HARVEST SWOON
Branches are now heavy with nature’s bounty, bringing some cheerful colour
AUTUMN is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, as the English romantic poet John Keats put it so beautifully.
There seems to be an abundance of fruits this year. In the fields near where I live, there are hedgerows of wild blackberries and this year is a bumper crop.
We’ve already picked lots of shiny, plump blackberries but there are still plenty of red ones that will soon ripen.
The rowan trees are heavy with their scarlet crop and it’s often said such a wealth of fruit is indicative of a harsh winter to come. As if nature has some advance knowledge and is ensuring supplies for birds, squirrels and other wildlife.
However such a great harvest is really the result of weather past – a good spring and summer with plenty of sunshine and warmth. That ripens buds, producing lots of blossoms which are then pollinated by insects such as bees and butterflies. Recent rains after a dry summer have also helped ensure the bounty did not wither on the bough.
Hedgerows are treasure troves at this time of year. The native dog rose, Rosa canina, produces orangey red hips full of vitamin C.
Foragers can make a nutritious rose hip syrup – cut the fruit up and make a syrup of it with sugar and water and then strain it through a muslin cloth to remove seeds and hairs.
Left on the bush, they will make valuable food for waxwings, tits, thrushes and finches.
The Guelder rose is one of my favourite hedging plants. It’s not a rose, it’s the native viburnum, V. opulus. It is very ornamental, with attractive fresh green sycamorelike leaves in spring that turn red in autumn.
The pretty lace cap white flowers morph into decorative fruit at this time of year with large bunches of glassy-looking red currants dripping from the branches. ‘Xanthocarpum’ is a beautiful variety, with golden-yellow translucent berries.
Hawthorn is the classic hedgerow plant that you see countrywide and is found in the majority of farmland hedges as the thick dense growth is impenetrable to cattle and sheep so it makes the perfect livestock barrier. It supports hundreds of insects and is laden with crimson haws in autumn.
There are some cultivars that look fancier for the garden and are good for small plots.
‘Paul’s Scarlet’ is one, with pretty red double flowers, and ‘Crimson Cloud’ is another, with small, deep pink flowers with a white eye – both lovely in a cottage garden.
Cotoneasters produce vivid
displays of red berries and my favourite is Cornubia, which can be grown as a large shrub or small tree. It’s a very easy plant, tolerant of drought and coastal exposure. It is semi-evergreen in sheltered areas but otherwise will develop yellow and red tints before shedding in winter.
The branches have an arching habit that looks especially lovely when laden with masses of bright berries. In addition to their decorative nature, these fruits will be a boon to the birds this winter – a natural storage pantry to keep them going until spring.
Large bunches of glassy red currants dripping off branches