I can't resist taking hardwood cuttings
The long autumn salvage operation that started last month continues. Citrus fruits in large pots have been moved into the long conservatory where an electric heater is set at 10C (50F) over winter. They’re accompanied by stock plants from our streptocarpus collection and assorted house plants. All are kept on minimum watering.
Early and late chrysanths, the latter in large pots, are moved into the cold greenhouse to complete flowering. They're then pruned back and packed in boxes of compost. Tubers of favourite border dahlias we want to increase will stand alongside them. They’ll be joined by nine penstemon varieties added to our collection in July, which were plunged into pots outdoors, and will spend their first winter on the staging.
A spicy leaf lettuce mixture and ‘Salad Bowl Mix’ occupy the two greenhouse borders over winter, and we’ve started harvesting already. They need hand weeding and occasional watering to avoid bitter leaves. When hard frost is forecast, the protective fleece comes into play for this valuable crop.
We’re still harvesting and storing culinary and dessert apples, and picking autumn raspberries. ‘All Gold’ has been very productive in its first year of maturity.
I can’t resist taking hardwood shrub cuttings at this time of year. Weigela ‘Florida Variegata’, escallonia varieties and rose ‘Cécile Brünner’ are all such easy targets to root without special facilities.
Colour continues in the garden despite some unhelpful autumn weather. A series of heavy showers from late October into early November tested the remaining summer-flowering plants to the limit, but interestingly, anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ continues pristine white alongside groups of annual rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Rustic Dwarfs'. Tuberous and fibrous begonias remain in bloom, as do patches of Sedum sieboldii, but it’s the performance of shrubby, hardy fuchsias that impresses most. ‘Pink Sprite’, ‘Hawkshead’, ‘Genii’ and F. magellanica gracilis will continue until the first serious frost.