GINA PARKINSON marvels at the bounteous harvest from the humble rowan tree in her garden

THE rowan tree in our back garden continues to cling on to its bright orange berries even as we are heading towards the end of November.

I am sure the tree had been stripped bare this time last year, but the bounteous harvest from our excellent summer this year has meant the birds have the pick of fruit.

The humble rowan is perhaps some way down their list of favourites.

Blackbirds have just begun to arrive over the past few days and in the mornings we can watch them landing on the top most branches, a solitary bird to begin with followed by another and yet more until there are a dozen or so busy amongst the berries.

Then, appetite sated, they are gone as quickly as they’d arrived.

This rowan tree of ours is very large and can be seen from every window at the back of the house.

The downside is that this constant glimpse is a reminder that it probably needs a good trim; the upside is the cheerful hue of the berries that are at their best now when the leaves have turned and fallen.

If we get a sunny day, the contrasting colours of the fruit against clear autumnal blue sky is astonishing.

The orange is burnt into the eye which then picks up echoes in the garden, yellowing foliage of silver birch, collapsed buttery leaves of a hosta, dark red berries on a cotoneaster.

As seasons turn it is interesting to think how we unknowingly adapt to what our gardens offer.

The pinks and blues from a summer border are filed away in our ocular memory and temporarily replaced by all the hues autumn can give.

 

Weekend catch-up

November is a good time to cut back buddlieas. These fast-growing shrubs have been tremendous this year, enjoying the long hours of sunshine and attracting the numerous butterflies we have had in our gardens this summer.

In sheltered spots they are still producing new leaves and may, given a mild winter, remain evergreen.

Even so it is a good idea to trim back the stems by a third to a half depending on their length. This will protect them from wind damage especially when grown in an exposed site.

Leaving a reasonable amount of length on the stems rather than taking them back to the ground will protect the lower parts of the plants from frost, the tips of the cut branches will probably get caught but they can be pruned hard back in spring when the temperatures begin to rise.

 

Autumn lawns

LAWNS are still growing, this November has been relatively mild so ours has had to be trimmed a couple of times during the month.

Last weekend I decided to use the mower to pick up the leaves that had dropped from the trees, as suggested by Monty Don on Gardeners’ World.

This was not a good idea.

The bag on the back of the mower filled within seconds, with most of the leaves remaining whole. Plus it was time-consuming to stop the mower, empty the bag and start the thing again.

So it was back to the rake and wheelbarrow to clear the bulk of the foliage away. The lawn mower was then put back into use to clear away odd leaves and to take the tips of the grass off, at this time of year our lawns don’t need a close shave.

 

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

8.35am, BBC2, Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets. Alan visits Sissinghurst in Kent.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Chris Beardshaw answer questions from an audience in Shrewsbury. Chairman Peter Gibbs keeps order.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. This week the team are in Wiltshire where chairman Eric Robson and panellists Matthew Wilson, Christine Walkden and Matthew Biggs solve gardening problems from the audience in Bradford-on-Avon.

 

•The Scarcroft and District Allotments calendar is now available and includes around 20 photographs from their three allotment sites.

The calendar has been designed by allotmenteer Sarah Austin and costs £5. It is available from the allotment shop on Scarcroft Road, York from 1.30pm-3.30pm on Saturdays and 10am-12noon on Sundays. It is also on sale in Pextons, The Good Food Shop and Frankie and Johnnies on Bishopthorpe Road in York.