materials from our garden. Our next visit to my garden journal will be the last for 2022 when we visit our garden once again.