greenbenchramblings

Bodenham Arboretum – Autumn Magic

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 5, 2011

We spent an overcast, sunless day wandering around Bodenham Arboretum this week. We have passed its brown sign hundreds of times over the years on our way down to my home county of Gloucestershire and we always declare “We must go there sometime!”. Well, we finally did! Why did we wait so long?

A cup of coffee and a slice of cake enjoyed whilst overlooking the lake was a great starting point, and gave us time to study the map and sort out a route. As we purchased our tickets we were advised that first time visitors should begin with a walk around the Poplar Dingle. So we took the advice and followed the gravel pathway into the dingle, where our eyes were soon treated to the sight of two small Acer palmatum growing and glowing on the banks of a small pool.

Nearby we were struck by a clump of dogwoods which to begin with looked like the usual ones we grow for their red-coloured stems in late winter and early spring, but there was something about these that deserved a closer look. the leaves were painted in pinks and creams of every hue!

Lots of the more interesting trees and shrubs at Bodenham are clearly labelled and this cornus was one of them – Cornus sericea “Hedgerow Gold”.

As we left the Poplar Dingle we moved into an area rich with the reds of acers, but as we entered it we were struck by this row of coloured stemmed willows, glowing in the gloomy light.

After relishing these richly-coloured acers we followed the Five Pool Walk, a trail through a wooded valley studded with small pools, leading to Bodenham Wood. Here the smell of woodsmoke followed us, seeping through the valley sides from the dying fires of woodsmen at work in the valley bottom below us.

As we turned a corner this butter-yellow larch glowed against the deep green of its fellow conifers, but Larix decidua is the exception to the rule. Its needles turn yellow and fall.

Bodenham is full of surprises and as we found the track to take us back to the cafe we met this beautiful armillary sundial. Behind it the clump of trees contained some of the richest colours of our visit, and unexpectedly the colour came from a group of unusual oaks.

We came expecting to be wowed by the rich autumnal foliage colours – the colours of fire – and we were not disappointed, but perhaps the highlight of our visit was the spindle which gave up its shocking pink flowers. Soon these will open to reveal vivid orange seeds. What a rediculous combination, one that few gardeners would dare to put together.

We may have taken a long time to visit Bodenham Arboretum but we shall not wait so long return.

Tags acers., arboretum, autumn, Bodenham, dogwoods, shrubs, trees

allotments autumn community gardening gardening ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs

Autumnal Splendour of our Winter Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 1, 2011

At our lottie site, Bowbrook Allotment Community (www.bowbrookallotments.co.uk) we have created gardens of the four seasons. The Winter Garden has surprised us with its exciting colours and textures during the autumn. Today we weeded this bed and mulched it with woodchip which as well as giving a tidy finish, should protect the surface from heavy rain, stop goodness leaching from the soil and keep down any late germinating weeds. The sun was out most of the time while we worked and shone through the grasses and dogwoods. Although I designed this as the Winter Bed it is showing itself off well in the autumn.

The woodchip was a long way off across the site so John, our lottie chairman, devised a double decker wheelbarrow carrying system. Good job there was no health and safety officer watching!

The miscanthus look amazing for most of the year and now in November their foliage is colouring up and the seed heads are aglow. They sway in the gentlest of breezes.

The dogwoods have been planted for their coloured stems which will be lit by the low rays of the winter sun, stems of red, green, yellow and black. In the autumn we enjoy the reds and golds of their foliage just before they fall. The white berries are a real bonus – little white dolls’ eyeballs.

As we worked we were entertained by small flocks of goldfinches, linnets and greenfinches which passed overhead with their high pitched calls breaking the silence. In stark contrast and much less enjoyable were the cronking of a pair of raven and the calls of a huge flock of gulls screeching away as they wheeled around like wild white kites against a blue sky trying to escape their strings.

