"The garden's so dismal in June," a friend said recently. "Dull. No flowers apart from jonquils. Nothing to look forward to."
To say I was outraged was the understatement of the century. I couldn't believe my ears. The only problem with June as far as I'm concerned is that it's over too soon.
I love the last autumn leaves, the frosty mornings, spikes of bulbs pushing through the ground, yellow berries like clusters of beads hanging from the white cedar (Melia) trees, tiny black buds appearing on the broad bean plants - in my eyes all are beautiful.
After last January's heatwaves, fires and drought, give me June any day.
Autumn colours vary massively from year to year in the garden, depending on rainfall, frost and even a plant's position and whether it's in sun or shade.
Autumn colours vary massively from year to year in the garden, depending on rainfall, frost and even a plant's position and whether it's in sun or shade.
This year our smoke bushes (Cotinus) have been amazing, changing colour slowly from buff and gold to orange, crimson and purple.
The first to turn was 'Golden Spirit', a quite small shrub (about 1.5 metres) with limey gold leaves that become dark orange when the frost hits them.
Unlike most smoke bushes which sucker ferociously 'Golden Spirit' hasn't suckered, it's in fact quite hard to propagate, though I eventually succeeded by layering it.
Cotinus 'Grace' is another beauty, with wine red leaves that mature blue green before turning clear scarlet in May. It has extra big flower clusters like puffs of smoke, reaches three to four metres and doesn't sucker too alarmingly.
Suckering shrubs are handy, though, if you want to grow lots of something. The European smoke bush C. coggygria and its purple-leaf cultivar 'Royal Purple' are big shrubs (4-5m.) and always throw out a few suckers during summer.
I've been transplanting 'Royal Purple' around the garden for years and because its autumn leaf shades vary considerably according to its position, I have patches of glowing colours dotted about for a couple of months.
Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is another easy, drought-hardy shrub with bright gold flowers that emerge just as the smoke bush leaves fade and fall.
This is another shrub you can have all over the garden as it not only suckers, any stem that arches over and touches the ground will take root. It's easy to dig out, however, so never becomes a nuisance.
I love purple and gold together and winter irises (I. unguicularis) are perfect companions for winter jasmine.
This lovely iris has pale mauve, fragrant flowers and I have a gorgeous purple variety, 'Mary Barnard', that I've been meaning for years to re-plant alongside a winter jasmine growing on some stone steps. Ah well one day.
Correas are another group of winter flowering beauties and C. pulchella blooms from May to August. It has dark green leaves and numerous dark red bell-shaped flowers but I love it most because it's happiest in districts with dry summers.
And for something to look forward to, tiny Cyclamen coum has pink flowers from now until spring, among heart shaped leaves showing endless silvery variegations.
