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An Autumn Walk round Burton Manor Gardens with Horticulturist Karen Jones (August 30, 2007) With some Tips for Autumn tasks in your Garden

Here at Burton Manor, I’m standing on the terrace looking at the back of the house which is covered in a glorious Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus) that is just starting to turn it's gorgeous autumn colours. It turns from a beautiful deep, glossy green to a glorious crimson as the leaves get ready to drop. What a magnificent sight! With autumn coming on the Hydrangeas are looking particularly lovely. With the frosts these will turn to a deep vermilion red, fantastic for drying. In Burton Manor grounds there is a range of different Hydrangeas, one in particular, that I noticed when I walked round in the summer, is called ‘Annabelle’, which is my niece’s name, so it’s always a favourite of mine! When the cold weather hits the Hydrangeas in another couple of weeks, when the sugar levels rise in the sap, that’s when you see this fantastic vermilion colour. It always puzzles me that Hydrangeas seem to be one of the forgotten plants, because they are amazing. You can cut them as fresh flowers, or as dried flowers – all you need to do is hang them in bunches in a cool, dry place and in a matter of weeks they are ready for you to spray gold for Christmas or just leave for their own spectacular colour. The fresh flowers come in different colours, partly depending on the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the soil, but you can change these by giving them particular foods. Sequestered iron will help keep them their true colour. Years ago, before the various specialist foods became available, we used to use rusty nails, because of the iron, and you can still use them to keep the colour. You can also buy a colourant, to add to the soil, to make them blue. I don’t think people realise how beautiful Burton Manor gardens are, they are a real hidden treasure here on the Wirral, each time I come I’m amazed by them. The Sunken Garden We are now standing in the Sunken Garden at Burton Manor, a real ‘must’ to come and see. There is Beech tree that is just starting to tinge with autumn colour. This year I think autumn is going to be a really long season, which is fantastic, I think its going to be one of the best autumns we’ve seen. People think its going to be a short, quick autumn, but I think its going to last well into the end of October, beginning of November and we’ll see so many different colours this year, even better than usual. In the Sunken Garden are beautiful lawns with lovely, I would say sandstone, pathways. I’ve never seen such beautiful & different Lichens and Mosses. Even these are all different types and shapes, architectural structures that - well, you’ll just have to come and see for yourselves! Either side of the paths are lawns, there are four of them. People should be looking at their lawns at the moment with the autumn coming on – scarifying & raking them, and maybe putting on an autumn dressing, which of course will stand them in good stead for next year. But haven’t we had a fantastic summer? I know it's been awful with all the rain, but for lawns it's been really good, they haven’t been scorched at all. In the middle of the Sunken Garden there’s a round bed surrounded by small Box plants (Buxus). In the middle is a Yew (Taxus) in a lovely column shape, this will have beautiful red berries as the autumn comes on and we go into winter. However the berries are quite poisonous so do be careful when there are children around. The Beech tree, mentioned earlier, George says was planted to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo, so is probably almost 200 years old. The whole grounds are wonderful, but this tree is just amazing, a twisted tree trunk going up into open branches, which are also twisted & gnarled, it really is a sight to see, a really magnificent tree! I always love to see Ferns & Hostas growing together, there is a particular border here that is really, really pretty. Some of the Hostas have lovely lilac flowers, I adore Hostas, but so, unfortunately, do the slugs!. Of course we used to put slug pellets down , it kills the slugs, but the poor old birds eat the slugs, so that kills the birds, there is a knock on effect. Some years ago, e.g. in the seventies, we were a ‘chemical nation’ and a few years later everyone wondered where all the sparrows had gone. Of course we were the main culprits; we were using chemicals on our lawns to prevent worm casts, the birds would eat the poisoned worms, and that would kill them, so sad. Now many of these chemicals have been taken off the market. Instead of using slug pellets I would be looking at using porridge, porridge is really wonderful! You don’t have to cook it!, just put a thick band of dry porridge round any favourite plant, the slug tries to cross it and gets stuck in it, the birds come down and eat the slug and everybody’s happy, well all except the poor slug! Well, I’m now at he top end of the Sunken Garden, standing by a magnificent Fuchsia. Fuchsias are incredible plants, that again are often not given their due. This is a hardy plant, probably Tom Thumb, I’m not too sure of the variety, it's been here for many, many years. These are wonderful plants because they will start flowering at the beginning of the summer and flower right through until the first frosts, & probably even until the beginning of December. I used to live in Northern Ireland, on the Northern Ireland coast, and I used to drive up the coast road and be amazed at the hedgerows there, packed with wild Fuchsias in full flower, and, every now & again, swathes of Crocosmia, which we all used to know as Montbretia. By the side of that,which the people with me haven’t even noticed, is a huge Rhododendron, an autumn flowering Rhododendron, yes, there are autumn flowering Rhododendrons, as well as spring flowering, Now this is just beautiful, a lovely lilac colour. If you get up close to a Rhododendron flower I think they look very much like an Orchid; the stamens are just incredible, and there is also a little yellow throat in there. There isn’t much perfume, usually if there’s an attractive flower there isn’t much perfume. Then there is a Stags Horn tree (Rhus), lovely to grow in your own gardens, but I will give you a warning about it: if you cut it back it will come up everywhere you don’t want it to come up; it will come through your lawn, it will come through the patio, it has even come through a sandstone wall here. But it is a magnificent colour in the autumn, it goes yellow, it goes red, it goes pink, it goes orange, it's an absolute glow of autumn colour, really wonderful!

