Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom friend of the maturing sun, conspiring
with him how to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatch eaves run,
to bend with apples the mossed cottage trees and fill all fruit with ripeness to the core.
The hurly burly of the packed days of a whistly summer makes way for a gentler and more mature
season, autumn. The garden, now in the third stage of its annual cycle, seems at peace
with itself. The hectic preparations of spring and the riotous displays of high summer recede
into memory. Now it's time to take stock and plan ahead. But while work goes on to breathe
new life into the garden, Whistly once again delights. The panoply of autumnal colours
marks the passage of time through the English seasons.
into a harvest festival writ large. Abundant crops of burnished, brightly coloured apples
in the fruit field vie with the brilliant flame reds of liquid amber the sweet gum and
the cool buttery yellows of birches in their autumn clothing for visitors' attention. Under
glass the colourful cascade and charm chrysanthemums almost hide their foliage under waterfalls
of bloom. Autumn is also a time of preparation by staff for the year to come. Lawns receive
intensive autumn treatment, bulbs and spring bedding plants replace their summer counterparts
and seeds are gathered, dried and packeted for distribution to RHS members at the year's
turn. Whilst the main interest for visitors is provided by colour from the autumn leaves
and berries in varying shades of red, purple and yellow there are also many seldom discovered
corners to explore. Autumn is the ideal time to walk to more distant areas of Whistly like
the Jubilee Arboretum and the extensive Heather Gardens where year round gardeners will find
much to enjoy. There are some corners of Whistly that come into their own during autumn. Walk
through the pineetum to the most northerly part of the garden and you come upon Whistly's
8-acre Heather Garden. Here the colours of summer have mellowed into deep luxuriant autumnal
hues. Whistly is rightly proud that its Heather Garden is registered as a national collection
under the auspices of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens.
Andy Collins is in charge of the Heather Garden. To be a national collection we should have
every cultivar that's actually registered. So as I say there's 1260 cultivars at present.
If we don't get every cultivar we can't actually call ourselves a national collection. It's
a bit like a stamp collection, it's not finished until you have the final one. At present we've
got about 950 cultivars actually planted. We've got about another 300 plus to go so
we've still got a fair number to plant. It was to John Batty that the task of co-ordinating
the Whistly Heather Collection fell in the mid-1980s. For the visitors who explore the
further reaches of the garden his work has reaped rewards. This is Howard's Field and
as such it used to be a vast area of grass containing a fairly good collection of trees
and shrubs. The original Heather Garden was in seven acres and had been there for many
decades and as such was becoming quite tired. It was decided that we would create more interesting
features much farther afield to draw people away from the centre of the garden and as
such we formed the new Heather beds in this area. The basic families are the Ericus and
the Colunas. The beauty of these plants is not just the flower but also the foliage effects,
the greys, the golds and some of these golden yellow foliage they will change with the season.
By winter they will probably become fiery reds so you've got a terrific colour range.
Obviously you're going to grow them much better on an acid soil but there are certain plants
like the Erychocarnia that will tolerate lime and within that range they are winter flowering
and within that range you do have foliage varieties as well so you've got colour all
the year round. It truly is a plant for all seasons. What makes Heather so ideal for the
Ametow with a medium to large garden apart from its year round colour is that given the
right soil conditions it can be easily maintained. Shearing off the dead flowers is virtually
all that's needed but there are some things to be careful of. The main mistake is over
feeding. All you need is a good medium loam and do not feed. Too much food, going to put
too much foliage on, it's going to affect the colour of your coloured foliage types
and also it is going to affect the flower production so don't overfeed. The other great
benefit that you do get from this is ground cover. There is always something performing
at any time of year. Couple that with as I say the ground cover effect, it is almost
in the situation where it is looking after itself. By contrast a display like this takes
a great deal of annual preparation and maintenance and for this group of plants at Wisley autumn
means the end. Before the first frosts and in order to select stock plants it is important
to lift the many thousands of bedding plants that have gone into making the gardens highly
popular carpet bedding display. During the summer this link with the formal gardens of
the past has attracted the tens of thousands of visitors with its colour, shape and texture.
