And so to bed...

"Autumn is the hush before winter"

- French proverb

We're creeping into December - and those yellow leaves still cling stubbornly to the vines.  Most deciduous trees are bare now, and we're constantly treading down the contents of our leaf 'cage' to ensure that its layers are well-packed and will mature into soft, friable leaf-mould come summer.

Hydrangea paniculata
'Early Sensation'

One of the shrubs which will benefit from a top-dressing of leaf-mould is the young hydrangea we planted this year.

It enjoys a damp environment, like the fern behind, and if your garden is without leaves for composting, try using a mulch of bark instead.

The species 'paniculata' comes from Asia, so my book tells me, and some appear to have the bonus of wonderful autumn colour.

Diospyros kaki
Japanese Persimmon

Another popular import from Asia is the persimmon tree, which can remain unnoticed in many gardens until it suddenly sprouts vivid orange fruits! They continue to decorate the hanging branches long after the last red leaf has fallen.

The persimmon fruit is, in fact, a large berry - called 'kaki' in French, it has a high glucose content and should be fully ripe before being eaten or it can taste bitter. 'Sharon fruit' refers to a particular cultivar grown in Israel.

Although an interesting tree, don't be tempted to grow it in an area where you're likely to be walking. One small garden we looked after had kaki fruits raining down on the terrace where we inevitably squelched them underfoot. Yuck! (The same goes for fig trees and terraces - an unholy combination in my book.)

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

The hardy plumbago with the unpronounceable Latin name continues to provide lovely splashes of colour under the stems of a lilac tree. 

It doesn't seem to mind dry conditions and I've noticed that the reddest leaves emerge in areas which still get some sunshine. An excellent ground-cover plant but needs to be kept in check otherwise it will cover the entire garden.

Camellia sasanqua 

'Plantation Pink'

Shrub of the Month

Returning to the Oriental theme, some friends recently presented us with an autumn-flowering Camellia sasanqua - a species which originated in Japan and happens to be something we'd been lusting after for a while!

It's produced new flowers since being re-potted and looks very happy outside, but I've read that it needs to be kept moist through the winter and given some frost protection, so perhaps we'll have to move it indoors at some point.

Salvia elegans

Meanwhile, those South American salvias I mentioned back in September are still flowering their socks off - even the cuttings which we took as an insurance against losing the parent plant.

They are exceedingly good value and provide some much-needed nectar for the odd bee still doing the rounds. 

We've not yet had a frost to test their mettle but, in anticipation of this happening soon, we cut down one of the more exposed plants (Salvia leucantha) and covered its crown with dried hydrangea flowers. This may not be sufficient if the temperature goes to minus 5'C, but past experience suggests this won't happen until Jan/Feb when we get hard frosts.
The idea of shrouding plants in white fleece blankets doesn't really appeal, partly from an aesthetic point of view but also because the wind is quite likely to rip them off anyway!

Weed of the Week

Well, yes, the damn things keep growing despite this colder weather... particularly these little onions that seed themselves all over the place. The stalks may resemble grass but they have an unmistakable onion smell and, if not removed early, the bulbs get bigger and their leaves just become more unsightly.

However, there's no point trying to uproot them in dry weather as the bulb will probably be left behind to continue growing. Either water the soil before you dig, or wait until there's some good rainfall to aid you in lifting out the whole thing.

Lavandula dentata

Our new herb bed is now well-stocked with plants, including some tiny lavender seedlings of 'Munstead Dwarf' which I'm hoping will have bulked up by early summer.

We couldn't resist buying this slightly tender French lavender  (Lavandula dentata) because it often produces flowers in winter and has such attractive toothed leaves. Again, I hope it proves to be frost hardy in this new raised bed because we've lost some in the past - possibly due to poor drainage. 

I've just about managed to plant out the various seedlings which germinated in early autumn, so there remain a few little pots to over-winter in the cold frame.

As usual, we had too many wallflowers for planting in the front verge and down the back lane, so we put the rest in pots where they seem to do quite well. 

Once they start to bloom, we can move them around the driveway and courtyard areas, adding a splash of colour where needed. The same goes for various containers we've filled with tulip bulbs.

I'm now thinking that by the time Christmas arrives, everything should be tucked away neatly and all nefarious weeds dispatched... well, that's the theory anyway!

Winter sunset over the Estuary