Valerian growing on the outer wall of the Walled Garden

The Walled Garden

Wow! This is just amazing! We’ve just stepped through the gateway into the Walled Garden, one of my favourite places. At the moment people are using this as an allotment, and how gorgeous it looks, isn’t this fantastic? People are growing beans, onions, there’s some gorgeous nasturtiums in a bright, bright orange, tomatoes, marrows, sweetcorn. Always plant your sweetcorn in groups, never plant them in rows, grow them in groups, this helps them to pollinate each other. My mum’s just pointed out some rhubarb that looks gorgeous. These days vegetable gardening is becoming so, so trendy, and everybody wants to do it, and can you blame them? Planting veg. in containers, mixed with your container flowers; planted in your herbaceous border, mixed with your herbaceous flowers, with shrubs. Does it really matter if you don’t have a separate vegetable patch? Mix it all in and have some fun! Go ahead with it, it gives added structure.

Also in this Walled Garden is a magnificent Victorian greenhouse, you can see what it must have looked like years ago, there are trees growing through it now, but there are plans to restore it. I just adore this garden! Still in the Walled Garden here I’m standing by some assorted lettuces, some cut-and-come-again, some oak leaved lettuce. As we’re walking back down to the wonderful gateway, there is some brilliant recycling on my right, a huge compost heap, that we’re all in favour of!

Surrounding the house is a beautiful Yew hedge (Taxus) which is probably around a hundred years old, there are plenty of other lovely shrubs too. Today it’s a little bit cloudy & a little bit breezy which gives another perspective on the garden, everything moves in the wind which looks so pretty.

Main (rear) Garden, or Formal Garden

We’re now down in the main garden, behind the house, surrounded by an array of trees including Horse Chestnut (Aesculus), Oak (Quercus), a Norway Maple (Acer), Norway Maple 'Crimson King', stood by a Birch (Betula) and beside that, two Hollies (Ilex) , a variegated one covered in berries – not quite ripe yet, but what a gorgeous colour they are! Holly is good in the garden, the berries are food for the birds in winter and, of course, they are good for making your own decorations for Christmas. Wonderful to have a holly in your garden, you can get them from a small shrub, to a standard with a ball top, or a conical.

On the main run, looking back towards the house, are beautifully clipped Yew (Taxus) hedges, with pockets of planting, giving a pretty splash of colour. And this amazing waterway! I’m not too sure, it looks like a canal, an oblong pond, with beautiful water lilies – and the house giving it all a lovely backdrop. Another thing I like to see at this time of year, are cobwebs, as the dew lies on them, or when there’s a frost, they twinkle like diamonds, very pretty! We’re just looking over at the Horse Chestnut tree, and the Beech tree in the distance, with the lovely walkway of hydrangeas and the archway into the Sunken Garden. As we look over we’re all laughing as we remember the days when we used to play conkers as children, my Dad said you had to steep them in vinegar to make them go hard, but George say’s that never worked! He used to try varnish! My Dad used to use vinegar for everything, when there was a wart on my Mum’s head, he said “put vinegar on that”! well, it did disappear!

