I must confess I quite like November as it gives me the chance to wear something wooly. A thick jumper and my warmest alpaca socks and I can lapse into a world of chunky cashmere. Winter is coming so the garden and I might as well make the most of the dropping temperatures and cosy up.
One day it has been violently stormy and the next clear as glass with blue skies. Soon I will dig up all the dahlias and put the tubers upside down in the greenhouse to dry off before storing them in our barn where it is dry, cool and frost free. Work on the new footbridge is progressing well – piles have been driven into the ground on both sides of the moat – welded together and going six metres deep and the concrete foundations have been poured to support the bridge. Exciting! November is the key month for planting tulips. We’ve had a delivery of just over 9,000 bulbs piled on the doorstep in seven large boxes – this is a lot of holes to be dibbed. Buying plants and bulbs by mail order is a wonderful thing. Everything, despite being paid for, arrives as a present. The quantity contains mostly tulips but also daffodils, camassias, Iris reticulata, crocus, snake’s head fritillaries and alliums. I can’t tell you how exciting it has been to choose tulips for our new walled garden. We love all the dark tulips – ‘Queen of Night’, ‘Black Hero’, ‘Black Parrot’ ‘Ronaldo’ and adore white ones such as ‘White Triumphator’, ‘Spring Green’ and ‘Maureen’. All our favourites and we grow them every year but we have increased our pinks this year with ‘Alibi’, ‘Carola’ ‘Mariette’ and ‘Pink Prince’.
As I cut back some ivy growing up the walls in our original walled garden the other day, I came across a nest, the size of an large orange made entirely from moss and lined with feathers and hair – hair that looks very much like it belonged to our Red Poll cattle. There was no evidence of any broken shell. I am not sure what made it or who used it or even if it was used at all, but it is exquisite and I now have it in my potting shed so I can admire it every day. Whoever it was who moved on – their next nest must have been very des res indeed to have not used this wonderful mossy home.
November is not a time to tidy up and put the garden to bed for winter. This year is a particularly good year for berries. Embrace the season and enjoy the rich leaf colours, ageing seedheads, the misty mornings, dew covered cobwebs and the lowering light in the sky.
Kate Elliott came to Columbine Hall in 1997 when she was sixteen. She is now head gardener but also helps with managing the property generally and in conducting guided tours.