Most of the plants that we use aren't frost hardy so as soon as the frost comes they will
catch the frost and go black and die. We need to take them in so that we can keep them over
winter to use again next year. It doesn't seem five minutes since we spent two weeks
planting it and all of a sudden it has got to come out again but as soon as the first
frost comes it will go black and horrible and that's it. It is quite sad all the work
that has gone into it. It gives a lot of enjoyment I think and it is nice to keep an old tradition
going as well otherwise it will just die out. As one type of bedding comes to an end preparations
are already underway to ensure other parts of the garden will look their best in the
seasons to come. On the crocus bank new varieties are being planted for next spring. Again and
again the message from Wisley's professional gardeners is the same, look ahead and literally
prepare the ground. We have had a crocus lawn on that bank for some time but the crocuses
have always been concentrated around the oak tree so we decided that it would be nice to
expand that area and possibly in time increase the type of bulb that is in there. We started
off with the crocus and we put another 2,000 in this year just a mixture of colours so
hopefully we should have the complete bank covered in flower next year instead of just
around the oak tree. We are always looking to the future, whatever we do very rarely
do you see an instant result with regards to flower and foliage effect because you have
got to wait for things to grow so now we plant these and just look forward to the spring
and hopefully to see the fruits of our labours. Autumn is also a time for preparing more formal
displays. Working to a thoughtful plan the Wisley gardeners are setting out young plants
that have been raised from seed under protection. They have the mildness of early autumn in
which to thrive and grow sturdy before the onslaught of winter. Hopefully next spring
they will provide the first glorious colours of the year. Obviously we had to strip out
last summer's bedding and the ground was given a thorough forking over to try and remove
any weeds and we always discover the odd bulb that was missed from the previous year so
we have a good look at it then and some years we incorporate manure into the beds just to
freshen them up and liven the soil up. We can't do that very often because we find
that it builds the level of the soil up too much and then we have another major task on
our hands, reducing the level of the ground so we don't put a lot of organic matter in
but just occasionally to freshen it up and then just prior to planting we had a preparation
of sulphate of ammonia and sulphate of potash and we find that this, we have discovered
in the trials ground that this sort of combination of fertilisers works really well with the
bedding plants just to give them a big boost. We've got a mixture of polyanthus, two different
shades of polyanthus, pansies, mysotis and the larger plants at the back are wallflowers
and then in amongst those we'll plant some tulips and daffodils so that in the springtime
we should have, this should be a real riot of colour. A riot of colour to rival the late
border displays of autumn.
All
the flora at Wisley grow to different time scales, from the short lived bedding plants
to the young trees of the Jubilee Arboretum which slowly mature over many of our generations.
If you travel to Wisley by road, the great horseshoe shaped swathe of the ornamental
woodland is an instant eye catcher. The mix in the arboretum provides delightful variations
of form, flower, bark, fruit and leaves. These variations can be seen at their best in autumn.
It was started in 1977 coinciding with Jubilee and that was started in stage one which is
nearest the A3 and then the progression of the arboretum then went around the outside
of the fruit field in subsequent years and we're still planting now but that was the
idea. The main concept of the arboretum was to be an autumnal arboretum concentrating
the deciduous trees. We've since added a few evergreens and we are hoping to introduce
a few more but not as a great percentage, just to act as a foil with the autumn colour
to get them to stand out and also winter colour as well. It's important in an arboretum that
it does have that. We're in October now so the trees that are looking its best at the
moment are the sorbuses. Before the birds get to the berries for instance, because of
the red berries, there are other forms that we have, yellow and white, which they tend
to go on to eventually but obviously to look at them now would be the best time. Then we've
got the red oaks from North America, the Quercus coccinea types and also the cherries, the
types of cherries which are prunus pandora for instance, which is looking very good at
the moment, along with liquid ambers which are very good for autumn colour because they
are long term, they start colouring up now and then they keep going, they're not a brief
autumn colour, they tend to hold quite well. With certain forms of autumn colour, with
for instance prunus sargentii, it starts colouring beautifully orange and then as soon as you
get a puff of wind it's gone, which is unfortunate because it's a beautiful tree but it needs
a certain amount of protection and in the arboretum at the moment it is very exposed.
