October 2023 - Long lasting colour and the box moth caterpillar

October Musings

Achillea Filipdulina ‘Gold Plate’ with Crocsmia

Hello! The days are growing shorter, and I find myself scanning the garden for cheerful colour to brighten up our shortening hours of light.  It occurred to me that this is the time of year where colour is needed more than ever, and yet many of our favourite flowers are fading. My musings led me to research, and I have selected a lovely collection of ‘carry-on’s’ (see plant spotlight) that you might like to include in your borders next year.

Feature: Box caterpillar Damage.

Box moth & caterpillar

I had intended to chat about compost but whilst recently wearing my border maintenance hat, I’ve had the sad task of diagnosing box caterpillar damage in our area. Unfortunately, both box blight (a fungal disease) and box caterpillar damage are spreading across UK.  If you have box plants, please check them for brown patches. Both ailments effect trimmed or topiary plants more than box that’s left to grow naturally. Blight will change the leaf colour to brown and fallen leaves are found at the base of the plant. Treat your specimens with a spray such as Topbuxus Health Mix. Box caterpillars tend to eat the leaves and leave brown patches of twigs. Their webs are difficult to see with the naked eye but take a closeup photo of the damaged area with your phone and enlarge the image, hopefully you won't see any tell-tale fine webs but if you do, all is not lost. A range of treatments are available such as environmentally friendly Topbuxus XenTavi found on Amazon or use nematodes. Please let me know how you get and if you have experience of using other control methods, I’d love to know and share your findings with our community.

Plant Spotlight-Long flowering ‘carry-on” blooms for your garden

These lovely ‘doers’ are great value and a reliable and long-lasting source of nectar and pollen for insects. I’ve split them into cool and bright colour groups.

Cool colours:

Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’ AGM-

Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’ AGM- Huge sprays of single flowered blooms from June to October on this shrub rose.

Dahlia ‘Wine Eyed Jill’

Dahlia ‘Wine Eyed Jill’ a soft peach, early flowering dahlia that lasts for four months.

Alstroemeria ‘Apollo’ AGM

Alstroemeria ‘Apollo’ AGM-flowers from June to the first frosts once its settled in.

Bright colours:

Achillea Filipdulina ‘Gold Plate’

Achillea Filipdulina ‘Gold Plate’-Long lasting golden plates of colour.

Astrantia major Gill Richardson Group

Astrantia major Gill Richardson Group – grow in full sun for the best deep red colour.

Dianthus carthusianorum.

Dianthus carthusianorum. lots of tiny, bright pink flowers from June to September

The Potting Shed- Things to do in October/November.

  Clear up fallen leaves and make leaf mould piles to use as next year's mulch.

·       Protect ponds from leaf fall with netting.

·       Plant tulip bulbs for next spring

·       Prune roses (if you haven’t already) to prevent wind-rock.

·       Insulate outdoor containers that aren’t frost proof with bubble wrap and raise them off the ground with ‘pot feet’ or bricks.

·       Place grease bands around fruit trees to prevent winter moth damage.

·       Mulch, mulch, mulch!

Happy Gardening!