Berried Treasure

I do love this time of the year as the garden (and gardeners!) begins to slow down for a welcome rest through the winter months before the hectic spring rush comes around all too quickly once again! Now I have time to look back over the past year at successes and failures and start to plan what will be done differently in the future.

Pyracantha Orange GlowThe garden has become a treasure box of berries as evergreens and fruits take centre stage now that the chaos of the overblown summer borders are being cut back for the autumn tidy up. Despite clocking every piece of ‘berried treasure’ in our garden, the Blackbirds and Thrushes have not yet had their feast, so Mrs McGregor and I can enjoy the jewel like colours for a while longer! The Pyracantha (Fire Thorn) on our fence in the back garden had bad frost damage after last winter and has not flowered at all so no berries, but the one on the front of the house is smothered in clusters of ripe orange ones, that contrast well with the brown stone of the house walls. Perhaps the activity of people at the front of the house will deter the birds – I doubt it somehow once the colder weather begins! We do not begrudge the birds their food source that is essential if they are to ‘fuel up’ before the cold winter weather ahead.

Some of my favourite autumn plants are the Cotoneasters and we have a handsome evergreen shrub of Cotoneaster x rothschildianus with yellow berries and long, leathery leaves. As well as giving colour and interest through the year, this is an ideal shrub to give us and our neighbour privacy from each other. It really has done well in part shade and quite dry soil, making a dense bush.

Another plant that is looking really good at the moment is our Abelia which is smothered in clusters of pink flowers, much appreciated by the bees. Although the plant does not have berries, to my mind it is one of the best shrubs for late summer and autumn flowers and such as easy doer.

This week I have emptied the compost bins and bagged up the well rotted compost to use as mulch on the borders as I tidy them for the winter. The gales of wind that we had have broken several of my herbaceous plants so these have been cut back to a few inches above the crowns and the chopped stems used to begin the composting process again. Mrs McGregor has been busy tidying out some old papers which she has shredded and added as well. These seem to rot down in no time and make a good airy layer between the garden and kitchen waste.

As well as the plants in our garden, the hedgerows are full of berries and we have been busy picking sloes to make sloe gin ready for the festive season – a real winter warmer!

Mr McGregor