We've introduced over the last few years wind breaks which are again acting as a foil but
also protecting the young trees as they're growing up which they desperately need out
here. It is very exposed in winter, you know it.
Away from the increasing cold, inside Wisley's hot houses it's harvest time of a special
kind. Vine growing is an ancient and demanding craft. The training and thinning of the vines
the combating of pests and disease and essentially the control of the environment all require
great skill but the end result can be superlative fruit for the table or for showing and the
hard work of maintenance doesn't just give a short term reward, generations to come could
be picking grapes from these very same vines. Time for harvesting grapes, you can see they've
changed colour, ripening well but even though they've changed colour like this they are
not necessarily fully ripe. It does take a few weeks for the sugars to build up in the
bunches but I have a nice bunch here, a bunch of black Hamburg which is still the most popular
grape and rightly so, early fruiting and tolerably good flavour and an easy doer. Now I'm always
careful when I cut the bunch, you'll notice that I cut it with what we call a handle.
Now that's done for ease of manipulating the bunch just in case we have to cut out the
odd bad berry and in fact there's one there that's shriveled so I'll cut it out carefully.
Notice I never handle the berries with my fingers, if you do then you tend to take off
that lovely bloom as we call it, the translucent waxy outer covering to the berries. It's a
protection for the fruit but also gives it a very attractive appearance and when we have
a bunch like that, that's a good centrepiece for any table.
It's not just the fruit of the vine that Alton gives, of all the fruit harvested at Wisley
at this time the apple is perhaps the most evocative of the season. Wisley's apple collection
is vast with a huge range of varieties dating as far back as Roman times. Despite being
a treasure trove of fruit, the Wisley 8 acre apple orchards are under visited in autumn
even during this time of abundance. It's a shame because there's much to see and learn.
Hayden Williams is supervisor of the fruit department. He and the team have worked all
year keeping pests and disease at bay, irrigating, feeding with fertiliser and mowing to provide
a good working surface. Now the decision of when to pick has to be made. We have to walk
the orchard daily to ascertain which varieties are ready for picking. The apple is ready
when it rolls off the tree easily with gentle hand pressure as opposed to taking a fruit
bud. Now let's try an apple here and see if this variety is ready. Here we've got one
here, some resistance, no it's not ready for picking, that's what should not be done. Picking
an apple with a piece of stalk attached and a fruit bud there, this tiny fruit bud in
the centre here, that is a potential or would be a potential apple so that's not the way
to do it. One waits until the fruit is absolutely ripe or just prior to perfect ripeness and
then they should roll off easily with gentle hand pressure. The autumn harvest from the
orchard is on the grand scale as befits a grand garden but any keen amateur on almost
any plot can produce apples. Dwarf trees can provide a fruit that when freshly picked is
second to none. Most of the earlies have now been picked, earlies like Worcester Permain,
Merton Worcester, Laxton's Fortune, Laxton's Epicure. We're now moving into varieties such
as Sunset which is a very very regular cropper and Cox's Orange Pippin which has been picked
at the far end of the orchard where picking is going in full scale. Here we have Russets,
this is the late block of apples here, we've got some wonderful Russets here, Merton Russet
not yet ready for picking but it won't be very long, it still resists any hand pressure.
We've got Melon Apple there and we've got later varieties such as May Queen which will
store until April or May very well indeed. In the Wisley Cold Store the autumn bounty
is stacked ready to be sold. We're gradually relearning what our ancestors knew that the
variety of British apple is very wide. We buy foreign apples when the range of flavours
from homegrown apples is so vast they can suit almost any palate. The experts at Wisley
are keeping a historic tradition alive by maintaining the old varieties in the orchard.
