Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Spring

by Margaret Porter

Tulips and primula

'Planting and gardening addes much to the Health and Content of Man.'  Moses Cook, 1676

'My Garden, like my Life, seems to me every Year to want Correction and require attention.'  Alexander Pope, 1736

This is the fourth and last seasonal gardening guide, with information taken from 17^th and 18^th century sources in my personal library. I took the photographs either in historic gardens in England or in my own 21^st century gardens, in which I grow heritage plants. The previous three entries are:  Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Summer and Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Autumn, and Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Winter.

With the advent of spring, garden tasks multiplied, in the past as they do nowadays. Seedlings and young plants established on hotbeds had to be planted out in prepared sites where they could thrive, grow and bear. The onset of warmer weather meant that pleasure gardens would serve areas for display of flowers and fruit, enjoyment, and relaxation, hence the need to continuing the tidying begun in winter's waning days. Printed garden guides provided explicit instructions to the professional as well as the common gardener.



Bluebells in springtime

MARCH

'First sturdy March with brows full sternly bend,
And armed strongly, rode upon a Ram,
The same which over Hellespontus swam:
Yet in his hand a spade he also hent,
And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,
And fild her wombe with fruifull hope of nourishment'
                           Edward Spenser, The Faerie Queene

In the kitchen garden. Ensure that cucumber and melon hot beds are properly warm, with lively but moderate heat. Sow seeds of both throughout the month. Make new hot beds for moving transplants. Transplant cabbage and lettuce plants, and plant cauliflowers in rich ground. Sow broccoli, cabbage, savoy, spinach, onions, leeks, radish, carrots, beans, peas, turnips, celery, parsnips, tomato or love-apple, asparagus, chervil, coriander, parsley, basil, and other pot and medicinal herbs. Plant cuttings of rosemary and rue. Dress existing asparagus and artichoke beds, forking or lightly digging, then raking. Plant potato beds and Jerusalem artichokes. Shake the nut trees to loosen pollen from the catkins; this will fertilise the flowers. 

In the fruit garden. Prune fig trees, cut out branches overtopping the wall. Plant fruit trees of all kinds on walls, as espaliers, or as standards. Train young apricots, peach and nectarines planted against a wall. Prune and train apples, pears, plums, and cherries. Prune raspberries of deadwood and thin live shoots. Prune vines. 

Hyacinth

In the flower garden. Sow tender annuals in hot beds. Add fresh earth to potted plants. Guard auriculas in pots from too much wind, cold, and frost. Support heavy hyacinth flowers to prevent toppling. Plant ranunculus and anemones. Plant biennial and perennial flower seeds. Transplant perennial plants. Prune shrubs. Plant additional  shrubs and evergreens. Lay turf for new grass walks, clean gravel walks of weeds and litter.




Garden produce: Winter spinach, some cabbages and savoys, broccoli, red and chard beets, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, endive, all sorts of salad herbs. 

From the hot beds: Cucumbers, peas, kidney beans, purslane. In warm borders: mint, tarragon, tansy, sage, parsley, marigolds, burnet, sorrel, hyssop, winter savory, rosemary, other pot herbs.

Persian iris

Plants in flower: Various sorts of crocus, double snowdrop, several sorts of narcissus, Persian iris, spring cyclamen, several sorts of daffodils, early turnips, crown imperials, hyacinths, violets, hepaticas, wall-flowers, alyssum, primroses, dog's tooth violet, hearts ease or pansies, wood anemones, hellebores.

Crown imperial

Hellebore

Hearts ease

Primrose

Tree and shrubs in flower: Apricot, almond, daphne mezereon, cherry plum, spurge laurel, laurustinus, cornelian cherry, honeysuckle.

Medicinal plants to gather: Elder buds, nettle tops, liverwort, primrose, violet, watercress.

Greenhouse plants in flower: Ilex-leaved lantana, Spanish Jasmine, Aleppo cyclamens, geraniums of several sorts, cotyledon, African marigold, Canary campanula, coffee tree, purple lotus, gladiolus.


