| The early summer's been extraordinarily hot and | | | | time gardeners like me you really can't beat a |
| sunny and I've seen some really spectacular | | | | Pyracantha or Cotoneaster for providing lots of |
| flower displays. The weather has been hot and | | | | autumn berries and an evergreen structure |
| dry and many flowers flourished and then finished | | | | through the winter. And just as the last colours |
| much earlier than normal. But there's no reason | | | | on the leaves fade and drop you can take |
| for you to lose colour from your garden. As | | | | advantage of the dogwoods and willows such as |
| autumn arrives your planting design can have an | | | | Cornus alba 'Aurea' for great stem colours. Some |
| equally spectacular display of foliage and berries. | | | | climbers also provide glorious colours such as |
| Autumn flowering bulbs, berries on trees and | | | | Parthenocissus tricuspidata. |
| shrubs such as Sorbus and Pyracantha and the | | | | If your garden's already overcrowded and you've |
| dramatic reds, oranges and yellows of trees such | | | | not got the space for another tree or shrub, don't |
| as the maple family Acer pennsyvanicum, Acer | | | | worry. There are lots of perennial plants to help |
| griseum with it's peeling red bark and Acer | | | | liven up the autumn border. Ornamental grasses |
| japonicum all offer brilliant displays of colour. | | | | have become justly popular in the past few years |
| The maples are perhaps the best known of the | | | | and as a result there are more and more |
| autumn trees but there are many other species | | | | varieties becoming available. Golden Wavy Hair |
| to choose from. Ornamental varieties of | | | | Grass Deschampsia flexuosa 'Tatra Gold' is a |
| Crataegus, Malus and Sorbus can provide good | | | | great favourite of mine. It's a good all round |
| colours and particularly good berry displays. Try | | | | evergreen which always does well on |
| Sorbus cashmiriana and Sorbus 'Joseph Rock' in | | | | Wimbledonsoil with vivid yellow-green leaves and |
| small gardens for year round interest, not just the | | | | elegant summer flower spikes. And if you're lucky |
| autumn. And of course there are many | | | | you can get a late flowering of Dahlias, Rudbeckia |
| evergreen varieties of conifer with good sculptural | | | | and Kniphofia otherwise known as the Red Hot |
| shapes to compliment the bare branches of other | | | | Poker. |
| trees. Conifers aren't always the most fashionable | | | | So think ahead and keep an eye out for all the |
| plants with garden designers but they can be an | | | | colours of Autumn. Don't be afraid to experiment |
| important part of contemporary garden design | | | | and certainly feel free to copy some of the great |
| with specimens of Taxus and Cupressus providing | | | | combinations of plants in other people's gardens. |
| structure. | | | | This is the time of year when you need to be |
| If you have the space for a larger shrub plant a | | | | out tidying the garden, planting bulbs and getting |
| Smoke Bush, Cotinus coggygria. There's the soft | | | | beds ready for their winter rest. You might as |
| red variety 'Grace' or the deep purple red 'Royal | | | | well have some spectacular plants to look at while |
| Purple'. The students at our garden design school | | | | you do it. |
| might ignore them as unfashionable but for long | | | | |