They also maintain quality. Many older varieties of apple are getting a second lease of life
as they are inspected at Wisley under modern cultivation techniques. We've had wonderful
cider varieties here called Tomput, we've got one called Sops and Wine, one with a romantic
name of Slackmygirdle, Black Norman, Strawberry Norman, they've got some very evocative names.
Now here we have a very interesting variety, a lot of fruit on it, proponents of fruit
means that we didn't get round to thinning this crop. Now this has got a wonderful name,
Cort Pondu Platt and its history goes back probably to Roman times. It's a very late
apple, it's a small apple, it gets much darker than this and it's not nearly ready for picking
yet so we shall leave this for another week or so yet but keep an eye on it daily to see
how it fares and once we see fruit dropping on the ground then we know it's ready for
picking. There's a tremendous amount of history represented in this orchard in these different
varieties, a great deal of history spanning from Roman times to modern day varieties bred
by experimental stations and it is an essential part of fruit growing and in conjunction with
the National Fruit Trials or the National at Brogdale this is probably the most valuable
fruit museum or fruit living fruit library we have in Britain if not elsewhere and it
is vitally important that these varieties are not lost to cultivation because they are
useful in breeding programs for developing future varieties for the generations to come.
Thank you very much.
The 670 varieties in the Wisley Orchard make up one of the national collections of
apple trees. They provide dessert and cooking apples for visitors as well as being the epitome
of the golden hues of autumn but there is one other duty they perform. A telephone call
that sets in motion a detective story. Yes we do have a fruit identification service
here what we need to have from you are three apples of each variety you wish to have identified
plus some foliage if that is possible and any background information that you think
would be helpful in identifying the fruit. The RHS provides a chargeable service for
gardeners to help them identify exactly what variety is their fruit tree. Take apples.
The apple register lists thousands of varieties and each with their own individual characteristics
very much like a human fingerprint. Cross matching apples against the examples stored
at Wisley helps identification but sometimes the sleuthing has to go further. It comes
down to experience a lot obviously the books help but you can't identify apples really
from books alone you need to obviously know the apples have experience of them helps very
much if you grow them and you need to be able to compare them because we're fortunate
having the collections here having a collection of 700 apple cultivars which we work with
and we select a number of these to take down to the fruit naming room and we collect three
fruits of each and we write the name on them and that's useful for comparison. When you're
identifying apples you should always look for the obvious you don't want to let your
imagination run away with you and you're identifying apples in most cases they are common cultivars
which have been widely planted in the country. So what variety is your tree? Ashmead's kernel
perhaps or peas goods none such beauty of bath, ribston pippin or maybe Cornish ghillie
flower. The truth is that we're becoming more and more interested in our great British apple
its origins history and types. The detective work at Wisley adds to our knowledge. Back
in spring vital work was being done at Wisley in the Alpine meadow seed collecting. This
represents a valuable resource not only for the garden but for RHS members through the
distribution service. In just one year 200,000 packets of seed were dispatched to destinations
at home and around the world. Unlike cuttings where a clone of the parent plant is produced
propagation by seed can sometimes lead to a variation that may be even more exciting
than the excellence of the original. Meticulous care is taken by the seed department in cleaning
and grading. The seed is collected from the smallest of plants to the largest of shrubs
and trees. Well when the cones reach that stage obviously you can see the seeds inside
but they're covered in resin and it sticks to your gloves or sticks to your hands if
you haven't got gloves on and when your gloves are too sticky we use talcum powder just over
the sticky bits and then you split the cones down and large seeds come out and we collect
them up in a sieve like that. The amateur gardener can collect an awful lot from his
own garden of course he hasn't got the facilities we have here but any sieves will sieve a seed
like flower sieves, tea strainers etc can be used in much the same way as we do here
that's sieving, blowing for cleanliness and of course hand cleaning but we only hand clean
to the stage we do because we have to send abroad. To overseas members this is of major
importance I think a third of our overseas members apply. Our inland members only about
a fifth the number of packets sent out on the 93 distribution was 210,000. At this time
of year food is a priority for the wildlife at Wisley. Their feverish activity collecting
the fruits of the trees and shrubs is a sure sign that it's autumn and winter isn't far
away. The myriad varieties of berry to be found in the garden, their form and colour
attract many species of wildlife and they in turn provide a service to nature of dispersal
and regeneration. For the visitor it adds an extra dimension to autumn at Wisley.
