Autumn sun pierces through carefully positioned trees, shining over a crisp yew hedge and illuminating emerald
ferns and fiery Rhustyphina
SEE THE LIGHT
Illuminated by the autumn sun, the special trees and throngs of jewel-like dahlias and salvias make the garden at Great Comp in Kent a true spectacle
WORDS ANISA GRESS PHOTOGRAPHS ANNAÏCK GUITTENY
As senescence triggered by colder nights makes the autumn foliar magic happen, it’s trees that raise the seasonal interest stakes. Fortunately, trees are in plentiful supply at Great Comp Garden near Sevenoaks in Kent. More than 200 of them make up the mixed woodland and formal garden here, with mature evergreens and deciduous specimens providing mystery, shape, structure and bark interest.
But there are other autumnal delights to be sampled, for here you’ll find one of the best showings of late-flowering salvias in the country. Relishing the shorter day length, they add reds, pinks, creams, blues and deep purples to the mix. Folly ruins and an Italian Garden inject even more character and, as the summer sun loses its height, the garden settles in to bring this mellow season to life.
“A sense of peace descends upon the garden in autumn,” says curator William Dyson, who has been shaping Great Comp since the early 1990s. Certainly peace can be always found within the woodland, which invites meandering and a slower pace. It’s enhanced by what’s known in Japan as komorebi. A small word, it describes a great deal, capturing the natural effect of ‘sunlight leaking through trees’ and patterns created on the forest floor. Although there is no English equivalent, smoky rays from the lowering sun, and the subsequent shadows and shapes, can be appreciated all the same. “On an autumn morning, with the light and the mist, birdsong seems to echo throughout the whole garden,” adds William.
The seven-acre garden at Great Comp wraps around the 17th-century manor house, but history
In Jeremy Allen’s Essex garden, borders feature perennials such as Salvia
and grasses including Molinia
‘Caradonna’
caerulea ‘Edith Dudszus’.
Golden HOURS
Late autumn is a special time of year at The Old Vicarage in Wormingford, where Jeremy Allen has retained a backdrop of superb mature trees, complementing them with dazzling new beech, walnut and tulip trees to add to the glowing display
WORDS WIDGET FINN PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS
Clipped Pyrus salicifolia guard the rill, with clumps of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ in between, their flowers turning brown with age.
Second SHOW
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS CAROLE DRAKE
On a shoestring budget, John and Lorna Howell work the wonderful woodland gardens of Lukesland in Devon to coax from them an autumn display of colour after the springtime spectacular put on by a collection of rhododendrons and azaleas
A bridge over the Addicombe Brook at Lukesland, the banks of the brook scattered with colourful autumn leaves.
FAMILY TREES
PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT
Andrew Beale is following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as he develops the Beale Arboretum at West Lodge Park Hotel near Enfield, expanding its already impressive collection of trees
Liquidambars around one of the arboretum’s ponds develop their impressive orange and crimson shades as autumn progresses.
