In late summer and autumn, does your garden resemble something Tracey Emin might have done had she been a little green fingered in her early career? Excellent. Keep up the good work (or lack of it). By resisting the urge to prune, even though it’s a strong one, you are doing nature a favour. So put the secateurs down and walk away.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness? The reality is that autumn has become the season of leaf-blowers, shredders and over-flowing compost bins as the nation’s gardeners prune, snip, trim, lift and divide ready for winter. There’s nothing like a bit of invigorating garden renovation on a breezy autumn day to get the circulation going and earn some well-deserved tea and cake. But is a garden reduced to bare earth and tidy heaps really that desirable? A neat winter garden has nothing to catch the frosty light or pick out lines in the snow. Sometimes we can be too tidy and although it feels good, it can leave a desolate scene until the first bulbs emerge, lengthening the depressing bit of winter even more and leaving few refuges for wildlife.
Design for Winter Interest
Traditionally winter interest was created by using interesting berries, colourful stems, early bulbs and structural planting. Texture was often forgotten in favour of bright colours. Recently, new-wave perennial plantings have shown that herbaceous plants and grasses can have just as much winter interest.
Consider where the low winter sun will be coming from during the limited hours of daylight. Morning sun on frosted seed pods is a mid-winter treat, watching the steam rise as the frost is melted by a hint of warm winter sun. The finest seed heads are those that have an architectural feel or cast interesting shadows. Experiment by leaving different plants to go to seed each year. Plants to choose for winter texture include poppies, fennel, sedum, alliums, agapanthus, honesty, nigella, angelica, eryngiums, hydrangea and ligularia.
Inspiration for Winter Texture and Colour
Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire with areas designed by Piet Oudolf is inspiring, as is work by Dan Pearson at Broughton Hall.
Winter Wildlife Value
Shake out the seed head of a large poppy and you will often find ladybirds, spiders and other bugs in the palm of your hand. Seed heads provide habitat for many of the smaller inhabitants of the garden. Ladybirds and some solitary bee species overwinter in old stems. They particularly like fennel and angelica stems and seed heads that they can squeeze into to keep warm. Seed heads also provide a food source for birds. Decaying vegetation on the ground is a refuge for many insects that also provide food for foraging birds and hedgehogs. This layer acts as a mulch and gives shelter to the emerging shoots of herbaceous perennials. It will rot down and add humus to the soil, encouraging worms.
So be lazy. Leave the tidying up until spring. Enjoy the extra time and the colours, textures and wildlife in the garden. It will do no harm to leave the garden a bit wild and woolly through the winter and in fact, there are many good reasons to do so.
Lara Hurley - Lara Hurley has a broad knowledge of all aspects of horticulture and the landscape industry, an interest in garden design, sculpture and ...
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