The garden is still full of interest in October, thanks to many late flowering herbaceous plants and grasses. The gardeners are very busy this month planting areas that are being developed and keeping up with maintenance tasks such as digging over the vegetable production areas.
A newly created area in the garden is the American Prairie in an adjacent paddock up beyond the Potting Shed. It is one of only a handful outside America and contains 70 species grown from seed at Cambo.
WOODLANDS EDGE (1) Autumn colour is dominated by the red and yellow foliage of Euonymous Alatus and Acer cappadocicum respectively. These tones are enhanced by the yellow daisy flowers of Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne’.
CALENDAR BED (2) Asters and grasses provide the late season interest in the steppe planting. Additional interest is supplied with the purple foliage and pinkish red flowers of Sedum ‘Purple Emperor’.
STEPPE PLANTING (3) Even though the main flowering period is June to July this planting still provides interest with the large flowering Miscanthus transmorrisonensis and Aster lateriflorus ‘The Prince’.
THE ANNUALS (4) These beds are colour themed and designed to give Cambo a late lift of colour. Verbena bonariensis has a transparent upright habit and tiny long lasting purple flowers. The fluffy grass is Pennisetum villosum. Both these plants are lifted towards the end of this month.
TRADITIONAL BORDER (5) This border has a final flush of colour this month with the pink and white Japanese anemones. The orchid like flower is Tricyrtis formosana. The tall grass in the centre is Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ and the red spike is Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’.
MOIST AREA (6) This area will be renovated this month and a new moist area created just outside the walled garden by the picnic bench.
CUT FLOWER AREA (7) Late colour is supplied by the fine Aster pringlei ‘Monte Cassino’, the purple leaves of Sedum telephium and the low yellow flowers of the prolific Coreopsis lanceolata ‘Sterntaler’ which flowers from June to November.
WOODLAND BORDER (8) This border provides a late flush of colour with the white spikes of Actaea simplex, the orchid like flower of Tricyrtis and the late yellow flower of Kirengeshoma palmate.
MIXED BORDER (9) The fading colours of the late season prairie perennials are being replaced by good purple autumn colour from Cotinus coggygria and Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’.
EARLY FLOWERING BORDER (10) Although designed to peak from June to July the carefully selected plants provide interest in terms of form from April to February.
NATURALISTIC POTAGER (11) This year’s potager has an emphasis on red, purple and orange. The large purple foliage plant is Ricinus communis ‘Impala’. The red daisy is the new Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cherry Brandy’.
POTAGER ENTRANCE BEDS (12) These beds provide a transition between the rich colours and exotic planting of the potager and nearby areas.
LATE DOUBLE BORDER (13) These beds still look good this month with many grasses in full flower. The upright tall grass is Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’. Most of the flowering interest comes form the pink red and white spikes of Persicaria amplexicaulis.
|