Horticultural solutions for October

You, like me, might feel very sad that the wonderful, iconic tree at Sycamore Gap – beside Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland  – was vandalised and cut down recently. Fortunately the tree’s stump, thought to be about 300 years old, is healthy so at time of writing they’re considering coppicing it. This enables new shoots to grow from the trunk’s base. While the tree would not be the same shape and it would take at least a century to grow to original proportions, this is an example of the resilience of nature and gives us some hope!

A similar technique to coppicing is in fact used to create multi-stem trees, which have become popular garden additions in the past few years because they look so interesting year-round. We focus on this below so do have a chat with us if you’d like some help with this.

We also look at a couple of enjoyable things you can do this month to take the sober out of October!

But before you read on, we at Bushy would just like to say a huge ‘Thank you’ to everyone who supported our Nuts Challenge last month in aid of Perennial, which provides help and financial assistance to people who work in horticulture (and their families) who are struggling. We’re delighted that all involved raised over £6000 for Perennial, which is brilliant as they do not get any government funding.

Thanks everyone!

Chris & all the Bushy team

Cheer up the season!

Coneflowers (Rudbeckia) bloom from late summer to October and really brighten up the garden in the way that sunflowers do. Sizes vary, from around 10″ to 10 feet and they do well in borders, bedding, containers and grown prairie-style. While the perennial varieties are usually yellow, annuals may also be orange, red or brown. Their black cones remain attractive in the winter and they provide food and shelter for wildlife – well worth having.

Grow a multi-stem tree

If you want to add a tree to your garden, a multi-stem provides something different visually. While some larger trees, like oaks and ash, aren’t really suited to being multi stem, ornamental cherries, acers, birch, amelanchier, hazels, some hawthorns. conifers and crab apples are perfect.

Young multi-stem trees need careful pruning and management for around five years to retain a good shape, which we can help with.

Vineyard visit

We are lucky to have quite a number of vineyards in Surrey, which we feature sometimes. High Clandon Estate Vineyard is having an Open Day on Saturday 7 October where you can wander through the gardens and meadows and, of course, indulge in a variety of good pinot, chardonnay etc! You can book here. 

Fragrant solutions

As the weather gets colder, rodents may seek shelter and keeping them away from your home can require expert assistance. To help deter them in the first place there are several things you can do, like not letting bird feed drop to the ground and keeping bins shut. Another trick is to use the fragrance of peppermint or citronella as apparently rodents hate it! Keep the plants in your home and garden and perhaps invest in aromatherapy oils to dab onto areas of potential entry from outside.

Bushy Beverage

If you didn’t get to Munich for Oktoberfest this year, fret not! Surrey is hosting several tasty events that will whet your appetite, including these two: Oktoberfest Guildford will be at Stoke Park, Guildford between Friday 13 October and Saturday 14 October in one of Europe’s largest beer tents, with traditional German fayre, authentic beer and oompah bands. And Dorking Brewery is bringing Bavaria to us on 14 October, with a delectable selection of German beers and food, as well as wine, cider, gin, soft drinks etc

Until next time!

We love what we do here at Bushy and want you to love your garden so have a chat to us about how we can help. Whether it’s planting a tree or adding pots around the patio, a driveway bed, screening or a billowing herbaceous border we enjoy it all! Find out more here.