After a week in the Loire region it was on to Paris, where the use of containerised planting to enliven and define the outdoor cafe spaces was a sight for sore eyes.  And don't get me started on the fantastic street trees ...!

Houseboats on the Sienne - with gardens, of course.  In this one I particularly like the 'turf' table and benches ... although I do wonder if the wine glasses topple over on the sward...

Last, but not least, a reminder of the informality of the rural areas.  This cluster of cacti were nestled against the sunny wall of a gite ... a simple yet artful grouping that sums up the relaxed informality of our French hosts.

I am already planning the next visit!

Barbara Cartland, eat your heart out!  The oriental lily 'Stargazer' - big, bold and fragrant and giving a tired section of the garden a real late season zing.  White flowered Lilium 'Siberia' are doing their thing in the opposite border, almost knocking you over with their combined scents.

Inula magnifica - another late summer show stopper, much loved by the insect world.  Tall and robust, this beauty flowers well in both sun and shade.

Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum' (purple fennel) - growing to 2 m tall over the course of the season this spectacular plant stands tall all winter, looking fabulous when rimed with frost or covered with snow.  Best of all, all parts, including the bulb, are edible!

My fennel moves around the garden, with seedlings popping up in unexpected spaces but always looking just right.

Next to the fennel is a mix of plants, some new this year, some old friends.  The colour scheme clashes a bit, but I can sort that out in the autumn.  Here we have Acanthus spinosus (spreads when happy), Eupatorium 'Phantom' (a dwarf form of the much loved giant at only 1m tall), Monarda (at the front - I can't remember which cultivar) and the late summer stalwart, Helenium 'Moorheim Beauty'.  I always smile when I walk past this grouping :)

Malus domesticus 'Discovery'

These are the last apples to be picked on my family apple tree (three different types of apple grafted onto one rootstock - an ideal solution for the smaller garden) - and I can't wait to get my teeth into them!

When the sun is at a certain angle it shines into my woodland border, illuminating the bright red berries of the Arum.  The attractively marbled shiny green leaves of this plant look fabulous early in the year but have often died away in my border before the poisonous red berries appear, like jewels, in the undergrowth.

There are still plants in the garden that are in full flower - this is one of my favourites, Tryctis - the toad lily. I grow this in full sun, in quite dry soil underneath Betula utilis var. jacquemontii, where it is spreading rapidly and grows to about 80 cm tall.  Tryctis is often said to be a woodland plant, preferring partial shade and damp soil, but I guess my plant hasn't read the RHS  plant encyclopedia!




Fuschia riccatonii
A great late flowerer, with an exotic looking flower that belies its hardiness.  I rescued these plants from the front border of my garden before the mini-digger moved in and replanted them in a narrow border underneath the front room window, where they have established well and form a metre high  flowering 'hedge' in late summer and autumn.  I cut them down to ground level each spring, just before the new growth starts, so all this foliage is this year's growth. It never ceases to amaze me.

Another jewel of autumn gardens - Nerine bowdenii.  I have struggled to find the right place for these spectacular bulbs - they like hot, dry places where they can grow undisturbed.  I am hoping that this plant will now bulk up and form a colony, but I will have to wait until next year to see.  I hope that the surrounding Anamanthele lessonaria (Pheasant Tail Grass) doesn't create too much shade for the bulb ...


Sometimes it is the simplest things that please the most.  The mid-green, veined, leaves and delicate flowers of Viburnum x bodnantse 'Dawn' lie next to the autumn foliage of the red stemmed dogwood, Cornus alba 'Sibirica' in this view from my office window. In front of this pair is the heavily berried Cotoneaster with its shiny, dark green leaves that I showed in my September blog post.  All three have leaves of similar shapes and sizes but with contrasting textures & colours ... as I said, it is the simple pleasures ...
The freshly emerged plumes of the pampas grass Cortaderia sellanoa look amazing at this time of year.  Yes, I know that many folks wouldn't have this plant in their gardens, with its 1970's connotation of neat suburban front gardens but, in mixed planting, I think it truly is a stunner.  As an added benefit, sparrows love to use the fluff to line their nests in the spring and watching their antics and they try to wrest a beak-full free from the stalk is highly amusing. It's a bit like an avian high wire act!

