Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Garden Answers

“I’ll be potting up self-seeded annuals and perennials.” Louise Curley has big ideas for front gardens on p14 “Planting dwarf and shade-loving bulbs beneath shrubs and trees as leaves fall.” Sue Fisher on glorious autumn acers, p28 “Clearing out nestboxes that were used this year – this is the prime month to do it.” Adrian Thomas on caring for ponds, p44 “Reflecting on what did and didn’t go well and making plans for next season.” Olga Grieves has is busy on her allotment, p66 “I’ve been enjoying planting more allium ‘Stargazer’ bulbs.” Greg Loades suggests planting shallots now on p70 “Cleaning, sterilising, rinsing and drying all my small pots and trays.” Geoff Hodge examines the best bird feeders on p84…

Patio project A COOL AUTUMN BREEZE A lot of autumn’s colours are rich, dark and deep but the patio is the perfect place to create a calm corner of cool, restful shades that are easy on the eye. Afternoons can still be mild enough to sit out and enjoy a quiet moment of relaxation among some plants in soothing shades. Team your plants with pots and ornaments that complement the colour scheme – here, a galvanised planter, watering can and cosy cushion do the trick! Plants with silvery foliage always make the patio look classy and are likely to tolerate drought too. A few cut stems (here, eucalyptus) give a fun extra flourish.…

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are competing against public gardens around the world in the Waterlily Weigh Off 2025. The annual competition, organised by Denver Botanic Gardens in the USA, challenges gardens with a Victoria water lily to see how much weight a single leaf can hold before it starts to sink. Kew’s entry was a whopping 76.5kg, with weights placed on a single leaf of a Victoria boliviana plant (pictured), which measured more then 2m across, growing in the Waterlily House in the gardens.…

Whether you have a long driveway, a small front garden or just enough space for some pots, the entrance to your home and garden plays a key role in creating first impressions, gives your home kerb appeal, raises your spirits when you’re coming and going and provides a warm welcome for visitors. Attractive front gardens make us feel good about where we live but they can also have a much more profound impact on our environment – reducing pollution, mitigating against flooding and increasing biodiversity, so it makes sense to make the most of these spaces. A gate might seem like a purely functional structure, but once the practicalities have been considered, a gate can be another opportunity to add a touch of creativity to your garden. It can set…

Trees and shrubs with handsome foliage are invaluable as part of the garden’s framework, and acers – also known as maples – are up there with the best. Their attractive lobed leaves can be coloured or variegated, looking handsome from spring to autumn, or develop wonderfully vibrant autumn colours to round off the season with a fiery finale. A handful of maples have coloured or patterned bark, too, and these just keep on giving right through the year. Originating from many Northern Hemisphere countries, acers are hardy and deciduous, and comprise a huge and diverse group of around 100 species that range in size from forest giants right down to amenable shrub-sized bushes. Familiar acer trees that are native to, or naturalised in, the UK, are the sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus,…

Early October is the last chance to sow hardy annuals direct into the soil. They’ll survive over winter and get a head start in spring. Prepare the soil by removing any stones or weeds, then dig it over lightly. Finally, rake the surface to a fine tilth. For a natural look, scatter seed thinly, then cover with compost and water well with a fine rose. You can also sow in drills or shallow grooves, spacing seeds 0.5cm apart. If you have heavy soil, or live somewhere with cold, wet winters, it’s better to start off these plants under cover. Sow into 9cm pots of peat-free multi-purpose compost and keep them in a cool, bright place to encourage slow, strong growth. Keep a look out for damping off (seedlings keeling over)…

Ponds are brilliant! After 25 years of making them and gazing into them and at times even wading into them, I never get tired of them. They bring so much enjoyment, providing a focal point in the garden for you and for wildlife. They become the must-go place, whether it be for bathing birds splashing in the shallows, bug-eyed frogs massing in the spring, or dragonflies and damselflies darting back and forth over the surface, all summer long. The bonus is that, for much of the time, ponds looks after themselves. They usually require a lot less attention than a vegetable patch, flower border, lawn, or almost any other part of the garden. But that doesn’t mean a pond can just be left to its own devices for ever; sometimes…

