SEPTEMBER AT CLUNY

Autumn is here and many leaves and berries are already changing colour and the garden is progressing into a very colourful period. This is also the time of year to LOOK UP to see the foliage, berries and cones. Look out for the RED SQUIRRELS. They are easily seen if you are quiet.

BULBS & TUBERS

As you begin your walk around the garden you will see one of last year’s very tall dried out stalks from the Giant Himalayan Lily, Cardiocrinum giganteum with Venus fly-trap like seed heads at the top. Around the garden you will also see this year’s green 2 to 3m high stalks with their fig-like seed heads. These remain a structural feature in the garden throughout the year and the seed heads begin to open dispersing their seed in January. As the month progresses, around the garden and on the bank above the house you will see a variety of different colours of Colchicum (Autumn Crocus or Naked Ladies). Look out for the double-flowered ‘Waterlily’ and the white Colchicum speciosum ‘Album’. Delicate pink or white Cyclamen can be found ‘hidden’ under the trees in various spots. 

TREES & SHRUBS

There are two fine examples of the very beautiful Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’ the Golden Acer, one at the gate as you enter the garden and one at the far end of the lawn. They are gradually changing into autumn colour as are a number of other Japanese maples particularly those close to the house. The beautiful red bark of Prunus serrula tibetica Tibetan Cherry is unmistakable. Look out for the shaggy parent tree at No 10. The pale green leaves of the Aralia chinensis or Devil’s Walking Stick are some of the first to change to bright yellow and orange and very strangely once the leaves drop, the plant flowers at the top of the stick. Large clumps of Aralia can be seen around the edges of the lawn. Enkianthus and Euonymus are two groups of shrubs with striking orange or yellow leaves as autumn progresses. Particularly interesting are the different types of ‘lantern’ seed heads found on all the species of Euonymus. As they ripen, they open to reveal colourful seeds surprisingly much loved food for Robins. You may well smell a lovely sweet aroma between numbers 11 & 12. On your left hand side is a very large Cercidiphyllum japonicum the Katsura Tree (from China & Japan) with ovate to rounded leaves which turn orange and yellow in autumn. In Germany this tree is aptly named THE PUDDING TREE due to the fallen leaves smelling of burnt sugar or even popcorn! 

CREEPERS

The magnificent scarlet creeper crawling over and up many trees and shrubs in the garden is Tropaeolum speciosum, the ‘Flame creeper’ from Chile. During September it has both the red flowers and the blue berries on the same plant. The plant grows from tubers and is herbaceous, dying back in the winter, growing from May onwards. Several Clematis flower profusely at this time of year including an unnamed Chinese species crawling over a Japanese maple at the far end of the lawn. It is loved by bees and other insects. The striking purple hybrid C. Jackmanii and the yellow bell-shaped species C. tangutica both grow vigorously on the fence on the corner at the top of the road as you arrive or leave. A climbing Aconitum A. Hemsleyanium, climbs and sprawls over shrubs at the far end of the lawn and as you reach the first set of main steps.

CONES, HIPS & BERRIES

This is an excellent year for cones and berries. From the lawn, look up and away from the house and see the large cones of species like Abies nobilis the Noble Fir. They are also easily viewed from the view-point between Nos 28 & 29. The red or white berries of the various species of the herbaceous Actaea or Baneberry will remain on some plants until late September.  Fortunately for the birds, it is another very good year for Sorbus, Cotoneaster, Hips, & Berberis berries. Look out for the miniature Sorbus reducta with pink berries on the lawn edge just after No 1 and also to the right of the stone steps near the bottom of the garden.

HERBACEOUS PLANTS

Many insects love the tall, invasive late-flowering perennial Senecio tanguticus (Chinese Groundsel) with panicles of yellow flowers. There is a large clump around the Sequoiadendron. The white Anemone japonica is established in various areas and there is a particularly large clump at the very bottom of the garden. This plant enjoys full sun and flowers well into October. Another late flowering plant established throughout the garden is the elegant Japanese Kirengeshoma Palmata  or Yellow Waxbells with its tubular pale yellow flowers. A large clump can be seen between numbers 19 & 20.  During early September, the European Willow Gentian Gentiana asclepiadea, a clump-forming perennial with blue (also white) flowers is found throughout. Throughout the garden is an unnamed yellow annual ‘Busy Lizzie’ with amazing popping seed heads.

WILDLIFE

If you are careful and quiet, you should easily see one of the Red Squirrels. They feed regularly on the bird feeders around the car park and there is a seat at the Giant Sequoiadendron where you can sit and watch them. They are present throughout the garden and are often heard scrambling around the trees or chattering aggressively. The garden is full of birds particularly Blackbirds, Thrushes, Greenfinches, Tits, Treecreepers and Siskins.  Jays and Great Spotted woodpeckers are present every day with the Jays regularly imitating the mewing calls of a neighbouring Buzzard family. During the middle of September the first geese will arrive, usually heard overhead at night. By the end of the month the first few Redwings and Fieldfares should arrive to feed during the late autumn on all the berries particularly the rowans. A number of fungi (an important natural food source for squirrels) are beginning to appear and there have already been plenty of Stinkhorns! 

SEPTEMBER JOBS

Weeding and mulching with our own leaf mould continues as ever. There is seed to collect, dry and clean. Early spring flowering plants are being lifted and split to be planted in other parts of the garden or potted for sale for next year. In fact there is never a dull moment! You may collect any fallen leaves from the paths that you find.