Readers’ gardens
A developing family garden and allotment in Staffordshire, with year-round interest.
With a chill in the air, the plants are now adorned in autumn colours with gorgeous foliage and plentiful berries following a flower-rich spring. The cotoneasters ‘Cornubia’ and C. horizontalis, sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’, malus ‘Red Sentinel’ and pyracanthas are all laden with fruits, making welcome clusters of treats for wildlife. There are so many birds and insects about, making the most of the summer bedding before it bows out, loving the ivy and enjoying our bird feeders, which are topped up by our enthusiastic five-yearold and unlikely to run low!
My favourite sights at the moment are the paper-thin honesty seed pods shining translucent against a blue sky, the Virginia creeper lighting up the fence and the Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus’ taking centre stage in the sunshine.
Among this autumn colour came a few subtle surprises, with a lone gladioli emerging and also a delicate pale pink Kaffir lily (schizostylis). The sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ makes a deep pink platform in the border and the asters are opening their sprays of lilac flowers. The tidy-up at the allotment has begun, with a clear out and replant of the rhubarb bed to remove all embedded traces of bramble. The first patch of the plot is weeded and levelled, ready for laying membrane to put a new raised bed on top. With eating apples ripening and cookers dropping from the tree, we’re tucking into plentiful apple and cinnamon pies, while getting the last courgettes, potatoes and a few carrots from the allotment. We like to buy plants that remind us of places we’ve visited, lived or share family names. I’ve brought agapanthus ‘Navy Blue’ (‘Midnight Star’) to remind us of our holiday in France, and have found an orange tulip ‘Jimmy’ (my husband’s name). I thought I wouldn’t find a plant with my name, but Google revealed Salix repens ‘Iona’, lily ‘Iona’ and streptocarpus ‘Iona’!