October is the perfect time to take honest stock of our gardening highs and lows. I’ve always been upfront about my failures, mostly because there are usually more things that go wrong – or simply not to plan – than those that go right. This year’s biggest horror story on the plot? Without a doubt, bindweed. The amount of time I’ve spent battling this beast is, quite frankly, ridiculous. And for what? It just keeps coming back. Again and again. As an organic gardener, weedkiller is out of the question (I’d need it by the gallon anyway), so I’m left endlessly tugging and teasing it out, trying to get every last root. Of course, it’s never enough. If anyone has any tried-and-tested organic methods for managing this most dreadful of…

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100 allium bulbs worth £19.96 for free* ! *Just pay £5.95 postage Alliums are an essential addition to the late-spring and early summer garden. They create a stunning contrast of shape and texture when planted among herbaceous perennials, inject vertical accents into borders and containers and make excellent cut flowers. Perfect for the low-maintenance garden, alliums are very easy to grow on well-drained soil and will virtually take care of themselves. The collection comprises 20 bulbs each of the following: • Allium moly Dense clusters of star-shaped, golden-yellow flowers from late spring. • Allium sphaerocephalon An understated allium with unusual oval-shaped, purple-green flowerheads perched atop tall, slender stems. Easy to grow on well-drained soil, it virtually takes care of itself. • Allium roseum Also known as rosy garlic, this bulb produces narrow,…

CLUES ACROSS 1 Genus of which - - - - - - - coronaria is known as ‘rose campion’ (7) 5 Botanical name of the linden tree (5) 6 Self-seeding ornamental annual, Datura stramonium or - - - - - apple (5) 8 Bulb genus that includes the exoticlooking pineapple lily (7) 10 - - - - weed, the Asclepias yielding a sticky white latex (4) 11 Malus sylvestris or - - - - apple, small tree whose fruits make a sharp jelly (4) 15 Tall-growing climber with perfumed white flowers (7) 16 Alternative botanical name of the tree known as white poplar (5) 17 - - - - - chestnut, tree producing mahogany-coloured conkers (5) 18 Taxonomic rank immediately below ‘genus’ (7) CLUES DOWN 1 Botanical term, as in…

Adjustable fruit picker £34.38 Picking tool with lightweight adjustable handle, reaching 1.6m. fruugo.co.uk Pear tea towels £10 Three Orla Kiely cotton tea towels with loops for easy hanging and display. greenbeeinteriors.co.uk Pear-shaped cushion £10 Wipe-clean polyester cushion, 31cm x 22cm. dunelm.com Pear sculpture From £16.99 Pewter antique The Book of Pears £45 The story of the pear, with a guide to ancient and modern cultivars. bookshop.org Pomona storage jar £15.99 Classic ceramic kitchen canister, 10.3cm x 8.1cm x 8.1cm. wayfair.co.uk…

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ Compact English lavender with aromatic, grey-green foliage and spikes of intensely fragrant, deep purple flowers June–August. H: 60cm. Malus ‘Evereste’ Crab apple with white and pink blossom in April and miniature red and yellow apples in autumn and winter. Great for wildlife. H&S: 4m. Sarcococca confusa Evergreen shrub with lustrous, dark green leaves and sweetly scented white flowers December–March. Will tolerate urban pollution and dry shade. H: 2m, S: 1m. Lonicera periclymenum ‘Rhubarb and Custard’ Compact honeysuckle ideal for small gardens, producing fragrant, cream, yellow and reddish-pink flowers. H: 2.5m, S: 1.5m. Taxus baccata Yew is a large evergreen tree whose size can be controlled with regular clipping. Popular as hedging and topiary. H: 10m, S: 6m.…