APRIL

'And the buds and blossomes breathing forth pretious and pleasant Oders, rejoyce and delight the inward and outward senses.' Ralph Austen, A Treatise of Fruit Trees, 1653

'In Aprill about St George his day, you shall set abroad your citron and orange trees, as also such other trees as you had kept within house from St Martin's Day.' Richard Surflet, 1600

In the kitchen garden. Many vegetables sown in prior month may still be sown for successive crops. Transplant lettuce where there stand close. Thin radishes. Sow spinach. Plant early kidney beans in dry weather. Sow gourds and pumpkins. Sow broccoli for a winter crop. Sow borage, bugloss, clary sage, thyme, sweet marjoram, savory, burnet, sorrel, and hyssop. Continue to sow pot herbs. Also nasturtium and marigolds. Cuttings and slips of new growth from herbs can be planted, especially lavender and rosemary.

In the fruit garden. Continue planting fruit trees as required. With fumigating bellows, destroy insects that breed in this season and damage trees, pick off curled leaves. Protect blossoms and young fruit of trees from frost by covering with evergreen branches or mats, until fruits are as large as the end of a man's finger, or larger.

Cadytuft

In the flower garden. Make a hot bed to receive annual seedlings planted the prior months. Continue sowing of tender annuals. Sow seeds of hardy annuals and other flowers in borders and elsewhere: convolvulus major and minor, Tangier and sweet-scented pea, nasturtiums, lupines, larkspur, poppy, hawkweed, candytuft, dwarf lychnis, nigella, stock, dwarf and large sunflower, lavatera, oriental mallow. Sow some in patches in in the borders. Water frequently in dry weather. Sow pinks, carnations, and polyanthus. Take especial care of hyacinths, tulips, ranunculus and anemone flowers now blooming--guard from heavy winds and rains by screening with mats. Plant tuberoses in hot beds or inside the hothouse. Place pots of auriculas on shelves of the auricula stage. Stake such flowering plants as require support.

18thC Sweet-scented pea

Garden produce: Turnip shoots, spinach, radishes, asparagus, pot-marjoram, late celery and endive, chervil, young onions, leeks, scallions, borage, sage, rosemary, young carrots sown in autumn. From the hot-beds: cucumbers, peas, kidney beans, purslane, early cabbages.




Fritillary & daffodils

Plants in flower: Anemones, ranunculus, polyanthus, auriculas, tulips, crown imperials, hepaticas, hyacinths, narcissus, daffodils, jonquils, violets, muscaria, snowdrop, flag iris, cyclamen, Double white violet, anemone, double daisies, fritillaria, Persian lily, lungwort, lily of the valley, hearts ease, periwinkle.

Trees and shrubs in flower: White and purple and blue lilac, Persian lilac, laburnum, peach, pear, cherries of all sorts, plum, almond, hawthorn, Italian honeysuckles, Yellow jasmine, coronilla, dogwood, horse chestnut, spirea, azaleas.

Spirea

Crabapple

MAY

'There is no flower can be more glorious than the Poppy.' John Worlidge, 1677

Poppy

In the kitchen garden. Melon beds and cucumber frames require especial care--early plants in frames will now show fruit. Maintain sufficient warms in the beds while fruit is setting. Admit fresh air to the plants each day by propping the glass. Shade the plants from the sun on the brightest days. Plant out the gourds and pumpkins sown in April. Plant out the tomato or love-apple plants sown earlier. Cut asparagus for the table. Transplant lettuce. Plant more beans and peas for later crops. Continue to sow pot herbs and propagate medicinal plants from slips and cuttings.

In the fruit garden. Train new shoots of wall trees. Thin apricots, peaches, and nectarines where the tree is too heavily laden with fruit. Water new-planted trees. Clear vines of all useless shoots. Train all shoots that have fruit upon them. Uncover fig branches in warm weather to prevent mold. continue to repair espalier frames. Transplant fruit trees. Look carefully after bullfinches, at this season they do great mischief to fruit trees by packing off blossom buds and can destroy all garden fruit in two or three days.



Parrot tulip

In the flower garden. When tulips cease flowering, cut away the seed pod from the top of the stalk and allow the leaves to wither. In dry weather transplant autumn flowering bulbs, and separate off-sets from the main bulb. Plant out tender and less hardy plants from hot beds into the ground. Transplant the perennial flowering plants that were sown in March. Mow grass walks and lawn, and keep gravel walks tidy. Continue to support tall flowering plants.


Garden produce: Cabbages, savoys, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, turnips, red beets, salsify, cardoons, spinach, potatoes, artichokes, onions, leeks, garlic, shallots, sage, parsley, sorrel, mint, tansy, tarragon, sallet herbs, mushrooms, endive, celery, chervil. Pot herbs and aromatic plants: winter savory, hyssop, thyme, lavender, rosemary, pot-marjoram, burnet.