Tags autumn, cornus, dogwoods, gardening, grasses

autumn gardening hardy perennials

Euphoria over euphorbias

More autumn surprises! The early afternoon sun shines the spotlight on an unexpected autumn performer on our gravel garden, which we call our “Beth Chatto Garden”. We were stimulated by a visit to her magnificent Essex garden and in particular by her dry garden which she created where her car park once reigned. The plants picked out by the sun today for our delight were the euphorbias. From pink to red and from yellow to orange the colours of their leaves and stems were almost startling.

Tags autumn, Beth Chatto, euphorbias

autumn gardening

Autumn bonuses

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 30, 2011

We changed the clocks last night by that hour that marks the end of British summer time, but it didn’t mean we were really into typical weather and light for late autumn. We woke to drizzle but by lunchtime the sun was up and giving some warmth and the sky was blue. So a bonus session in the garden beckoned. And what a bonus day – gardening without jackets at the end of October – can’t be bad! And coffee out in the garden accompanied by pears and grapes freshly plucked from the cordon and vine – it gets better!

But the signs of autumn carried on all around us, the gentle watery song of the robin, the calls of redwing and fieldfare overhead. There are bonus flowers to appreciate too. Leading the way is the double orange flowered poppy, Papaver rupifragum. It simply shines. In bud it reveals a little of its silky amber secrets hidden within the tight hairy buds.

When it opens it is an orange sun. It outshines whatever sits alongside it. As a self-seeder it appears in different places each year – where it chooses not where we choose. It is better than us at knowing good neighbours.

Now to move from the riduculous to the sublime, the ridiculously bright and downright gaudy papaver to the gentlest of our garden perennials, the gaura. We love it in the summer for its gentle airy white flowers variously tinted with shades of pink, its delicate swaying in the gentlist breeze but we never think of it as a star of the autumn. But just look at these photos, the flower and the seed head bathing in and absorbing the lowering rays of the sun. This year we have seen it in a new light, the light of autumn.

Tags autumn, gaura, poppies

gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees

Westonbirt extras

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 27, 2011

A visit to Westonbirt Arboretum in mid-October should mean autumn richness of red, orange and yellow. But when we went this year we were too early. The spindles, birches and chestnuts disappointed. Some acers were showing colour and would have made the visit worthwhile anyway but the real treats of the day were totally unexpected – a berberis and a sorbus.

We spotted the lovely arching stems laden with red berries a long way from the main path. The sky was grey the day wet and dark but this berberis shone through it all. We made our way across wet grass to get a closer look and we met two other visitors doing the same. It was causing identification problems for everyone! The name Berberis julianae sprang to mind but I was unsure. Another visitor came over and asked if we knew what it was. She believed it to be Berberis julianae also. A Westonbirt gardener suggested Berberis concinna. But being unsure I checked in the RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants as soon as we got home – we were all wrong. It was neither julianae or concinna. The mystery continued but an article in “The English Garden” showed a photo of a berberis with similar but less dense groups of pendulous berries – Berberis chitria – but I was still not convinced. As everyone was so taken aback by the large number of berries in each bunch perhaps it was just an exceptionally prolific year for it.

The RHS published an article on berberis in the November edition of their magazine “The Garden” and it presented another possibility – Berberis “Georgei”. It looks the best match so far!

The berries of this sorbus were marble-sized and deep mahogany-red in colour overlaid with white. They felt as hard as conkers. This plant gave its identity up easily – it had a label telling us it was Sorbus megalocarpa from China.

The expected autumn views of Westonbirt must not be forgotten though as some acers were dressed in their fire coloured clothes.

Tags arboreta, arboretum, autumn, berberis, gardening, ornamental trees, trees

garden wildlife natural pest control

Summerhouse Winter Lodgers

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 24, 2011

As we spent the day clearing out the pond we opened up the summerhouse alongside it so that we could periodically collapse into its comfy seats and enjoy our tea breaks. While sat there our eyes were drawn to the lacewings already hibernating on the wooden framework. They were almost invisible with their delicate green bodies and translucent wings set against the cream painted woodwork. It is good to see them as they are central to our natural pest control, their larvae being voracious aphid eaters.

