Autumn Blues

their situation has to be taken with great care. Many are protected by law and rightly so, but too many are still planted without much thought on their suitability for their chosen location. Large forest trees can undermine foundations, particularly on clay soils, which during dry spells contracts and shrinks, often resulting in subsidence, which is very costly to put right. Having said that, we all must remember that trees are one feature in our towns and cities that make them bearable to live in.

Whilst the warm, mellow, autumn sunshine seems to have passed us by here this year, I have much work still waiting to be done. Top of my list are the one or two problems areas in my garden. Problem areas exist in all gardens, be they large or small, palatial or humble. My small plot has more than its fair share of such patches.

Chief amongst these is a dry border that I slowly and diligently have improved over the years. Now, it no longer dries out in the first dry spell of summer. However, I have allowed a vigorous herbaceous clematis, Clematis jouiniana 'Praecox', to dominate the scene and the result has been disastrous. The under-planting of hardy geraniums and hellebores have struggled literally with deep shade. Some now have died without trace! With this sort of problem I usually give myself time to think about how to tackle it. Simple you’d think, just get rid of the clematis?

Well, in this case I think not! This particular clematis is greatly valued, not least because of its long flowering period, the beauty of the flowers themselves, but also for its great value to insects, in particular butterflies. So the solution is more the way it is grown. This year it was allowed to scramble at will and it certainly did. It managed to almost strangle everything and those plants it didn’t throttle, it cast in deep shade. So, I will bring forward some of the pruning of this clematis and reduce its size, enabling the re-establishment of the equally valued herbaceous perennials beneath.

Sad to say, I also have a similar problem elsewhere. This also is another rather vigorous clematis, Clematis cirrohosa ‘Freckles’, whose tendrils are far reaching and have a deadly

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