Cheer Up Grey Days With Instant November Colour

Whether you favour fiery flowers, bold berries – or a bit of both – Sally Charrett has cheerful options for a brighter garden in no time, as well as tips to keep the cost down

- Sally Charrett

Let’s face it, November isn’t the most inspiring month in the garden. The weather is usually dreary, autumn leaf colour has peaked, and the nights are drawing in. But it’s not too late to inject some instant colour into borders and containers. There are plenty of autumn-interest plants at garden centres now, either in full flower or bearing bright, glossy seasonal berries.

Buying plants as big as possible ensures they’ll be stronger and more established, but bigger pots means bigger price tags, so keep an eye out for sale trolleys. With instant impact gardening it’s always better to fill out a smaller area with as many plants as you can afford, rather than spread out a few plants over a larger area.

When thinking about where to site your displays, it pays to be clever. While the weather is chilly, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be spending much time strolling around the garden, so think about what you can see from the windows in your home. A taller ‘wowfactor’ specimen, such as a weeping cotoneaster, could be used as a focal point in a lawn, while a yellow-stemmed bamboo or fiery-stemmed dogwood could liven up the boundary borders. Is there room near the front door to plant a winter-flowerer like Viburnum bodnantense, to appreciate its beautiful scent each time you come home?

Impactful bedding

If you don’t have space for a tree or shrub, there are plenty of colourful November bedding plants that will give you a lift if planted in containers or at the front of borders and along path edges. Ball chrysanthemums, for example, are brilliant for cheering up a gloomy autumn day. Available in myriad rainbow colours, they can be combined with ornamental cabbage, heathers, Jerusalem cherry and Nandina Domestica for an instant border display.