Similarly camouflaged against the cream woodwork a pupa of a butterfly hung vertically – gentle yellow but almost white with small black dots. I don’t know what butterfly it will turn into in the spring but it is usually Small Tortoiseshells that emerge from our garden buildings. I just hope I am not looking forwards to a Cabbage White!!

On the roof the third of our hibernating shed lodgers hang stuck fast to the ceiling. A clump of spider’s eggs has been stuck to the woodwork with a sticky version of webbing. Spiders of course we like in the garden as predators and as master builders of webs. As we await the first frosts of this autumn we anticipate the beauty of the spiders’ spinnings when they are highlighted by frost under the spotlights of the early morning sunlight.

Tags garden wildlife, natural pest control, organic gardening

gardening

Autumn Blues in the Garden

Oranges, yellows and reds are the colours of autumn but wandering around our patch today I was struck by the richness of the blues in the late blooms. The rich blue flowers of Ceratostigma plumbaginoides sit above its red tinted foliage. This is a plant to keep an eye on as the temperatures drop in the autumn because the red on its leaves intensifies and spreads. Such a beautiful plant with such an ugly name!

This is a hardy tough sub-shrub or woody perennial but the next blue flower is far from hardy – a salvia with intense blue spires atop dark blue stems with a metallic hue. We raised these from seed in the spring and have been enjoying their flowers since August. We must take cuttings to keep them over the winter.

The blue flowers of the centaurea have been around for months with their delicately cut petals curling up from their dark purple centres above their soft hairy leaves.

Tags gardening

garden wildlife gardening grow your own

Greenhouse Pest Control

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 22, 2011

This has to be the greenest method of pest control any gardener can have in the greenhouse. He is one big frog! We are so lucky to have not just frogs but also toads and newts to help rid the greenhouse of slugs and bugs.

Tags frogs, garden wildlife, greenhouse gardening, organic gardening

allotments community gardening fruit and veg garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control

October Working Party

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 22, 2011

Today we held our October working party at Bowbrook Allotment Community. We took advantage of a bonus day of sunshine and warmth. Lots of hard work and lots of laughter – a typical lottie working party day.

Soon the smell of cut hay permeated the lotties as we cut the meadow under the orchard trees. It was a warm herby smell as well as nostalgic. A true sense of the feel good factor.

Above, Dee and Wendy rake up the mown hay in the orchard and below Pete and Jude tidy the long grass from around the logpile. The logpile is there to attract beneficial insects as part of our organic, natural approach to pest control. We welcome ladybirds and their larvae, beetles and lacewing larvae as pest controllers and bees as pollinators.

Before cutting the grass I spotted this group of seedheads – alliums and knapweed. They had shed their seeds ready for next year but I felt I had to record this particularly beautiful and delicate clump in a photo before we cut them down.

Bulbs donated by plotholders were planted around the entrance and the car park, with daffodils going in the car park border and muscari in the gateway borders. The Spring Garden was extended and the Winter Garden path was topped up with chipped wood donated by a local tree surgeon. The final task was to trim the long grass and wildflower stems growing on the wildlife banks.

Tags fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden wildlife, organic gardening

gardening shrubs

Hebe planting

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 18, 2011

We have just planted four hebes in an effort to replace some of those we lost last winter after months of the big freeze. We experienced night time temperatures of -21 for three nights on the trot. Too cold for hebes by far!

So we bought Hebe “Charming White”, Hebe “Wiri mist”, Hebe pinguifolia Sutherlandii and Hebe”Pastel Elegance”. The leaves of each one differ in colour and shape.

Charming White is actually in flower now as we plant it and what a delicately beautiful flower it is, white with a hint of purple at the very tip of each petal.