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A CARPET OF RED AND GOLD

© Michael Campbell

As the leaves come tumbling down and carpet the ground with red and gold and a legion of colours in similar hues, it is quite easy to get depressed and think that the gardening year has come to an end. But this is not the case.

I know how soul destroying it is to gather up leaves day after day, only to find the following morning that the garden is once again covered several centimetres deep with leaves. Not to mention the wind which will, in spite of your best efforts, blow all of your neighbours leaves into your garden. But look on the bright side, you are going to have loads of free leaf mould without the trouble of going out onto the roads to gather it up, where it is usually contaminated with diesel fuel or oil. At this time most people are thinking of putting the garden to sleep for the winter. But sleep is one thing that the garden does not do, for contrary to what you might think this is really a very busy time for all the winter and spring flowering plants. When giving the rock garden a quick overhaul and a good clean up, which is a good idea at this time of the year, it is surprising what you can find. Bulbocodium are already producing a mantle of green foliage in preparing for their late winter or early spring display. They start here in early February and last for several weeks. Very good they are at naturalising, for I have had to remove hundreds of seedlings from the scree beds. Must remember to remove the seed heads next year. If you have a difficult spot and want colour in the early spring, this is the one to plant, and forget about .You can guarantee a beautiful display of deep yellow hopped petticoat flowers for years, without the slightest bit of attention.

Next to appear when the debris was cleared was Sanguinaria canadensis var.'Flore Pleno, a beautiful clump-forming rhizomatous perennial with fleshy underground stems that exude red sap when cut. It already had large fat red buds peeping out of the ground as if it couldn't wait to produce its abundance of short-lived lovely double white flowers, followed by heart-shaped grey green-leaves with glauceous undersides. The thought of this is enough to dispel the autumn blues.

The late flowering gentians are doing their best to compete with the leaves and spread their own carpet of various shades off blue. One that I got from Jack Drake many years ago, x macaulayi 'Kingfisher' is still going strong although it has to be lifted and divided every three years or it will stop flowering. Do this in early March and pot on the little things, which is all they are at that stage. But they separate easily enough as they do not seem to be attached at all .In about four weeks they ready to plant out and start the cycle all over again. A Gentian which I have labelled Acaulis, which produces a mass of blue trumpets in the spring, always makes another effort in October and sends out a few flowers -- not to be out-done by its relations.

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