PLANT SPRING BULBS Daffodil, hyacinth, crocus and muscari bulbs can be planted now for a dazzling show next spring. Always choose larger bulbs of their type – they will flower better. To make space for your spring bulbs, pull up spent annuals and cut back sprawling hardy geraniums and nepeta to their central clumps to reveal bare earth for planting. Plant the bulbs singly or in small groups, dotted around or in large swathes for impact. Make sure you plant them at the right depth, which should be three times the length of the bulb, so a 5cm bulb should be planted 15cm deep. Help lawns recover from summer Lawns suffer in hot, dry weather, but some TLC now will pay dividends in spring. SCARIFY Rake vigorously with a spring-tined…

For a hot, fiery look, try planting capsicum (chillies) with stipa, mahogany-purple ajuga and heuchera with trailing ivy and Houttuynia cordata. Plant against a warm sheltered wall for a vibrant effect that’ll last up to Christmas. Keep deadheading, watering and feeding flagging container displays, especially those with evergreen plants. Fill gaps with hardy cyclamen and winter pansies and add a few crocus and dwarf daffodil bulbs ready for spring. In cold and frosty weather, waterlogged compost can freeze, killing plants and breaking large pots, so it’s worth raising them up on ceramic pot feet. Put at least three under each pot so water runs freely out of the base.…

1 Use a plank or a stringline to mark out a line for planting the bulbs, making sure the soil is loose. Use a trowel to break up any compacted soil and mix in some grit if soil is heavy. 2 Space the bulbs evenly along the row ready for planting at intervals of 20cm (or 15cm if space is tight). Check that each bulb is firm and healthy and discard rotten ones. 3 Plant with the pointy end at the top and the flat end at the bottom, planting so that the very tip of the bulb is only just level with the soil surface to help keep it well anchored. 4 Add a label at the end of the row so that the area doesn’t get walked over…

Do you come back from a visit to an open garden and have herbaceous border envy? A desire to rip out all those tired edging plants, plug every gap and make borders much longer or wider? Autumn is a great time to give your borders a revamp and it can be done by following nature. As the soil cools but plants are still intact, it’s the perfect time. Don’t tidy up Borders can start to look like a teenager’s bedroom by the time October gets going, with stuff all over the place! Annual plants will need pulling up, leggy shrubs and roses may need pruning back to keep them stable, and lots of stems may be getting in the way after a full growing season. But if you leave some…

WEBSITE gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk GA seeds successes These pretty white cosmos grew from free GA seeds and decided they were going to spend their life entwined in the roses. I thought it made a lovely bouquet. Anita Pritchard, Weston-Super-Mare My 84-year-old mum Hazel Charnley grew these beautiful morning glory flowers from GA seeds. Pretty as can be! Heather Fish, by email Feed it, don’t weed it I too was going to weed out my ragwort plant (Ask GA Sept, p77), but the flowers attract pollinators, small birds eat the seeds, it’s a food plant of the cinnabar moth caterpillar and its roots fix nitrogen into the soil. As no horses pass where I live, I’ll just let it be. Sim Yoxen, by email Star letter FRUITS OF OUR LABOURS I only have…

BUY 12 FOR JUST £24 Loved for their unsurpassed winter beauty, hellebores will survive the coldest of weather with ease, bringing colour to your garden when not many other plants are flowering. From January through to May, cup-shaped blooms appear above dark, leathery, evergreen foliage, perfect for planting in borders and pots in shady spots or underneath shrubs and trees. Supplied as young plants, delivery from late September. • Buy 12 x young plants for £24 WONDERFUL WALLFLOWERS FROM JUST 76P EACH! CHEIRANTHUS ‘HARLEQUIN MIX’ Some of the earliest-flowering wallflowers, sure to make you smile with their eye-catching explosion of colours and fabulous fragrance from early spring to early summer. Compact and bushy in habit, they’re perfect for filling borders and patio containers alongside spring-flowering bulbs such as tulips. Supplied…

