The first real frost

We had our first real frost last week.  Not a surprise for late November but still a bit of a shock.  It turned out to be a day of bits and pieces.  The border that extends around from the front door at Genus HQ hadn’t been cut back and was a mess of decaying geranium leaves  and anemone stems.  We cut it all to the ground along with some hellebores that were showing signs of leaf spot, a common affliction in hellebores that luckily doesn’t affect flowering if dealt with on an annual basis

In the same border a tangled Clematis ‘Bill MacKenzie’ was cut to the ground and being a  late performer will be back to head height and flowering late next summer.  With the  sun up and the frost lifted the last fallen leaves were removed from the lawns and paths in the woodland garden; the wire leaf enclosures where we make leaf mould are now at maximum capacity.

While in the woodland garden we planted an Exochorda ‘The Bride’.  We can’t wait to see it in April when it will be smothered in stunning white flowers.  In autumn the resulting seed pods look like star anise and the leaves display subtle shades of orange and purple.