As the clocks change an autumnal walk can be more enticing than an afternoon in the garden but it’s not quite time to pack up the tools just yet. There’s still plenty to do in the garden and it’s the best time of year to start thinking about plans for next year while everything is still fresh in your mind. November is all about the leaves, but it’s not just about their beauty as they fade and fall, it’s about the mess they leave on the ground too. Whether it’s going for an Autumn walk or cleaning up the leaves, enjoy the beautiful colours before the cold sets in.

Some plants really come into their own in the autumn and a good show of autumn leaf colour is hard to beat. In England and Northern Europe we rarely experience the vast displays of colour that North Americans enjoy, however, we do have enough varieties of trees and shrubs available that will help us to orchestrate our own end of the season finale worthy of any landscape.

One of the most striking shrubs in Autumn is Euonymus alatus. It is a Spindle of sorts which thrives on alkaline soils with the native Spindle common on the chalk downs of southern England and on limestone hills and vales. Euonymus alatus known variously as winged spindle, winged euonymus, or burning bush, is native to central and northern China, Japan, and Korea

Preferring full sun and freely draining soils, it is tolerant of winds and hard frosts. Whilst it can be found in the shrubby lower canopy of ash, beech or yew woodland, the leaves will be at their most colourful in an open, sunny position. The one situation it will not tolerate is boggy, waterlogged ground.

As winter approaches these small trees/shrubs shake off their previously plain appearance, as the leaves burn red and purple and the bright, jewel-like fruits that gleam in spinning cascades of pink and orange. The droplets provide pure, bright colour amid the drab branches of other deciduous shrubs and persist like hot embers long after the foliage has fallen.

Referencing the plant’s poisonous nature, the name ‘euonymus’ originates from Euonyme. In Greek mythology she was the mother of vengeance-wreaking goddesses. In Europe, the branches were used for spinning raw wool - hence the imported name of spindle - while in Britain it was more commonly used to make toothpicks, knitting-needles and skewers

Spindle trees need little work. They form a naturally balanced and well branching framework. Little pruning is required, removing only dead, diseased or crossing and rubbing branches. Ideally, spindle trees are grown where there is an unobstructed view of them in winter. The centre of an island bed is a good location, where its summer foliage offers a useful green foil for tall flowering herbaceous perennials.

A winter border with bright-stemmed winter dogwoods like Cornus midwinter fire or Cornus alba elegentissima, is another good site underplanted with spring bulbs is also a nice way of extending the season of interest in the same area. Euonymus alatus is a fascinating plant, valued for its unique aesthetic qualities, wildlife-friendly properties and its many practical uses. It deserves a home in British gardens where the bright fruits and colouring leaves welcome the changing of the seasons and feed hungry birds too.

Jobs To Do This Month Include:
Ornamental Garden:
• Part prune roses to prevent windrock.
• Continue to tidy borders if weather permits.
• Final cut for lawns if no frosts.
• Remove fallen leaves.
• Cutback spent foliage and flowers of herbaceous perennials.
• Leave the seedheads of grasses like Miscanthus to provide winter structure.
• Continue to lay turf for new lawns – avoid frosty days if possible.
• Remove surplus dead leaves from ponds.
• Complete planting of bulbs.
• Mulch borders – especially borderline hardy perennials.
• Plant bare root shrubs and roses.
• Prune long stems of roses to avoid windrock.
• Take hard wood cuttings of roses and other deciduous shrubs.
• Scarify lawns.
• Keep off lawns in wet and frosty weather.

Vegetable Garden:
• Begin winter pruning of fruit trees.
• Plant fruit trees, soft fruit and cane fruit.
• Plant garlic cloves.
• Apply grease bands around trunks of fruit trees to protect from winter months.
• Apply a good layer of compost / manure to bare areas of ground.
• Protect salad plants under cloches/ fleece etc.
• Clear spent old plants and compost of disease free.