“Our autumn colours are glorious”

Late flowers, berries and hips enjoy a backdrop of red and gold autumn leaves in this pretty garden. Owner Margaret Gimblett shows us around

Late flowers, berries and hips enjoy a backdrop of red and gold autumn leaves in this pretty garden

This atmospheric garden is full of colourful planting for autumn – despite the chill winds that blow through. “It’s set in a flat, wide valley, with views of Moncrieffe Hill on one side, and the tapering end of the Ochils on the other,” explains owner Margaret Gimblett, who lives here with husband Iain. “A prevailing south-westerly wind funnels down the valley, where it’s sometimes met by a biting easterly coming off the sea at Dundee. Whenever these biting winter winds are forecast, we know it’s going to be freezing cold. Last winter we lost one of our hardier pittosporums, a eucryphia and ceaonothus. A blanket of deep snow helped many tender plants survive and grow back from their rootstocks in spring.”

STATELY TREES (clockwise from above far left) The woodland garden replaced a conifer and heather rockery; roses, catmint and hardy geraniums dance around Cornus officinalis in its autumn finery with Hydrangea paniculata beneath a stately copper field maple; a cherry tree provides a flash of orange by the gate, with 30ft fir tree beyond

Margaret and ‘Head Groundsman’ Iain have lived here for four years. “The garden has changed dramatically in that time, although the bare bones were already here when we arrived,” she says. “We had to downsize after I had a stroke, and we were looking for ways to make the garden more manageable. In my old garden I’d had three large ponds to care for, but after the stroke I couldn’t even put on my wellington boots, let alone my waders!

“I had to teach myself how to walk again, and it took a while for me to like the new place. But, as my new plants started to put down roots, so I began to put them down as well.

As my new plants started to put down roots, so I began to put them down as well

“It was the garden that first attracted me to the house,” says Margaret. “I saw the magnolia in the estate agent’s brochure and wanted to come and have a look round. The garden was immaculate – but everything was clipped into a mound – even the acers. So, when we moved in, we cut all the shrubs right back so that their natural shape could re-emerge. After 18 months one of our neighbours said he could see them ‘dancing’ in the wind – they’d been very solid before.”

Beside the drive was an impenetrable conifer woodland area. “About 25 years ago when the house was built, the first owners had created a little rockery with small conifers and heathers, but over time they’d grown huge and had never been cut back. There was even a greenhouse hidden in there!

“A contractor thinned out the trees – removing about nine tipper-truckloads of trees and branches. I kept a few for cloud pruning and raised their canopies so I could plant beneath them. I retained some yews and a 30ft fir tree that towers above the greenhouse. The soil is very dry here and acidic; the pine needles form a yellow carpet and make a very effective mulch. The main plants that thrive here are hellebores, forget-me-nots, hostas and white astrantias.”

At the far end of the lawn – whose edges are held crisply in place with a stiff barricade of Everedge – is a large weeping willow, framing views of Moncreiffe Hill. “In autumn its leaves turn golden yellow and the smaller trees and shrubs start to colour up too. There’s a cherry tree by the gate that turns a wonderful warm gold, Parrotia persica that takes on shades of red and orange, and a weeping crab apple, whose leaves turn yellow, then drop, leaving behind thousands of little red fruits. There’s also a copper field maple, beech hedge and rowan (Sorbus sargentiana), with pinky-white berries.

“But it’s the acers that I really wait for,” says Margaret. “The most beautiful one is right at the back. It’s 12ft high and turns brilliant scarlet for a couple of days, then the leaves fall off to create a red carpet on the lawn below.”

Hydrangeas are dotted around and many, including ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Wim’s Red’ open white then blush pinky-red, intensifying as temperatures dip and holding onto their delicate seedheads over winter. White Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ and rich red hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’ come into their own at this time of year, accompanied by the fluffy-looking white spires of dark-leaved Actaea simplex.

It’s the acers I wait for… the leaves turn brilliant scarlet then create a red carpet

AUTUMN FINERY (clockwise from above left) Colouring acers and hostas shine against structural evergreen conifers and yews; Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Quick Fire’; dramatic views extend beyond the main garden; a cherry tree by the gate adopts a wonderful orange hue; pink aster ‘Jenny’ INSET Rhododendron luteum

Seasonal fruit add to the display – the scarlet hips of Rosa moyesii ‘Geranium’, yellow and orange cotoneaster berries and bright red crab apples. The colours all shine much brighter thanks to their backdrop of evergreens – dark green yews, hollies in gold, green and silver, and glossy Euonymus fortunei ‘Silver Queen’.

“I love the ephemeral nature of Japanese gardens – the way the colours are constantly changing,” says Margaret. “For us, in winter, our garden is predominantly green but in autumn the colours are glorious. It’s like that line in Calendar Girls, when they talk about the roses of Yorkshire – every stage of their growth has its own beauty, but the last phase is always the most glorious… Autumn is a time when the colours are more subtle than the blowsy brightness of summer. I find the autumn garden quite a spiritual place – not depressing at all.” ✿