Beech hedges are so colourful
A family garden in Astley Burf, Worcestershire, with recently developed beds and borders.
We’ve had a couple of light frosts which have blackened the dahlia foliage, so this has been cut down, the tubers dug up and they’re now stored under the greenhouse bench for the winter. One dahlia is so large that I just cut down the foliage, leaving the tuber in the ground and protected with a thick mulch of garden compost.
Apart from the two frosts, the mild weather continues and we’re currently enjoying some beautiful leaf colour on many trees and shrubs. The beech hedges around the garden are a particularly lovely shade of yellowy-brown. Plenty of leaves have fallen and have been raked up to put in the leaf bin. It’s a relaxing job on a sunny day! I’ve a couple of hydrangeas in pots that I need to plant out while the earth’s still relatively warm, but I’m having a job deciding where to put them. I’ve also got to plant out salvias ‘Nachtvlinder’ and ‘Christine Yeo’. These have been in clay pots all summer but are meant to be hardy so I’ll plant them in the spaces vacated by the dahlias. I’ve taken cuttings though just in case! Chrysanthemums are looking particularly good this year, including ‘Dulwich Pink’ and ‘Emperor of China’. I’ve been busy clearing out pots and have now finished replanting them with tulips. Narcissus bulbs have been planted in the garden and spring-flowering Iris reticulata and Narcissus bulbocodium are filling small clay pots. We’re enjoying daily visits to the garden from nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers, among others. My favourite at the moment though are the tawny owls; they’re regularly heard calling to each other and we were thrilled to see one sitting watching us from a tree near the back door. l Read more at www. talesfromacountrygarden. wordpress.com.