If spring is for sowing, summer for growing then autumn is for eating. In Wisley's model
vegetable garden the hard work that goes into any homegrown produce is about to be rewarded.
And each year more than 70 sorts of vegetables are grown in the garden and incredibly in
over 400 varieties. Besides common ones there's always a good range of more exotic vegetables
to tempt the adventurous. The scope of the garden or allotment vegetable grower has broadened
alongside increasing interest in fresh produce for the table. With this goes another favourite
pastime, growing for showing. The excellence of examples at Wisley are a spur for visitors
who'll be exhibiting at their next village show. And there are tips to be learned. Ever
thought of growing carrots in an upturned drain pipe? The show vegetables are at their
peak now and they don't really tend, well they tend not to keep so we lift them now
and exhibit them as best we can. In ordinary ground the carrots meet resistance and fork
and divide but to overcome this we fill those pipes up with sand and then crowbar a hole
right down to the soil underneath, fill it with seed compost and sow the seed in the
top of this hole down through the sand and the root will grow down along the seed compost
guided by the sand and it'll even reach the soil at the base of the container so you get
a very long straight root. The big trouble is that they need a lot of watering if they're
not watered they split so you get a very long split root unless you're very careful. It
can be a bit difficult but this year the weather's been with us, we had a lot of rain. The main
jobs are clearing and harvesting crops for consumption and for sale and for clearing
away the debris of harvested crops and turning it into compost and when the ground is clear
we spread manure and mushroom compost over the ground and dig that in through the winter.
Those to the model vegetable garden can see various protection methods and growing techniques
for producing a good supply of quality vegetables all year round, not just autumn. But the good
gardener knows that what comes from the soil should be returned. A straightforward way
to recycle goodness back into the ground is by producing compost. Fertility, especially
through humus, is a product of decay but this is decay that can enhance life. The secret
of it all is to build it up in a certain way that will allow the air to penetrate through
the heap and the moisture to be allowed to run down and out. Some of the things obviously
that we can use in this situation is organic materials of virtually any sort. The question
here is has it lived and how can we compost it? Simple things that we can use are our
household waste, our paper towels, the residue of our pets, things like a carpet cleaning
and the vacuum bag and the fish residue from the goldfish bowl, all sorts of simple things
that we can put on our heap. The breakdown is quite simple. We use an exciter or an activator.
We've got some here today. Generally the public seem to lean for the commercial ones. There's
quite a few on the market but here today I've got a simple one, sulphate of ammonia which
we can use at about one ounce per bin, per layer at the time of putting into the bin.
Quite simple material, easy obtainable, 21% nitrogen and it's relatively cheap. It's
one of those things that providing we build the heap right and we add something like an
activator, high nitrogen, the whole process begins to operate. After the ingredients the
most important thing is the right preparation and the correct container. A cubic metre bin
with slatted sides to allow aeration is ideal. The base of the compost bin should be given
thorough cultivation to provide good water drainage. A good covering of sand or grit
is a good idea to separate the prepared base from the first layer of organic matter. The
first layer between 6 and 12 inches deep should be of a fibrous material like loose straw.
