Joseph Atkin's latest Aberglasney column

Aberglasney’s Head Gardener Joseph Atkin continues his weekly column in the South Wales Evening Post -
There is certainly a feeling that summer is coming to an end, especially with this wet and windy weather.
This is a time of year when you want time to stop and summer to continue. However, it is not all gloom.
Autumn heralds more than just autumn colour, like spring there is a flush of late colour.
This late colour is welcomed with the onset of winter, as it gives the garden a final burst of interest before cutting back the herbaceous perennials starts.
In the wild, there are many plants that either lay dormant through the summer or come into growth very late in the summer.
These wild plants have either become garden plants or been breed into cultivation for this characteristic.
Some are simply late flowering or bulbs that grow in spring and flower in autumn like Crocus or Colchicum.

One of the famous late summer and autumn flowering plants is Cyclamen (pictured above under a tree at Aberglasney).
There are many different types flowering in spring or autumn.
These include the Persian cyclamen or florists cyclamen which lies dormant in the summer and comes into life late summer.
At Aberglasney, we are lucky enough to have three fine stands of Cyclamen hederifolium that are in full bloom at the moment. They can easily bloom well into October and grow really well under trees.
In fact, our best stand is in really dry shade under a giant Western Red Cedar tree.
Two really good shrubs that often get over looked are the Chinese privets Ligustrum lucidum and Ligustrum quihoui.
Both these plants are hardy evergreen with fantastic sprays of white flowers in the autumn.
The flowers last for a long time and the plants are very neat and tidy the rest of the year.
They are also really popular with the bees and both have the award of garden merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.
Sourcing these plants will be a little tricky and probably require a few phone calls to specialist shrub nurseries.

There is also some really good late summer flowering perennials a particularly good one is Anaphalis triplinervis (pictured above) which makes an excellent cut or dried flower.
At Aberglasney, it forms neat clumps of grey leaves with tufted white flowers from August well into September.
I would even guess it will go into October.
Despite its grey leaves and a delicate flower it thrives in Aberglasney’s damp conditions but also does well in drier situations.
The Monks hood (Aconitum) is a famous but poisonous late summer flowering plant. There are very many different types available now - one of my favourites is a climber called Red Wine which scrambles through a spring flowering shrub giving two seasons of interest.
Most, however, are different shades of blue and very tall erect plants.
Some varieties are only just coming into bloom at the moment and will go on well into October.
One of the best late summer flowerers are the Japanese Anemones which flower well into the autumn.
They have sprays of white or pink buttercup like flowers up to about two metres tall. Again there are now many different types to choose from.
One down side to these plants is they can take a while to establish and once they do they can be a bit too vigorous.
Overall, the British gardener is quite well armed for the autumn as there is an excellent range of hardy plants to complement the tender perennials that flower well into the autumn.
The trick is getting the balance right so the interest continues all season.
Weekly Tips
•While it's fresh in your head make a note of what has done well for you so that you can try it again.
•Seed collecting. Now is the high season to collect from plants you want to propagate from, especially hardy annuals.
•Keep an eye out for disease, especially on the fruit trees. Early removal can make all the difference.
•Try and clear away any fallen fruit as it takes the wasps away from the good fruit.

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