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Monthly Musings from Moors Meadow
October has been amazingly warm and dry and absolutely no excuse not to be out in the garden getting as many winter jobs done before the weather turns .
- confession time - “I haven’t been doing a lot of work but I do have a perfectly good excuse.”
“Mmm, I don’t believe you, I bet you have just been skiving.”
“No, plant research, honest.”
“Pah!”
“Well, OK, I guess you could call it a holiday but there were a lot of plants to study.”
Well quite a lot, though we couldn’t attempt to grow them here as being Namibia it was quite a hot sand filled holiday with a few snakes along with other interesting wildlife.
I have been doing some work since I have been back such as planting various bulbs and herbaceous plants, a bit of tidying here and there and a last bit of strimming.
There are several herbaceous plants seeded in the veg garden such as Foxglove’s, Verbascum, Aquilegia’s and Verbena bonariensis but instead of weeding them up we have decided to move them to wherever we have space, not an easy thing to find but I am sure we will shoehorn them in somewhere.
I really should get a wiggle on and start the winter pruning but instead of going at it at a run I feel I am looking at it sidelong and making a slow amble towards the necessary tools without taking the plunge and picking any up though once I do start there will be no stopping me until job done.
The autumn colours have not been so remarkable this year though in other parts of the country they look good, I wonder if it is due to our having no rain in September and the leaves drying out and a bit of wind blowing them off, don’t really know but it sounds a good theory to me.
The hollies do look good and are a mass of berries and in quick walk around the garden this morning I noticed a lot of flowers looking great as they haven’t been touched by Jack yet, such as Nerine’s, Fuschia’s, Spanish Broom and some lovely very purple Hebe’s
Plant of the month; Nyssa sylvatica - Black Tupelo / Sour Gum / Pepperidge
After having said our autumn colours are not too great I am picking a plant of the month for it’s foliage but this one is good.
 Nyssa is from southern Asia and North America and is named after Nyssa the water nymph due to it’s requiring good water supply all year round. It is fast growing to about 70ft (21m) with a broad base and conical shape. The leaves are about 4in (10cm) long and glossy dark or yellowish green in autumn turning a brilliant red with shades of orange and yellow before dropping off. The trunk has a brownish grey bark which breaks up into large pieces on mature specimens.It likes a cool climate in sun or semi-shade and is wind tolerant, it flourishes in swampy conditions but ours seems perfectly happy in moist but well-drained soil.
Prune only to remove dead or crowded branches, propagate by cuttings in summer or seed in autumn.
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