Foxglove

In the pleasure garden. Plant out carnations in pots to flower and place in a warm situation. Sow seeds of auricula and polyanthus in pots or tubs of light, rich earth. Add fresh earth to auricula pots. Near the end of month, stir the surface of flower beds, and clear them of weeds and moss. At end of the month transplant Canterbury bells, French honeysuckle, daisies, rose campion, foxgloves, pinks, sweet william, bachelors' buttons, campanulas, thrift, scarlet lychnis, columbines, goldenrods, and other fibrous-rooted plants. On dry frosty nights cover beds of ranunculus, anemones, and tulips to protect from injury. Rake and clean in the wilderness, because the flowers under the trees are beginning to bloom. Edge the grass walks and lawns, and roll them when the ground is soft. Make hot-beds for tender annual flowers.

Lawn roller

Garden produce: Radishes, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, sorrel, mint, winter savory, borage, bugloss, young onions, chives, asparagus, peas, beans, early artichokes, cauliflower, young carrots in protected locations, cucumbers, melons, purslane, kidney beans on hot beds, mushrooms, parsley, coriander, chervil, cresses, mustard, burnet, tarragon, spring herbs for soups.



Lily of the valley

Medicinal plants for gathering: Sorrel, wood sorrel, lily of the valley, pimpernel, watercress, ground ivy, dead nettle, fumitory, columbine, tansy, stonecrop, woodruff, mandrake leaves, dandelion, betony, groundsel, borage, horse tail, cranesbill, burnet, lungwort.

Fruit for gathering: Cherries, strawberries in warm soil, late in the month gooseberries and green currants in warm situations.


In the forcing frame: Apricots, peaches, cherries, strawberries, other early fruits.

Lupine

Plants in flower: Late tulips, anemones, ranunculus, lupines,  lily of the valley, daisies, thrift, valerian, sage, rosemary, veronica, geraniums, Armenian perennial poppy, peonies, monkshood, stock gillyflowers, wallflowers, Solomon's seal, ladies' mantle, tuberose, lady slipper, Welsh poppy, double white narcissus, harebells, iris, flag-leaved iris, spiderwort, bellflower, double feverfew, ladies' smock, snapdragon.




Trees, shrubs, and vines in flower: Yellow jasmine, lilacs, honeysuckles, whitethorn, Guelder rose, cinnamon rose, monthly rose, damask rose, burnet-leaved rose, Scotch rose, horse chestnut, laburnum, flowering almond, perfumed cherry, Portugal laurel, dwarf medlar, myrtle, double-flowering cherry, viburnum, dogwood, privet, flowering ash, common broom, clematis.

Blush damask rose

Blush burnet rose

Double flowering cherry

Having closed out the seasonal guides to the gardening year, I hope they will prove informative and perhaps useful to my fellow authors, as well as interested historical fiction readers.

Flag iris

Peony

Everlasting pea

Mallow

English Garden History: Summer Guide
English Garden History: Autumn Guide
English Garden History: Winter Guide
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margaret Porter is the award-winning and bestselling author of twelve period novels, whose other publication credits include nonfiction and poetry. A Pledge of Better Times, her highly acclaimed novel of 17th century courtiers Lady Diana de Vere and Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, is her latest release, available in trade paperback and ebook. Margaret studied British history in the UK and the US. As historian, her areas of speciality are social, theatrical, and garden history of the 17th and 18th centuries, royal courts, and portraiture. A former actress, she gave up the stage and screen to devote herself to fiction writing, travel, and her rose gardens.

Author Website

Blog

Facebook Author Page

Twitter  

Amazon

[This article is an Editors' Choice, first published on March 22 2016]

Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Winter

by Margaret Porter

This is the third of four seasonal guides, with information taken from 17^th and 18^th century sources in my personal library. I shot the photographs either in historic gardens in England or in my own 21^st century gardens, in which I grow heritage plants. The previous entries are Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Summer and Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Autumn.

As winter weather draws the gardener--and others--indoors, attention is given to room decoration. From Christmastide through Candlemas, houses and tables were adorned with greenery as well as various late-flowering plants, everlasting dried flowers, and realistic artificial flowers made of cut paper or other materials.