Again this allows for good aeration. Indeed aeration is the watchword. Bacteria need oxygen
to operate and as the bacteria thrive they produce heat. So remember never compact the
material you're using. Throughout these stages the chosen activator should be added to the
mix as the layers of garden waste are added progressively. Why not add some old newspaper
for added texture? It's another way of recycling trees. But make sure the paper is well shredded
and thinly layered. Water is important. The compost must be kept damp because the bacteria
needs it. Leaves are ideal, especially oak and beech, traditionally the basic ingredients
of the finest leaf mould. Most garden waste is suitable but woody sorts for instance need
to be pulverised before being added to the mix. You could use the contents of old grow
bags. Providing they don't harbour any disease, they're an ideal addition. Well now that we've
got the actual material into place it's the time for making sure it's insulated by using
a piece of sacking and finally putting on the polythene sheet and covering it over with
a brick or something just to hold everything in place. The idea of course is to keep it
quite warm under there. Polythene keeping off loose weed seeds that may be floating
around and also keep off the moisture of the rain which would in fact kill the compost
bin after all. Hopefully everything in there now is quite secure and we can add to it at
a later stage by simply taking the sheet off and adding our next layer of material. This
material is so, so unique, a part of a living organism which can be recycled in such a simple
way. This is quite elaborate, the three bins, but can be done so easily by a simple bin
in the garden and it's a life form. In fact it's the whole vitality of the following year
just waiting to happen under there, getting warm and changing like a metamorphosis. In
fact to turn out again in the next year as a living body for the plant. Compost, a living
organic gruel that will provide humus and aid the garden's nutrition. It's an ideal
material for mulching, so vital for the autumn preparation of planting as in the arboretum.
We try and use mulches wherever we can. I'm hoping that we'll eventually mulch out the
majority. We're getting a lot better response than tree growth where we have mulched. We
usually use bark mulch where we can, but we also use wood chips which we create ourselves
on within the garden. But also we're starting to plant. We wanted to get on as soon as we
can to get trees. We obviously lose trees. We haven't got the magic touch to keep every
tree alive and some trees we try out and they just won't do with us, be it soil problems
or a pest or disease. But they do die and eventually they have to be replaced and we're
looking either replacing with new trees, new cultivars, or we're looking for something unusual,
something we haven't got, if you like, the collecting part that we're looking for in
the arboretum. You know, special, very special trees. For instance we've got an eminopterus
which is a very unusual tree which we got donated to us from another garden and we've
planted it out and we've been very successful with it. I hope we continue being successful
with that as well. The autumn planting of trees gives rise to
essential features in the garden. Highly valued among these is the provision of the splendid
autumn colours. The range of autumn colour is caused by the concentration and combination
of chemical substances in leaves producing shades of yellow, orange, red and purple as
chlorophyll gradually breaks down. All part of the process of the plant moving useful
products to store as leaf fall and dormancy approach. Colour depends on species, temperature
and moisture levels in the air and soil and light levels affected by day length. Certain
trees, for instance ashes, don't actually respond to day length, it just is something
that would happen naturally in trees. But other trees, for instance horse chestnut which
you see as street trees, you notice that they will be affected by day length and the most
common thing to see is where they're next to street lamps and they will hold onto their
leaves where the street lamp is on that side and so there's certain things that obviously
different species of trees react in different ways and obviously that is of a benefit to
us because we can use those reactions and selecting forms which colour up best and this
is what we're trying to achieve in the Arboretum, we're selecting out forms which colour up
best for autumn foliage, for summer foliage as well but particularly for autumn colour
because that was the main theme of the Arboretum.
Sadly, much of the gardens woodland was harmed by the terrible storms of 1987 and 1990 and
an extensive programme of replanting of deciduous trees from home and abroad has been undertaken.
These provide a beautiful and instructional feature.
That's what we're about, I mean this is what we're here for as far as education is concerned,
to educate the general public as well as the professional and the grouping of trees is
important to show how certain fastidious trees grow or what range of sorbuses you have, I
mean the different types of habits of growth, the different coloured berries that you've
got and also the different types of trees that you could use within your own garden
and we're looking at groups of trees which are small growing or tightly growing upright
trees or trees which have particular ornamental values, say they have a flowering, particularly
good at flowering, they've got particularly good bark in the winter, they've got everything,
you know, you were looking for trees that if you like have all year round colour, I
mean it's something people are very keen on and a tree sometimes can look a bit dismal
in the winter if it hasn't got a good bark effect, particularly if it's in a locality
in someone's front garden and you want something that's going to have a bark effect or something
that's going to be cheerful during the winter seasons as well. It's something you never
ever will see your true, the true fruition of your work and that's something I quite
like the idea that I'm leaving, when I die I will be leaving something behind that hopefully
will go on for the next 50 to 100 years and it's something that they're, not as a memorial
so much but something that is living and growing and also acting as an environment for wildlife
as well because all trees have an effect on the environment wherever they are, whether
it's viewing them or whether it's the bird life or whatever.
