Autumn Colour at The Firs

Autumn Colour in The Cottage Garden 

Just because Autumn has arrived doesn’t mean everything in our cottage garden turns to orange and gold, there are still plenty of other colours to spot as you wind your way through the gravel paths.  

Our roses are still putting on a glorious show, red’s, whites and yellow blooms these will carry on through until the winter frosts, some are highly scented – come and sniff those out!

Our Echiops (Globe thistles) have been flowering from mid-summer, the prickly spherical  violet-blue flower heads have received frequent visits from our butterflies and bees.  Gardener Dawne will leave the faded seed-heads and leaves in the garden throughout the Autumn and Winter as many insects will hibernate amongst the spiky foliage and finches will eat the seeds.   

The beautiful brilliant pink Nerine bowdenii never fails to deliver its delicate trumpet shaped blooms each Autumn, they will stand high above all other flowers and their faint musky scent carries will on the Autumn breeze down the gravel garden path towards Sir Edward Elgar’s statue.

The Perovskia (Russian Sage) has been causing a stir in the garden, visitors either love or hate its scent and many believe its Lavender. Come and watch its silver stems sway in the breeze and see what you think, it’s one of Dawne’s favourite’s.  

Asters are our stars of the late summer border, they produce beautiful lilac and purple blooms throughout the shorter autumn days and are a particularly liked by the bees and butterflies that live in our garden.

Our Verbena bonariensis  has been flowering  from early summer  and will carry on through until the first frosts, its tightly packed clusters of purple flowers serve as late as ‘nectar bars’ for butterflies and the height they provide in the garden setting is delightful.

Just as many summer flowering perennials are coming to an end the bushy upright stem of the Solidago (Golden rod) are crowned with plumes of golden yellow flowers these are an important source of nectar for many beneficial pollinating insects, also the ripening seed-heads will provide food for birds over the winter.

We have the common Mallow self-seeding in the borders and gravel paths, but it would be a pity to weed out such a pretty flower, its simple open blooms are a joy to behold.

Our gem of a cottage garden proves there is much more to behold than fallen leaves and bursting apple trees but not too fear we have plenty of that too, on arrival you will be greeted by our thriving apple orchard overlooking the Worcestershire countryside with picnic tables to enjoy those remaining warm days outside.   

Our wormery

The  wormery has been a fascinating attraction for many little learners and their parents, Dawne has been able to show and share the wigglers with many little hands. We will be applying the worm waste and the contents of our compost bins to our flower beds later in the season, this will nourish the plants and result in strong brighter blooms.

Woodland Walk

We have been busy since the summer and are now developing a new Woodland Walk for everyone to explore. This walk leads from the sound garden and allows you to see a wide variety of habitat areas for birds, small animals such as mice, rabbits and hedgehogs plus an array of insects, crickets, slugs and beetles. There are spotter sheets for you to check out the bird and leaf varieties within. 

Take a moment to sit on the log seats and listen to the Birch trees as they sway and rustle their leaves above, it’s as if they are watching and whispering about you.