Gardener's Calendar

October Gardening Advice

October is an unpredictable month. If we’re lucky, we may get a lovely ‘Indian Summer’, but equally, the weather can be extremely cool, wet and windy, while frosts may bring some plants to an abrupt end. By now, the seasonal differences between the north and south of the British Isles will be most apparent. Autumn arrives earlier in the north and in Scotland, but warmer weather may linger for perhaps another three weeks in Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands.

Despite the cooler temperatures, the Autumn garden should be full of spectacular colour, and if your garden is lacking, it’s a good time to research plants that flower, fruit or berry in this season, as well as those plants that offer foliage colour.

There is an excellent variety of Autumn-flowering herbaceous perennials such as asters, anemones, sedums, schizostylis and roscoeas. Grasses also play an important part, their graceful beauty illuminated by the low Autumn sunlight. This month, Autumn flowering cyclamen are one of the must-haves; plant them in drifts for maximum impact. Remember that the lovely burnished hues of Hydrangea paniculata and the exotic colours of salvias and dahlias will be a dazzling display at this time of year.

There should be plenty of spectacular Autumn leaf colour with maples, liquidambar, birch, dogwood and euonymus taking on their fiery shades. Crab apples, rowan, cotoneasters and pyracanthas will fill your gardens with bumper crops of fruit and berries.