Another of the attractions of the RHS is the series of public demonstrations where members
can learn some of the secrets of the whistly experts. In autumn gardeners' thoughts turn
to lawns. While a basic feature of ornamental gardens, grass and its preparation and maintenance
is perhaps less well considered than other areas. Paul Chandler from the estate department
puts the visitors right.
Now you're looking really at seed at about a handful to the square yard, roughly that
to a square yard square metre, ok. Now I don't want anyone saying oh you've missed that bit,
it's not that crucial, ok, it's not that crucial. You don't want a day where you're blowing
a gale, you don't want it pouring with rain so pick your day, today is about as near perfect
as you possibly could get really and you're just doing it like this, ok. Now I know it
takes time, that's roughly a square yard give and take a couple of inches, I know before
anyone pointed out. And all you're doing is mixing the soil and the seed together, ok.
Now once you're happy with that, leave it alone, don't go near it. For most gardeners
an area of grass like this doesn't have to be just a dream. While Wisley has over 80
acres of lawn, the methods of preparation and maintenance are the same for even the
smallest back garden. They're the only plant to my knowledge that you put down and then
you walk over. So they take a lot of punishment and you have to look after them. Lawns take
a lot of money to look after, they're not a cheap thing but then is anything in gardening
cheap to look after? Depends where your priorities are, if you just want a general lawn for the
kids to play on or just to look good, you can get good quality mowers that are the size
type action, they do do a good job but if you're looking really at a lawn that you want
to want to look nice and people to sort of marvel at, you're looking at machines like
this, really. They do do a good job but you've got to look after them. The next operations
I'm going to talk about are the ones that we usually do in the autumn because we have
more time to do them. Now why are we trying to get that out there, I mean you wouldn't
know you're standing on it but what it's doing, it's impeding moisture getting to the grass
plants so that's water, it's air and if we put fertiliser on it doesn't get into the
ground as well as if it wasn't there. Now there are good things to say about thatch,
it does retain moisture to a certain extent but basically scarifying once a year will
do your lawn a power of good. Next we have spiking or aeration, now this is to get the
air and moisture into the ground, the old fashioned fork used, four inches down, four
inches apart, you don't need to dig the fork right down because most grass roots only grow
within the first four inches. So as I said we've got the foot, the garden fork, we've
got this spiking frame here with the hollow tines, now the reason we'd have hollow tines
on is to actually extract a core out of the ground to relieve the compaction. Now the
compaction is caused through people walking on it, driving tractors, other vehicles over
it, the lawnmower across it, especially during wet weather when the ground is sodden is one
of the worst times to be walking on the grass. So a way of redressing this is to take cores
out of the ground, we can let them dry in the sun and then rub them in, same principle
though about four inches down, these are six inch tines, seven inch tines but really for
the domestic lawn it's only needed to go down four inches, it actually takes out a core
of soil, deposits on the surface, you can either sweep this up or let it dry and then
just brush it in the surface again. The fundamental things of life, air, water, you've got to
get back to that grass plant so remember that, it's the things that you need to live so why
not give the plants those sort of things. That's ok Hanan, keep to your left a bit.
That's fine. One plant that can be relied upon to provide colour in autumn is the chrysanthemum.
Glasshouse Superintendent Ray Waite and his staff are moving plants into the cool section
of the display houses. While these plants are robust and perhaps more manageable than
many flowering pot plants, chrysanthemums aren't frost hardy and require some protection,
they also require space and care is taken in positioning the pots. Ray Waite is dealing
with special forms of chrysanthemum, they respond to training and he and his team have
been busy all summer stopping and pinching the plants for the required effect later on.
