We have had a good autumn, after all the problems of a summer that was too wet. I walked round the garden with my camera, and took a picture of my weeping cherry looking really great.
The leaves are coloured up beautifully, and the pampas grass next to it looks really stately for the winter.
I looked for herbaceous plants with autumn colour. We usually find trees and shrubs, but often the herbaceous plants have just as good colour at this time of year.
The anemones, which have only just finished flowering, are putting on a good show of colours. The leaves have shades of pink, green and brown, with patterns on many of them.
Epimediums are looking really great at present and will keep those shades and patterns all through the winter.
They flower early in the spring, so I shall cut back the leaves to reveal them when I can see them coming. They are excellent herbaceous plants for ground cover in the shade.
Another good herbaceous plant is sedum spectabilis. The pink flowers come in August, but they really do not die, they just go darker and can look really marvellous in autumn and winter.
The one in my picture has variegated leaves in summer and keeps the pink of the flowers all autumn, until it eventually dies in the winter.
Some time ago I found an unusual eupatorium, called chocolate.
It has been very useful, as the leaves are chocolate coloured, and it contrasts well with green leaves of other plants.
I found it today with my camera, and it has white flowers, looking really good against the brown leaves.
It is not as big as the other eupatoriums, so would be more suitable in a small garden. Of course there are many grasses which look good in winter, besides the pampas.
One of my favourites is the stipa tenuissima, which sways so beautifully in the breeze, and looks as if it wants to be touched or stroked.
Whatever the time of year, there are always things to admire and enjoy in the garden.
By Pat Edwards
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