The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing,
The bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying,
And the Year
On the earth her death-bed, in a shroud of leaves dead,
Is lying.
Come, Months, come away,
From November to May,
In your saddest array;
Follow the bier
Of the dead cold Year,
And like dim shadows watch by her sepulchre.

Shelley, 1821

By Gordon the Gardener

In his poem ‘A Dirge’ Shelley took a rather melancholy view of autumn. But in the early 1800s a single tulip bulb could cost the price of a house, so Shelley couldn’t have bought tulips as cheaply and have the pleasure of looking forward to their magnificence like we can today. More on tulips later.

Gordon the Gardener took a trip to Castle Howard near Malton and, in particular, the gardens there.

The main garden was a very large walled garden, which in past times would undoubtedly be for growing fruit and vegetables to be used in the big house.

Today it is full of all kinds of trees, shrubs, perennial flowering plants, all of which I found were grown to a high standard.

Then there was the Yorkshire Arboretum – trees. It is run in connection with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

It contains a wonderful collection of trees from around the world. It’s run by a Trust and is dependent on grants and the support of the great British public.

There was also a woodland garden which contains species which a provide a splendid full-year round colourful show. There was also a splendid fountain within the grounds.

Volunteer gardeners augment the professional team of around five gardeners. They are all doing a great job of keeping order, including balsam bashing!

The annual Himalayan plant is colourful and showy, but it is not to be under-estimated. It quickly takes over growing in any position and ground. So it has to be controlled by cutting it back early in the growing season. Beekeepers like it though!

 

 

There are also ‘har hars’ to be found. ‘What, pray tell, are they?’ I hear you say.

Well, it’s pictured above and it’s a rather clever invention of Charles Bridgeman and his sidekick, John Lee, in the 1720s. First installed at the Stowe estate in Buckinghamshire in 1724, it was designed to keep animals out by digging a deep trench and building a wall in the bottom. This kept out cows and other livestock but gave an unobscured view from beyond.

‘But why the name?’ I asked my tutor Laurence Embleton at Huddersfield College. The reply was the noble lord could then look at the animals from above and go saying to the beasts: ‘Har har, you can’t get in!’

November is tulip planting time, an occasion I always eagerly look forward to. Planting tulips is something everyone can easily undertake and you can’t go wrong.

Just plant twice the depth of the bulb, put it in the bottom of the hole, covering with soil and that’s the job done. Is there another job in the garden accomplished more easily than that?

The bulbs do the rest, as the flower is already formed inside just raring to go. They are nature’s miracle. Double flowering varieties such as ‘Katinka’ are my favourites, as being of double form makes their flowers last longer.

I like to buy directly from the grower and not in bags as the bulbs may have mould or blight, known as botrytis. If you do buy in bags, check the contents first.

Leaves should by raked up from paths and grassed areas and placed in between shrubs. Birds love to forage in the litter.

Doing so will increase biodiversity when the worms pull them down. I wonder what the worms do with them? I’ve never been down there to see, but it’s a fair question. Answers on a postcard please.

Your spring flowering annuals can still be planted. The autumn weather has been unusually mild so the land hasn’t had frost, and will still be warm to give plants the good beginning they appreciate.

 

 

Finally, going back to Castle Howard, it has a very good adjacent garden centre with reasonable prices.

You can even buy yourself a statue (above) of Gordon the Gardener*. I don’t come cheap but if you have a few hundred pounds stashed away I’m sure you’ll find I’m worth every penny!

*Sorry, Gordon. That’s only a statue of you in your dreams. Editor.

Catch up on Gordon’s previous blogs HERE.