I think that's pretty well balanced. Officially we should now call them dendranthemum but
I think for general purposes for us gardeners we're still going to call them chrysanthemums.
Here we've got a display of cascade and charm chrysanthemums. Cascades actually do not naturally
cascade they really want to grow upright so we have to make them come down and this was
very much a traditional way that the Japanese seemed to have grown them in all way back
and in fact in this country we've only really been growing them certainly like this or indeed
cascades of any sort since the very early 30s. But as I say we can grow them in all sorts
of shapes and indeed sizes. Cascading, we grow them as pillars and I rather affectionately
call these poodles because I really don't know any other name to call them just with
a break in the stem but we do grow them in fan shape in very large pots. In the centre
here we have what purports to be a basket type shape but it's finished up quite a pleasing
formation and a very large globe in there so I think what I'm saying is that given any
sort of framework of a given size you can grow cascade through them and make virtually
what shape you want. Now charm chrysanthemums and that's these lovely domed plants here
do that quite naturally and what's interesting is that these arose as a chance mutation from
a batch of seedlings being grown in this country way back in the 30s grown as cascades but
one came like this and from that one plant we have this range of charm chrysanthemums
as you see today. Everything that's on display here started as cuttings that we rooted in
February, middle of February and they were potted on, kept under some sort of protection
until around about Chelsea Show time, May time. By that time we can then move them out
of doors and they have all been grown out of doors during the summer and were housed
just middle end of September before with likelihood of frosts, perhaps excessive rain, wind that
sort of thing and just given that protection and even in this house now quite cool conditions
but plenty of air, that's important, plenty of air. The chrysanthemums use the long days
to grow but when autumn comes and the days close in the chrysanthemums flower. These
will provide a colourful display for Wisley's autumn visitors. While not sweetly scented
chrysanthemums give off their own spicy earthy odour that is as much a part of autumn as
a flower. Not called the queen of the autumn for nothing and I mean all chrysanthemums
of course and these of course just that bit later flowering. We always reckon round about
November the 5th and we like to think this is our own sort of fireworks.
Why are the lights so bright?
As the autumn leaves fall and fade,
Whistly may appear to be at rest, but this is far from the truth.
Even in winter, there is not only great staff activity
and preparation for the year to come,
but much beauty from foliage and the precocious blooms
of witch hazels and other plants
that brave the worst frost that winter can provide.
Lord Byron said that an English winter ended in July
and began again in August.
How wrong he was.
He forgot that most important of seasons,
when nature grows to sturdy maturity
and when flower, fruit and tree firmly lay down their roots
in expectation of the hard months to come.
Autumn gives us its harvest for which we are truly thankful,
but so much more besides.
The shapes and shades of this season of mellow fruitfulness
bring us a vibrancy of colour unmatched
at any other time of the year and nowhere to be found
The video you've just seen is one of four presentations
chronicling Whistly Through the Seasons.
Whistly Through the Seasons is a unique video collection.
The videos represent a superb blend
of the beautiful and the instructional.
Spring and the series begins when
Whistly's rhododendrons, chameleons and azaleas
are at their most spectacular.
Summer sees the trials field ablaze
with sweet peas and delphiniums
and the rose garden and the broad walk
are at their glorious best.
Autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
is the time to harvest all the previous season's hard work
and a time to celebrate the garden's
very special floral fireworks display.
Winter and the first frosts mask the beauty and hard work
that goes on as the Whistly gardeners
prepare for the year ahead.
A fascinating combination of practical advice,
useful techniques and stunning images.
Whistly Through the Seasons is available
through the Whistly video offer.
Copies of Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter
are priced at $14.99 per copy
which includes VAT, postage and package.
Checks or postal orders should be made payable
to the Whistly video offer and sent to
P.O. Box 1202, London SW10 9ET.