Blog: leaves still on the trees at the end of November!
Longer autumns are one of the many changes all of us see in our gardens, thanks to the effects of climate change. Combined with lengthier springs and shorter, wetter winters, these are effects I’ve noticed in the last four decades.
A strong memory for me is going trick or treating with a ‘bagie lantern’ (a North East England tradition, carved out of a turnip – swede for southerners – with a candle stump in it. No easy pumpkins for us!) Those nights were often frosty and mostly, all the leaves would have fallen.
Some three weeks later and most of the deciduous plants in my garden are still hanging on to their foliage. Of course, taking a single year as proof of climate change would be foolish. It’s the long-term trend I’m looking at. This year’s long autumn has mitigating factors: a wet summer and early autumn, not too many storms and no frosts. Although other places have been hit badly by early storms, we’ve managed to miss the worst of them.
Longer autumns – a cold snap forecast
A cold snap is forecast this weekend, forcing me out of my torpor to get in the last tender plants. Seriously, I haven’t done a thing for what seems like an age. Two Musa basjoo I bought from The Eden Project are still in the raised bed. Also, there is the trial tree dahlia, huge but sadly, it didn’t flower. I should have planted it earlier but the fact that it hasn’t been cut down by frost is quite amazing.
It’s at this point that my experiment with painting the long wall of the garden black has paid dividends. Black absorbs heat during the day, radiating it out slowly at night, keeping temperatures up a few degrees. When you have borderline hardy plants – and I still have ginger, agapanthus and canna lurking outdoors – this is a real bonus.
Enjoying the foliage
Of course, longer autumns mean enjoying the ever-changing foliage colours. My beech hedge, fronted by Cotinus (smoke bush) and Eucalyptus makes a lovely trio at this time. The ornamental plum and cherry are performing much better, too.
The definition of meteorological autumn is from September 1 to November 30, unlike astronomical autumn. This is based on the position of the Sun in relation to the Earth and changes every year. The start date, called the autumn equinox, fell on September 23 this year, with the season ending on December 22. We will certainly be having a long autumn if there are leaves on the trees at the end of December!
I’m going to enjoy this later autumn – at least until the cold air reaches us at the weekend and we step into winter. I did take the tender plants in yesterday, as the forecast looks cold from tomorrow!