The West Garden

We’re now passing a splendid ivy (Hedera), now this I adore for Christmas flower arrangements. This is one of the common Ivies, an English Ivy, the leaves are shiny, and the seed heads are just starting to appear – wonderful for decorations such as a base for candles.

A must for anyone coming to Burton Manor is to come & see this fabulous tree, I think it’s a Plane tree, but I am going to find out. (Update, September 26th, yes, it is a Plane tree (Platanus) Plane trees can usually be recognised by the creamy patches beneath the flaking gray bark)It’s a massive tree (from the front of the house, come in the right hand, westerly, side entrance and drop down to the right (west) again, into the West Garden, and you should find this tree. The trunk of this tree is gnarled, & knobbly, it looks as if someone has thrown potatoes at it! I think its galls, but it looks just amazing.

The roses here are a bit overgrown, some are in flower with a single flower; the deep pink one I'm looking at is a Rosa Rugosa, one of the good old fashioned roses. There’s one behind it, not too sure of the name, but it looks as if its been there for years, it has a peachy, creamy tinge to it. And one of my favourite things in autumn are the rose hips, and what a beautiful colour they are! Again, if you’re a flower arranger, they enhance any flower arrangement, like the Ivy which we looked at before.

Behind me now is the Hydrangea, Annabelle, that I mentioned earlier – the heads on it are just like, well, like a cauliflower, they’re just wonderful! I’m walking towards a tree now, near the entrance to the residential block, the petals are just falling off & drifting along. The flowers are so, so pretty, almost like paper. I think its one of the Cornus family, but again I’m going to take a leaf & a flower to check & I will get back to you on that. (Update, September 26th, yes, it is a Cornus) I’ve only seen one tree like it before & that was in Rowallane Garden, in County Down, Northern Ireland, in a little pocket, & it was absolutely lovely. If you ever get the chance to go to Rowallen Gardens you’ll find the best Penstemon collection in the British Isles there in beautiful walled gardens. The grounds themselves are wonderful, rolling down to the beautiful loch.

Towards the Ice House

Now we're walking down toward the Ice House, the Ice House intrigues me! You can hear the birds singing, ah, what a beautiful day it is, a bit cold & a bit breezy, but that’s all, beautiful! There’s a massive Leylandii conifer tree down by the old tennis courts that used to be, but which are a bit rack & ruin now. We’ve just walked under a pine, there’s Cedar trees, again a beautiful Holly with Blackberries growing through it! What a bit of heaven this is! We’re now going through some undergrowth, with Laurel on one side, on the other there’s Rhododendrons, down towards the Ice House. We turn left here, & go up towards it. It’s quite dark down here & if it's a bit wet, it might be quite slippy. I think that they’ve cordoned off the Ice House now, either they’re doing work or it’s a bit too dangerous. The Ice house is an amazing thing where ice used to be kept, under ground, to keep it cool. You can’t get down to it now, but looking at the stonework around it, all sandstone, you can see the chisel marks where its been dug out. even the wall above is amazing to see itself. And the leftahand wall, which you can see as you look straight down at the Ice House, is a beautiful sandstone wall covered in Lichen and Mosses, a wonderful colour, almost emerald green.

We’re walking back up towards the house now, walking over sandstone & little cobbles with some Lichen. We’re picking our way through & it's covered over with a canopy of greenery, sunlight just starting to peep through & its beautiful, 'dappled', as my mum says. There’s Blackberries coming through now, like little jewels they are. There’s even some Bergenia, common name is Elephant’s Ears.

One of the other things, that is lovely when you come here, is how tranquil it is, its quite calming. When you get to the edge of Burton Manor land, you see the sheep grazing, and the magnificent view over to North Wales.

We’re now standing under a beautifully shaped tree, its a Magnolia, one of the Tulip varieties, and it shouldn’t be flowering at this time of year but I can just see two flowers and one bud, actually there’s quite a few buds if I look up! Quite amazing to see it flowering at this time of the year, but again, our seasons seem to be changing slightly. It looks like an umbrella the tree itself, a lovely shape.

