Life

The Casual Gardener: Fiery foliage a colourful upside to autumn's weather downers

Let’s hope there are enough good days ahead to enjoy a dazzling display of autumn’s leaves

A Virginia creeper provides dazzling autumn colour – albeit relatively fleeting
A Virginia creeper provides dazzling autumn colour – albeit relatively fleeting A Virginia creeper provides dazzling autumn colour – albeit relatively fleeting

MY BETTER half says she loves autumn but as yet I’m unable to share her enthusiasm. It’s not just the gardener in me that that’s on a downer when dusk arrives shortly after teatime and the puddles on the patio never fully disappear but naturally it tends to be in the outdoors that I’m most mindful of the time of year.

The death and decay of what a matter of weeks ago was a lush garden, brimming with colour and insect life, is reinforced by the seasonal debris and detritus all around. The autumn garden is less hospitable. It’s somewhere you go to work and keep busy rather than to slow down and relax.

Yet this season can still spring surprises. Rewind seven days and you’ll recall a long, wet, blustery day when the only forays over the threshold were to the bins or to snatch a few tomatoes from the greenhouse. The following day was fantastic, however, with bright sunshine, a soft breeze and mild temperatures throughout. I had to be dragged inside Sunday evening past, as I was determined to enjoy what felt like the last stretch in the evening of 2019.

One of autumn’s other great highlights is in the transformation in the colour of foliage. Given that the weather is generally more unsettled, however, the opportunities to savour this seasonal showcase tend to be fewer. Ideally, you need a calm, sunny day on which to appreciate the subtleties – a day like last Sunday.

The reason for the dramatic change in foliage colour is due to a reduction in the amount of chlorophyll in a plant’s leaves. Chlorophyll is a pigment that helps turn the sun’s rays into energy, via photosynthesis, enabling the plant to grow. It’s what makes leaves appear green.

But as shorter days signal the end of the growing season, the chlorophyll degrades, revealing other pigments in the leaf – carotenoids and anthocyanins – whose presence in green leaves has previously been masked by chlorophyll.

And so, for a short time before the dying leaves are shed we can see these various pigments in all their splendour – a phenomenon that gives a boost to tourism in New England every ‘fall’.

It is those trees and shrubs with red leaves – containing a greater proportion of anthocyanins – whose displays are most fiery.

The multi-stemmed, deciduous tree Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ (sometimes known as Eastern redbud) is a perfect example.

From spring through summer it has purple, heart-shaped leaves that turn a mesmerising yellow in the autumn. It makes a good specimen tree and is content in full sun or partial shade, its credentials are boosted by an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

Parthenocissus quinquefolia – the Virginia creeper – is one of autumn's star performers but sadly, to quote Rutger Hauer's character Roy Batty in the classic sci-fi film Blade Runner, "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long".

The problem with this classy climber is that no sooner do its leaves turn beguiling shades of deep purple and red than the autumn winds strip it bare. Nevertheless, if you have a preferably sheltered gable end, I can think of nothing better to cover it.

If the scale of Parthenocissus quinquefoli scares you – a mature specimen can easily cover 100 sq m – then the less vigorous Parthenocissus henryana (AGM) may better suit your needs. Its autumn display sees fiery crimson foliage complemented by blue-black berries.

Other autumn jewels I can personally vouch for include Euonymus europaeus and Euonymus alatus (both spindle) and the smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria).