“AUTUMN AND WINTER IN ALL ITS GLORY” was the title of the talk given to the Club by John Anderson, since June 2016 Keeper of the Gardens at Windsor Great Park, an extensive and varied area, opened in 1950. Previously John was Head Gardener for over a decade at Exbury Gardens, which he is credited with transforming, and is a renowned rare plant hunter.
His knowledge of many plant species was evident in the stunningly colourful and beautiful slides that illustrated his talk. Among them were some of the following:-
Correa Marian’s Marvel. Correa alba from SE Australia flowering over the winter months for several weeks.
Nyssa sylvatica “Wisley Bonfire” one of the best autumn colour trees with bright orange and red foliage during mid October to early November. This was one of several good Award Winning Tupelo trees for Autumn colour.
Nyssa sinensis has long narrow pointed leaves that are brilliant scarlet in autumn.
Arbutus andrachne with its cinnamon-brown bark, native to SE Europe and Arbutus X andrachnoides, a hybrid between A andrachne and A unedo with its superb cinnamon-red trunk and white flowering Lily of the Valley like flowers appearing in winter,Decaisnea fargesii. Dead Man’s Fingers with blue broad bean like fruits. The seeds are surrounded within the pods by a jelly like substance. The flowers are quite inconspicuous green-mustard in spring.
Garrya elliptica with its evergreen foliage and long flowering tassels in winter.
Abies koreana which is a small conifer with great displays of small but numerous cones in late autumn and winter.
Hamamelis mollis and Hamamelis x intermedia “Pallida,” the latter with its pale scented yellow spidery flowers.
Galanthus nivalis. (snowdrops) herald the spring.
Lapageria rosea. The National Flower of Chile with its beautiful red and white flowers. Best grown in a sunny, sheltered cool site away from all but the most extreme winters.
Skimmia “Rubella” a male skimmia.
Prunus serrula with its mahogany bark.
Cornus “Annay”s Winter Orange” and Cornus alba “Sibirica” noted for their rich bright stems.
Betula “Graywood Ghost” for its beautiful whie bark.
Strobilanthes and Salvias for flowering colour throughout September and October.
Amicia zygomeris with its very unusual leaves and yellow pea flowers.
Acer griseum. Chinese Paper bark maple an ideal small tree noted for its bark.
Pinus montezumae noted for its fine needles which are glaucous blue and one of the loveliest of all pines.
Japanese maples.
Ginkgo.
Mahonia.
Just a few of the many John mentioned. Autumn and Winter can indeed be glorious!