West wall of House

At the side of the house are a variety of shrubs, what I would call ‘wall shrubs’. One of my favourites, because it looks as if somebody’s been out with the Pledge polishing the leaves, is Magnolia Grandiflora. This is an evergreen Magnolia & it grows quite happily against a wall. But, my goodness, when you see the flowers, they’re about the size of a dinner plate, they look like leather & they are cream with a lovely centre, really beautiful! Great for growing up the side of a house if you don’t want something that gets tangled and doesn’t get into the cement, & it doesn’t grow through windows. It just grows up quite happily and you can prune it to keep it to a size you want. And it doesn't, believe it or not, do any damage to your foundations.

Next to that is a beautiful Wisteria that needs cutting back twice a year. There are two rules really with Wisteria:

1. as long as you cut back before the 14th february, which we can remember as its Valentine’s Day, you will be sure of not cutting any flower tips and you should be rewarded with an abundance of flowers, usually in late April, beginning of May. If you cut any later you will cut the flowers off & have to wait until the following year for flowers.
2. Another prune in July or August, just to cut back any of the long tendrils, because that puts the goodness back into the plant itself, helping with the flowers the following year.

So, don’t forget, twice a year pruning for Wisteria, once before the 14th February, then again in late July, beginning of August.

Another shrub which is a must, particularly if you want to protect against intruders, is pyracantha, they’re evergreen, you can’t see the thorns until you get tangled up in it, and, my goodness, they won’t come back again! So, if you want to secure you’re house against intruders, always put down a gravel drive, so you can hear them coming, and plant a pyracantha, with these absolutely awful thorns. But it's a very pretty plant, it has flowers in May, little white flowers, and beautiful berries in the autumn – not just orange mind you, you also have yellow and you have red, they are incredible, incredible plants.

There's one more here, one for the winter, this is a Jasmine. A semi evergreen Jasmine, it has this bright yellow flower, supposedly flowering in December/January, but its already flowering now & we’re only in the end of August! So things are getting a bit confused, & out of season with global warming. Its still very, very pretty to see & on a dark & drear December day, when these little yellow flowers come out, bright, bright yellow, it always cheers me up and it makes me smile, & I hope it makes you smile too.

Around the garden itself there is, as I said before, lots of Yew (Taxus), but just as we’re going out of the front garden gate, is a golden yew, an Irish Taxus, just beautiful, with its golden tinge.

Front of Main House

We’ve just come through the gate, and we’re about to say goodbye to George, and we're standing by a Viburnum, Viburnum Tinus (Common Name: Laurustinus) . Viburnum tinus is a fantastic shrub to have in anybody’s garden. People say, about shrubs, oh plant it & let it go, but it then gets too big & you have to cut it down. I always say with any shrub, let it get to the height you want, then chop it back. Keep it cut to the height you want & it should always produce nice flowers for you instead of getting out of hand. The majority of times, if you let it romp away, it’ll just get old and woody underneath. So, prune it and keep it luscious, though you don’t need to prune it too hard back. Viburnum tinus: there’s 'French White', there’s ‘Eve Price', there are so many different varieties of it, it is a fantastic winter flowering plant. Again, this is now flowering profusely, very unusual for this time of year. But, there is one common problem with Vibernum, it gets Viburnum Beetle. Half the time you will go out to your Viburnum & find the leaves are like lace – the Viburnum Beetle goes onto the leaf and strips it clean, just leaving the veins. You can get a chemical to kill it, I know we don’t want to use too many chemicals, but in this case I would suggest you do because it does spread & come back each year. It goes back into the soil each winter as soon as the spring comes, the warmth brings it back up the stems of your plant again. So if you want a good looking plant you should get rid of the Viburnum Beetle.

Dot’s looking at a silver leaf here, which is Cineraria Silverleaf (Common Name: Senecio), absolutely beautiful. It's usually bought as a bedding plant, but this one is half hardy and you can get years & years out of it. It has a pretty little daisy flower. Mum is asking me what this other bright yellow little purse-like flower is, it’s a little Gloxinia (Sinningia ), which is absolutely lovely and vibrant at the moment.

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Karen should be back with us for another garden walk in the winter.

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Created on ... September 07, 2007, Updated September 26, 2007