This time of year fallen leaves predominate and anyone with trees in or near their garden will be all too familiar with the weekly task of raking and bagging.  I have a leaf blower/vacuum, which is fantastic for harvesting dry leaves and for dislodging those stubborn piles at the back of flowerbeds and from gravel.  Trouble is, dry leaves are not common in my Scottish garden, so I find that running over piles of leaves with the lawn mower on a high setting is an invaluable alternative - chopped leaves decay much faster and take up less space in the leaf mould cage.  Works wonders!

The skeletons of plants look fantastic when frosted. This tableau in my front garden features Coryllus avellana 'Contorta' (I love it for winter structure, but many hate its warped form and twisted leaves - each to their own, I say); the architectural seed heads of Phlomis russelliana (also great when capped by snow); tawny clumps of Miscanthus sinensis, and the still standing flower spires of Acanthus spinosus.

Another plant that gardeners love to hate is Bergenia.  Some find its coarse evergreen leaves too unrefined for their taste, but I think it is a fantastic structural plant, with welcome sprays of pink, red  or white flowers in the spring and, as here with Bergenia 'Ballawley', fantastic burgundy leave tints in the winter.  Behind is the strappy foliage of Deschampsia and Schizostylis.

Here's a challenge for you ... on what plant would you find these seed heads?

When I was doing my Garden Design course, we were charged to collect and identify seed heads for one of the horticultural modules, and these had us all completely stumped (even the very knowledgable lecturer was scratching his head).  Answers on a post card please!

I couldn't resist adding this - frosted spider's webs are one of the real joys of the winter garden (and the sign of a healthy level of insect life).  

Mystery seed head:  Buddleia davidii 

The clients invited me to visit their new house, just off the A9 near Auchterarder, to help them to plan a garden in a space which strongly resembled the exercise yard of a correctional facility. They had come from a mature woodland garden on the West Coast and were at a loss as to how to begin to create a garden from such a blank canvas.  It was an interesting project, with budget restrictions, privacy issues and some strong personal preferences for shapes and plants, but as the structure of the garden was to come from the planting, I was in seventh heaven.  The garden was built and planted this spring but, as it contains many herbaceous plants and areas with ornamental grasses, it should look good this summer, and get better over the years as the trees and shrubs mature.  This is how it looks now, newly planted...

Borders have been created around the periphery of the garden, leaving a grassed maintenance path in front of the fences and allowing access to the borders from both front and rear.  Good border preparation is essential in new build gardens, where builders' rubble and compacted soil can be a real problem. The contractor dug lots of organic matter into the soil and it was left to settle for a few weeks before planting. Curvy shapes were important to one of the clients and this principle has been applied to the patio extension and to the borders.  The rotary drier has been relocated to the dead space beside the house and trees have been positioned in the borders to block the sight lines to and from neighbouring houses.

A circular seating area has been added to catch the afternoon sun and this is encircled by a grass path so that the surrounding planting creates a sense of enclosure without seeming oppressive.
Once the trees and shrubs mature the fence surrounding the garden will virtually disappear from view.

A Miscanthus 'hedge' will partially screen the caravan in the summer months and the 'kitchen border' will provide colour and interest on a year round basis.

The clients were willing to experiment with new planting styles and are looking forward to their new naturalistic borders (with late flowering herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses) as well as to the flowering of their favourite cottage garden plants.  Even before the garden was planted the clients were delighted to see the shapes of the new borders said that the garden space seemed more comfortable.

We are all looking forward to seeing the garden matures over the coming months and years ...


Post script: Here is the garden in late August, 4 months after planting - the clients are absolutely delighted!

For slower/lower-growing trees try:

It's an overcast Scottish November day and yet, looking out of my office window, I am amazed at the intensity of the colours in the garden.  The last of the leaves are still clinging to the branches in shades of tawny brown, rusty red and butter yellow, complemented by wide-ranging colours of the woody skeletons of trees and shrubs. This is the garden's last swan song before it is overcome by the winter, and it truly is  a sight for sore eyes!

Traditionally, evergreens have been the plants of choice for winter structure, but the introduction of ornamental grasses and strong, architectural herbaceous plants into our planting repertoire achieves the same effect.  Here Miscanthus sinensis forms a fitting back drop for the snow capped seed heads of Phlomis russeliana. These get cut to the ground in about February, just as the early spring bulbs start to draw the eye. Great value plants.