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GARDEN GROW? How does your Anna Taylor, owner of Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden this month I ’ve noticed that I’m happiest at either end of a gathering! Summer months are the main event, but I love the anticipation and build-up from the
spring; making compost, sowing seeds and preparing beds. And now, when the garden is falling all about me. Twinkling, dew- laden dahlias holding each other up at the end of their performance, grasses pushing through gaps of tumbling annuals. A pretty Shakespearean post-fight scene of moody colours in an autumnal, low sunlight. That exquisite moment of romance can take months to cultivate. October has all the smells, too – but mostly those of decay! An evocative aroma of musty, fallen leaves, damp soil and chrysanthemum scent immediately grounds one in the present. And I don’t mean ‘garage’ chrysanthemums. If these are new to you, you’ve a treat in store. I grow perennial varieties that bloom in the border (they weathered last winter with no trouble, unlike so many other plants), as well as late-late-flowering ones; these grew outside in pots all summer, now sheltering in my polytunnel. They will also enjoy a
© ANNA TAYLOR
(tulips) – all depending on the prevailing weather. For too long, we have been fobbed off with single-colour, uninspiring varieties of narcissus. I highly recommend some time with the Peter Nyssen website; it supplies excellent bulbs, never mouldy or rotten, always as ordered and free from harmful neonicotinoid pesticides. Narcissus are secret weapons for flower arrangers. There are varieties available from January through to late May, returning year after year with little attention, scented and long lasting. Narcissus are versatile, reliable and elegant – they have it all as far as I am concerned. Choose narcissus rijnveld’s early sensation, flowering from January, through to March’s diminutive narcissus arctic bells – which deserve individual bud vases to appreciate. Then continue to one of my favourites: the narcissus eaton song, which blooms in late March and April; plus May’s narcissus actaea. Dig holes twice the size of the bulb in a good, rich soil, giving ample space since they’ll multiply quickly. Do water if dry over the colder months. You’ll be so pleased and cheered at the fresh growth late this winter. I’m not at all sad about the end of a growing season, but looking forward to the next one.
sunny porch, conservatory or greenhouse. The finest boast firework-style flowers with the perfect palette of russet, plum, dirty pale ochre and warm lilacs. I buy mine from Halls of Heddon, and Sarah Raven is a favourite too, with lots of choice. Cuttings take easily and you’ll never be without. Where spring promises much, the autumnal October garden tells a story of the summer just gone. Most plants have slowed their growth with shorter days and a lower sun in the sky. If it’s still warm, it’s worth clearing beds and sowing some green manures, but it’s quite late in the season to do so. Alternatively, leave plants in the soil, nourishing the microbes. If you’ve a weed- infested patch, throw cardboard over the top, with or without a topping of compost or other organic matter for the worms to chew through this winter. By spring, you’ll have a clear patch to plant or sow into. The most useful exercise this month is planting narcissus. Again, much like chrysanthemums, they are making a comeback. Both are far less effort and more reliable than their tulip and dahlia counterparts. Don’t get me wrong, I still do grow these essentials; but you never know whether you’ll get them through the winter (dahlias) or when exactly they will flower
LEAVES ARE FALLING The beautiful, warm colours of autumn are beginning to make an appearance
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