There’s still some colour out there
Berries abound while some flowers still need dead heading in the garden this month
NOVEMBER is the time of year when the lowering sun highlights the gold and russets in the garden and orchard. Pomegranates glow among their dark foliage; oranges start to colour up nicely with the promise of tangy juices for breakfast and berries on many other trees and bushes hang tantalisingly just out of reach. However, do not be misled by the bright colours and tempting appearance of some of them, as they are not all good for you!
Take Lantana camara for instance, a native of tropical America and widely found in cultivation in Cyprus. The brightly coloured flowers are followed by berries, which could be mistaken for the common blackberry. They are very fertile and germinate at the drop of a hat but are poisonous and if there are children in the household then it is not a good plant to grow in gardens.
Another tree whose abundant bright yellow berries are hanging in great clusters now is Melia azedarach, known locally as the ‘Mavromata’ (black eyes) or Indian Bead tree. (Melia is from the Greek meaning Ash). The berries (and other parts of the tree) are said to be narcotic and cause birds to become ‘high’ on them, making them easy prey for predators. Although birds love berries to supplement their winter diet, they are not fond of yellow berries at all and you will see the berries from these trees hanging on the branches all winter long. They are not particularly nice for humans either although fishermen are known to use the leaves to bait fish. The dried nuts inside the berries are sometimes made into rosaries in Asian temples.
Still blazing over fences and hedges are berries of Pyracantha known as ‘Firethorn’ from their bright orange colouring. They will transform a bare, uninteresting wall if they are attached to it on a framework with their pretty flowers and autumn berries. Take care when pruning, as there are long spiny thorns along the stems.
Duranta repens, hung all over at the moment with strings of amber-coloured beads lives up to its name of the ‘Golden Dew Drop’ bush and looks so charming. Beware of its long sharps thorns hiding behind the foliage, though. It is blessed with a long flowering season and an even longer fruiting season from May to October.
Now, the Mediterranean Hawthorn (Mosphilia) is a more ‘people friendly’ tree with its wonderful edible yellow berries from late August onwards. These are eagerly gathered by villagers to make into jelly or even eaten raw. They grow in most parts of Cyprus but were abundant at one time in the village where I live, hence the name Mosphiloti.
I give my vote though to Myrtle or Mersinia as it is known locally. What a grand plant to have in the garden. Its attractive, edible white berries follow the very pretty scented white flowers and are just beginning to ripen now. Myrtle has been around from time immemorial and is much favoured by the Greeks, who regarded it as a symbol of love and passion and guess what – it was the sacred plant of Aphrodite. Myrtle berries, when chewed are supposed to sweeten the breath. A good culinary herb, it is widely used in cooking and in Corsica in particular. Dried berries are used as a spice and in past times, before talcum was introduced, babies would be powdered with myrtle leaves that had been dried and ground to a fine dust leaving them fresh and fragrant. Now that’s something!
Things to do in November
THERE are still lots of colourful flowers around in the November garden so continue dead heading and cutting back. If you don’t want seedlings of Tecoma stans about everywhere then cut off the long seedpods that have been forming. They are very fertile and you could have lots of young saplings everywhere in the spring if you don’t.
Plant tulips this month but don’t leave it too late. Make sure the ground is damp before you put them in – bulbs won’t make new roots if the ground is dry. They do need some moisture to get them started.
Once we get some appreciable rain then watch out for snails – they have been hibernating all summer in all sorts of hidey-holes, like the underneath of plant trays and the lips of pots, so start collecting them and dispose of them.
If you grow grass then think about scarifying it – that’s dragging a thinly tined rake across it and getting out all the rubbish at root level. You will be surprised just how much there is! You may need to do some reseeding. Most lawns here are grown from Kikuyu seed, which is widely available. You could give an autumn feed but be careful and do it when it rains or you will burn up your green sward!
Bare-root roses will start coming into the garden centres shortly and you may need to refresh them before planting out. If they are looking tired stand them in a bucket of water for several hours. It will help the bush enormously if you trim the roots and cut the stems by half before you plant them. By trimming the stems now you will protect the plant from wind-rock during the winter. Look at your existing roses and if they have finished flowering for the season cut them down by about a third for the same reason, especially if your garden is on an exposed site.
Keep spraying your citrus trees against Medfly or top up your sugar containers hanging from the branches and watch out for zinc or iron deficiencies in the leaves. Lack of iron shows itself in a fine network of veins on a very pale leaf, which you can deal with by digging or watering in iron chelates. A zinc deficiency usually occurs in young growth when they will look yellowy-white in colour and a foliar zinc spray should sort this out.
Harvest pecan nuts as the cases begin to split or the crows will do it for you. Be careful as you shell them or your hands will become very stained.
In the garden centres, potted cyclamen are beginning to appear and wonderful Enchantment Lilies are bursting into flower. Do take care not to get any lily pollen on your clothes, as it is very difficult to remove! Some cacti are flowering at the moment in particular Stapelia grandiflora with its pagoda shaped buds and wonderful hairy flowers just waiting for a fly to land on them. If you can find any, buy some of the imported small pea gravel from Finland and dress the tops of the pots. Cacti and succulents do not like wet necks!
Plant of the Month – Border Chrysanthemums
BORDER chrysanthemums belong to the asteraceae family and nowadays go by the botanical name of Dendranthema grandiflorum. They were previously known as Chrysanthemum morifolium. Around the world especially in the USA they are called affectionally ‘Pot Mums’ and in other parts as ‘Tansy’ or ‘Short Day Plants’ for obvious reasons.
Chrysanthemums were known in China for several thousand years before they reached the West in the 1700s and only arrived in Japan around AD400, when Zen Buddhist monks introduced them there. The flower is depicted on Japanese Imperial weapons and the Imperial Flag. The Japanese celebrate this special flower with a ‘National Chrysanthemum Day’ on September 9 every year.
Robert Fortune, the great plant hunter, is known to have sent back a form of chrysanthemum to Europe from China in the 1800s. They were said to be one of the four Chinese ‘noble plants’, along with bamboo, plum and orchid. In some countries, including Malta and Italy, they are regarded as death flowers and connected with funerals and All Saints Day and are not widely used because of that.
Chrysanthemum comes from the Greek – chrysos meaning gold and anthos meaning flower and the fields of yellow flowers we see everywhere in the spring are Chrysanthemum coronarium, the Mediterranean Chrysanthemum.
Border Chrysanthemums are bright and cheerful too, especially at the time of year when the evenings are short and the garden is in the process of winding
down. They can be grown successfully in pots or in the ground. You can cheat by popping a pot or two temporarily amongst other plants for impact and colour! If you choose to grow them outdoors they like a sunny spot with good free-draining soil. Pot mums tend to be shorter than florists’ flowers so should be put into the front of the border. Once established, they can be reproduced from cuttings or divisions each year. If this isn’t done regularly, the plants will eventually become very leggy. Ideally what you really want are nice rounded humps and this can be achieved by pinching out the tips in the early growth. They are good garden plants brightening up an autumn garden in shades of pink, mauve, deep red, gold and bronze and only need occasional feeding with a balanced fertiliser.
