Garden News | October 2025
October often tends to mark the proper start of another brand new autumn, Probably my favourite season in any garden.
After our world-famous spring displays, autumn is often said to be Leonardslee’s next best season for sheer wonder and visual beauty, and I wouldn’t agree. The colours start to deepen and get richer but there is also still enough warmth and moisture in the soil for growth to continue for much of the season. It’s the perfect time for the keen photographers amongst you too, as the fiery displays of Autumnal foliage really kick into overdrive. One of the obvious places to start is probably Maple Walk which will be ablaze with colourful Acer foliage for instance, but there many other hot spots at this time of year. You’ll be able to spot a myriad of seasonal specimen trees studded throughout the garden walks, including the likes of Liquidambar styraciflua (the Sweet Gum tree) and Nyssa sylvatica (aka the Black Tupelo), two personal favourites of mine. Last year Bluebell Bank was graced by a wonderful display from our Hickory trees, so hopefully that trend continues this year. Carya laciniosa (Shellbark Hickory) can be found on the west side of Waterfall Pond which Carya ovata (Shagbark Hickory) is across on the east bank. In fact, some of the best examples of foliage colour can be seen reflecting in our seven lakes across the estate so make sure you have a good wander during October and November to catch all that’s on offer.
With all this talk of foliage colour, have you ever wondered exactly why plants go through this pallet change every autumn? Well, wonder no more. Leaves appear green throughout most of the year due to the presence of a pigment called chlorophyll which aids with the vital photosynthesis process that all plants use to generate food and energy for growth. Once daylight hours shorten and night temperatures drop, the chlorophyll isn’t able to help produce sufficient sugars so the plants shuts down production in preparation for Winter dormancy. This reveals other pigments such as flavanols, carotenoids and anthocyanins which show as shades of yellow, orange and red. These were always present in the leaf but were just masked by the dominant green chlorophyll. The plant then seals off each leaf at the stem, starving it of water and causing it to drop to the floor where it composts down as leaf litter which then returns nutrients to the soil. Losing leaves prevents the freezing and rupturing of leaf cells in Winter and reduces water loss through the process of transpiration. Simple!
It’s not just the colourful foliage that catches your eye in autumn though.
Berries can be just as beautiful. The fruits on our Sorbus trees (commonly known as the Rowan), flowering dogwoods (Cornus sp.), Cotoneaster, Euonymus (Spindle), Viburnum and holly (Ilex sp.) bushes are another highlight during October and beyond. Hopefully they’ll also still be some fruits on our Decaisnea fargesii along Bluebell Bank. Its common names are the Blue Sausage Tree or Dead Man’s Fingers Tree, and once you see it you’ll understand why! The skin and the seeds are poisonous however so make sure you leave them on the tree where they belong.
It’s also worth seeking out some of the fantastic, unusual bark on display at the moment.
Birch Grove at the bottom of Bluebell Bank has a variety of birch trees including Betula utilis and Betula nigra, both of which have stunning bark. We underplanted these trees with a variety of Cyclamen corms last autumn so hopefully they should be showing very soon too. My favourite birch tree however is probably Betula ermanii with its elegant white and salmon pink hues, a beautiful example of which can be found along the west side path of Middle Pond. On the east side of the lakes, Maple Walk has a number of Acer griseum trees and other Snake Bark Maples to enjoy too. And why not have a look at the peeling, multi-coloured bark of our giant Eucalyptus trees on the way down to the bottom of the valley too. Eucalyptus pauciflora (aka the Snow Gum Tree) can be found below the house just before you start to wind down Bluebell Bank path for instance. Our conifer collection in the Pinetum also provides interest all year round but autumn is the time when the many different coloured and shaped cones start to catch the eye. Crikey, that’s a lot to try and see - make sure you leave yourself enough time!
And if we’re lucky and there are no major early frosts, some of the herbaceous displays around the house and the edges of the Rock Garden should have plenty of late colour and interest on offer too.
Late flowering Salvia such as ‘Amistad’, ‘Black and Blue’ and Salvia involucrata ‘Bethellii’ (a particular favourite of mine) are great examples, joined by the likes of late Sedums and Dahlias, Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurellii’ (the Black Abyssinian Banana) and interesting seeds heads on the likes of Eryngium agarvifolium for instance. The Kirengeshoma palmata (Yellow wax Bell) plants in the House Borders that I mentioned last month have only just started to flower so hopefully they will also persist into October.
This time of year is one of the busiest for the garden team here at Leonardslee.
One key area for our work in the garden during the months ahead focuses on keeping our lawns looking lush and lovely! Although the grass in the garden will continue to grow at a slower rate throughout autumn, it won’t yet be fully dormant. October is therefore a great time to start the autumn turf care regime and this can take many forms. Aerating a lawn is the process of improving compaction and drainage in the soil by making holes in the turf. This will also encourage root growth and improve oxygen content at root level. It can be done with a garden fork on small lawns at home or with a powered machine on larger areas. Scarifying a lawn involves scratching and scraping away at the surface to remove thatch (a build-up of dead grass and moss that can reduce light and moisture penetration). You can do it at home with a strong wire rake on small areas or again with a powered scarifier machine for larger lawns. Another key autumn turf job includes applying a sandy top dressing to improve soil texture and encourage rooting. This is best done after aeration. Applying an autumn feed high in phosphates, to improve root development, is also a good idea at this time of year so why not give that a try if your lawns are struggling a bit. October is also ideal for carrying out any re-seeding or re-turfing of worn areas of lawn while the temperatures are still not too cold and the chance of rain is high.
Another key job for October that we’ll be getting our green fingers stuck into is planting. autumn is a great time for getting new plants in the ground and I really encourage you all to do as much of your planting now as possible, rather than wait until next spring or summer. Not only is the soil still relatively warm, it will also be a little soft from the early seasonal rainfall. This makes it perfect for allowing new roots to establish and get bedded in before the dormant winter season hits. Planting in autumn also reduces the need for regular watering because hopefully nature will be doing that job for you. At Leonardslee this year we’ll be planting up a number of areas that are need of some rejuvenation include the Herbaceous Beds opposite the house, the Red House Corner Bed near Daffodil Lawn, parts of the Access Path behind the Rock Garden and the Step Beds below the Clocktower Cafe. We’ll also start our mammoth bulb planting project for this year in October. We have over 21,000 bulbs arriving that will be added to areas such as the Interlude drive and Daffodil Lawn as well as in the various beds, borders, raised beds and containers around the formal gardens. Blimey, we’re going to be busy!
So, as you can see, lots and lots to see and do in the garden here at the moment as the garden enters a new phase once again. I would like to draw your attention to a couple of guided tours that will be happening during the month ahead. We have a Tree Walk on October 8th, Fungi Walks on the 16th and 23rd as well as one of my Head Gardener Walks on the 22nd. Add to these the regular guided tours on the 6th, 15th, 20th and 27th and you have plenty of opportunities to find out more about the garden and the plants that grow here. I look forward to seeing you all here again soon.
Jamie Harris, Head Gardener
