Gardening: Therapeutic mix of bright coloured berries and autumn sunshine

Things to do this Week
In the Garden
While the annuals are still hanging on and the mild, sunny conditions have given them something to linger on for, there is still much joy to be had in the form of bright berries.
Many shrubs and even trees have much more to offer when they are in fruit than flower. The beauty of them is that you get both and in opposing seasons too.
Pyracantha and Cotoneaster are at their most striking now especially in the cooler more Scandinavian lighting we experience in autumn. Cotoneaster is a varied shrub and available for all kinds of covering up tasks. Chorizontalis as its name suggests will grow across things like low, rocky walls. There is also the more brutal variety Cfrigidus than reaches around 12ft in height covering everything with perfectly rounded scarlet berries. There is usually something in between to cover most shapes and sizes of non cultivated areas in the garden.
Often confused with Cotoneaster is Pyracantha with its evergreen leaves attached to thorns you could hang an antelope on its perfect for a more secure type of hedging. There is even a creamy yellow berried variety (Patalantoides Aurea) . It even has bright white clouds of blossom in spring that gives off a floral scent if you dare to brush past.
While all the berries are vying for attention there is much to admire and think about in the beds. Late planted sweet peas can still be kept going by pinching out any pods and keeping them well secured against a trellis or wall. If you don’t have any, make a note to plant some late next year.
Sedums come into their own now and offer a helipad for insects as well as nectar in their fine broccoli like heads . They are common in dusty pink but can be bought and planted in mauve or Smaximim Atropurpurium which has telltale rust coloured leaves and pale pink heads.
On the Plot
Autumn signifies fruit planting time on the plot and there can be no easier plant to grow than the blackberry. Some people might think it’s a waste of time planting it when there is so much in the hedgerows. The fact is that we don’t always pick wild ones and they are delicious, but not as prolific as the thornless blackberry. ‘Triple Crown’ is a reliable cropper yielding several kilos of fruit every year. ‘Adrienne’ and ’Chester’ also do very well in terms of berries.
Their care needs are far less fiddly than raspberries too. All they need you to do is cut away the spent stems and secure the new growth to counter the wind rocking the roots. Most desserts are enhanced by the addition of blackberries, particularly apple crumble, but we don’t always celebrate the blackberry proportionately.
Another underestimated fruit is the crab apple (malus) which has golf ball sized fruit that can be smugly processed into jars of jelly shaped Christmas presents. ‘Red Sentinel’ will have shiny red baubles dangling across the tree until spring arrives while ‘Golden Hornet’ offers pastel orange fruits that give an orange hue to the set jelly.
The crab apple tree will offer a prolific dusty pink blossom that covers the tree and is so fascinating to look at you could be late for work if you even make it there at all. Crab apples are nearer to wild apple trees than the grafted versions and offer a more genuine apple flavour.
Smaller relatives love them and can churn up the lawn when they are in fruit as they make handy and quite painful projectiles if aimed accurately.
There is much to celebrate about autumn and the garden still offers us mind relaxing therapeutic tasks as well as new plants to make room for. Fortunately we can still enjoy the quiet intensity of the autumn sunshine.