1 Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ transitions from fresh pink to rich deep red as autumn arrives, and the flowerheads then add structure all the way through until the end of winter. H: 1m, S: 60cm. 2 Phlomis russeliana is a wonderful drought-tolerant perennial for a gravel garden and its sturdy flower stems become more prominent as autumn progresses and structure in the borders is at a premium. H: 90cm, S: 70cm. 3 Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ forms a very neat, upright clump that makes an effective screen from early summer until the end of winter, by which time its straw-like colour glows in low sun. H: 1.5m, S: 60cm.…

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER & INSTAGRAM @gardenanswers A Deciduous narrow-leaved shrub with pink autumn foliage tints and purple berries B Native shrub with fiery autumn leaves and pink seed capsules with orange berries C Fruiting shrub whose edible, sweet and tangy bright blue fruits are highly nutritious D Native conifer with toxic berries encased in a fleshy cup that birds like to feast on E Large clusters of golden berries and pinnate leaves that colour up brightly in autumn F Unusual vigorous climber with mottled leaves and pinky-purple berries that mature to blue…

“Crocosmias add plenty of colour and drama in the second half of summer and into autumn Crocosmias are nectar-rich South African plants and their flowers come in sunny yellows, reds and oranges. They’re pollinated by sunbirds and insects in their native land, so they are adored by native bees and wasps here. Many perform in the second half of summer, adding vivid colour and form to the late border. And their unusual sword-shaped leaves continue to add a contrasting presence right up until autumn turns into winter. Although often cited as droughtresistant, crocosmias enjoy summer rainfall and always grow better if they get plenty of rainfall in spring and early summer. In the summer drought of 2022, mine shrivelled up and failed to flower. They returned in the following year,…

When two garden owners have different planting passions, it can be hard to accommodate them both in one garden. So Nick Wood and his husband Chris Coton bought an even bigger plot next door so they could have a garden each. The result is the best of both worlds, with two flower-filled havens dripping with colour, and a joyous mix of foliage colours and textures and intriguing garden details, whether they be pots and troughs nestled among beds and borders, or quirky sculptures that enhance but never intrude on the glorious planting. “We grew lots from seed and cuttings and accepted offerings from neighbours “We started out with our long, narrow back garden, which was in an awful state when we arrived,” says Nick. “It was really overgrown with a…

• Ned Lomax has been head gardener at Bodnant Garden for three and a half years and was previously head gardener at Glendurgan Garden in Cornwall. What are you busy doing in the garden at Bodnant in the month of October? Autumn is a great time to check on the health of our fantastic tree collection. Any hidden fungi are uncovered as leaves fall. Not all fungi are a problem, but they can be an indication of potential issues with the tree. In our borders, we’ll be starting to lift, divide and move herbaceous plants, implementing plans for next year’s displays and taking cuttings of plants that we want to increase to place elsewhere in the garden. What makes October such a special time at Bodnant? The sheer scale and…

One of the joys of having your own outdoor space – whether that’s a garden, patio or just a balcony – is encouraging wildlife by providing them with a constant source of food. Wild birds are one of our favourites as they’re beautiful to look at, they have fabulous fun antics, and they reward us with their birdsong. While some bird species are thriving, others are declining in number – especially in their natural habitats. Luckily, we and our outdoor spaces can be a lifeline for them if we provide the necessities of life. Feeding birds is incredibly rewarding, both for us and the birds. And, as we head into the colder months of the year, that help will be all the more welcome as natural food supplies start to…

Buy 30 plants and save £17 Specially bred wallflower, flowering from autumn to spring, with vibrant and longlasting displays of blooms. These plants give you everything from rich reds and purples to soft gold, lemon and white. Ideal for gardeners who want fast, low-effort results in beds, containers and windowboxes without sacrificing performance, longevity or impact. Built to last, these hardy wallflowers are easy to grow and a great choice for extending your seasonal displays. • Item 410164: 30 x garden-ready plants for £12.97 – you save £17. SUBTITLE PANSY ‘MATRIX’ MIX Huge flowers in dazzling colours from January until June. The lightly scented flowers come in a mixture of vibrant yellows, reds, oranges and purples. Banish the winter blues by filling your pots, hanging baskets and borders with brightness.…