Autumn
These pictures of the garden were taken in late October. I have not particularly planted the garden for autumn colour as in this part of the country as soon as shrubs or trees colour up for autumn they often get battered by wind/rain so the display can be fleeting. However the alpine borders retain their interest in autumn as many of the plants are evergreen and I have put a number of terracota pots in these borders to add to the year round display. The perennial borders still retain some colour especially if there has not been an early frost. In particular, as can be seen in the left hand picture, the hardy fuchsias can give a good display well into October. The shrub with the yellow leaves that can be seen in both pictures is an Amelanchier. This shrub also has masses of white flowers in spring and red berries in late summer/autumn.
The Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) give a bright display in Autumn. Ther are two varieties in this picture ("Atropurpureum" with the red leaves and "Dissectum" behind with yellow leaves). They like a semi sheltered position not in full sunlight. Their main drawback is the tendency for whole branches to die back for no apparent reason. The only solution is to cut out the branch and to hope that the problem does not spread any further.