Catch October’s autumn splendour at Easton Walled Gardens

There are still plenty of summer’s vivid flowers to admire in The Pickery and garden borders, many blooming until the first frosts. The leaves of some trees are now developing fiery tints, and everywhere branches drip with rosehips and other ripe fruits, while below autumn crocus raise their goblets.

Mornings are often crisp, heavy dew spangling cobwebs with sparkling droplets, while late afternoons are enlivened by the golden rays of the setting sun that gild the landscape, planting and Easton’s time-worn limestone walls.

For a final reminder of summer, be sure to visit The Pickery. Here the season’s last cosmos, gladioli, chrysanthemums, cleomes and host of dahlias will be providing a wonderful mix of rich vibrant flowers until the first frosts (which usually arrive here towards the end of the month). See here too ornamental grasses such as tactile Pennisetum with its irresistibly fluffy seedheads, and feathery Stipa tenuissima, both at their best now. The White Space garden is also worth a look with late dahlias, caryoptis and hydrangeas enjoying the shelter of the hedges. In the woodland walk nearby, white cyclamen are flowering where the snowdrops will grow in the Spring.

In the rose meadows in our Walled Garden are different selections of English Shrub roses. Many are still in colourful and fragrant bloom through autumn; look out for selections such as glowing orange Lady of Shalott (‘Ausnyson’) and warm pink The Mayflower (‘Austilly’) contrasting with the newly mown and cleared meadows meaning you can get up close to each bloom.

In the Orchard, set just above the Rose Meadows, catch the last of this year’s impressive fruit harvest; various selections of apples, pears and quinces, as well as cobnuts can all still be seen on the trees. It’s a similar story in our Vegetable Garden, where tasty cabbages, kale and rows of blue-leaved leeks may be admired.

Trees around the garden and parkland are certainly dressing for autumn in their most vibrant finery.From Prunus ‘Tai Haku’ in the top of the gardens turning orange to the glow of Cotinus ‘Grace’ in the Velvet Border the gardens are awash with great colour in reds, oranges and yellows.

October with its glancing sun casting dramatic shadows is a great time of year to enjoy the layout and setting of Easton Walled Gardens. From a vantage point atop our Terraces, you can admire panoramas across the River Witham with its elegant stone bridge, over to the Tudor Walled Garden and Yew Tunnel, and out into the informal parkland beyond. Crisp, clipped hedges and yew pyramids on the terraces contrast with silhouettes of trees, while in early evening dramatic sunsets flood the scene with colour.

Behind the scenes at Easton, work in the garden continues. In October we sow many of our sweet peas for flowering in The Pickery next year. Sowing seed in autumn rather than spring provides an extra six months of growth, giving us earlier and larger flowers for visitors to enjoy next year. This is also a great time for sowing green manures: once the last summer’s flowers are removed, we use fast-growing cover crops such as rye grass (which is later dug into the soil) to boost soil fertility.

As the garden takes on the colours of autumn, so does our shop and courtyard, now beautifully dressed for the season. Our rustic displays in the courtyard feature trugs, crates and wheelbarrows overflowing with apples, gourds and produce freshly gathered from the gardens. It’s a joyful celebration of harvest time and the changing season, offering a warm, welcoming space to pause and soak up the sights and scents of autumn.