During the colder months, one could attempt indoor gardening. In his publication The Flower Garden Display'd (1732), Furber describes his method of planting in September some Delftware basins about '18 inches diameter and 1 foot deep' filled with garden soil, planted a central crown imperial. He surrounded it with 'some Tulips, and round them a ring of double white and blew Hyacinths' as well as rings of white and yellow narcissus, double daffodils, vari-coloured crocus, and snowdrops. He included hepatica roots and fritillary roots. In a separate basin he planted anemones. He placed these pots near his chamber window in autumn, and the plants flowered from mid-December to mid-March. 

Furber also described growing--or forcing--bulbs in glasses of water. As this practice became popular, bulb glasses could be purchased from seed sellers or glass shops.

Forcing hyacinths in water and soil

Hothouses usually contained a forcing apartment, for plants and flowers, in which one might find:

"Early tulips, any form of hyacinths, jonquils, polyanthus, narcissus...irises etc., anemone and ranunculuses, all planted in pots of light sandy earth, one, two, or several roots in each pot according to size thereof...or may also have some of the bulbous kinds placed in root water-glasses, admitted to the forcing house, they will also flower early. Annual flowers of several sorts, such as sweet peas, mignonette, ten-week's stock, candytuft, larkspurs...etc. all sowed in pots and introduced in January, February and March near the glasses [panes]."

White and pink hyacinths

DECEMBER

One 17th century garden writer advises:

'Little can be expected to be done as to Gardening, and therefore may be termed to the careful Gardener a Month of Rest, wherein he ought to take care of himself in providing a wholesome, nourishing Diet, warm Cloaths and good Fires; yet let him look after such things as yet require his Care, especially in the Green-house, or Conservatory, which now will prove an easie Task, the main being to keep the Windows and Doors well closed, and lined with Matts or other Conveniences, to prevent the piercing Air entering through Crevices; for now the Orange-trees are most likely to be in danger, and therefore if the Weather be extream, assist them with the kindly heat of fire, but not too much, for that does more harm than cold.' The Gardener's Almanack, 1697

Another recommends these tasks: 'Turne and refresh your fruit....Sharpen and mend tools. Gather oziers and hassel [hazel] rods to make baskets in stormy weather. Cover your water pipes...lest the frosts to crak them, feed weak bees.' John Reid, 1683

Other things to accomplish in this month: Spread dung on plant beds and pick snails. Sow salad herbs on hot-beds covered with a frame. Uncover plants when weather is mild or warm. Make hot-beds for asparagus, for cutting in late January. In mild weather, sow peas on warm borders, when they emerge cover with straw to guard from frost. Repair fencing. Trench ground for planting fruit trees. Remove dead tree branches. In frosty weather, mulch new-planted trees. Mulch and stake exotics. Gather medicinal plants: fennel root, henbane, lovage root, harts-tongue, Solomon's seal root.

Cold frame

In the kitchen garden: Harvest cabbages and cauliflowers, if season is mild. Also broccoli, parsnips, carrots potatoes, beets, salsify, parsley, cress, mustard, radish, turnips.

In the fruit garden: Gather remaining pears, apples, medlars, service, almonds, chestnuts, walnuts.

In the flower garden: In wet or frosty weather cover beds of ranunculus, anemones, hyacinths. Cover pots or boxes of seedling flowers in rain or severe frost. Cover carnations and auriculas to protect from rains and snow, but uncover in fair mild weather. Turn earth prepared for the flower gardens. Dig and prepare beds and borders for planting flowers in spring. Ridge up the earth so rain will run off. In hard weather, ready tools for use in spring. 



Cyclamen in winter

Flowers in bloom:  some anemones, polyanthus, primrose, stock-gilliflowers, narcissus, hellebore, red-flowered cyclamen, goldenrod, winter aconite, snowdrops (late in the

month.)

Flowering trees and shrubs: laurustinus, spurge laurel, Glastonbury thorn, mezereon in mild weather.

In the greenhouse: Keep windows and doors closed in very cold weather, open during mild weather. Draw down some of the glasses to let in fresh air, cautiously. Water plants sparingly, especially succulents like aloes and euphorbias. Water frequently woody plants--myrtles, oleanders, bays, etc. Keep up the fires in the stove to keep the air dry. Provide good heat to pineapples, else they will not produce fruit in the following summer.

Greenhouse plants in flower: Candytuft, yellow Indian jasmine, cyclamen, geranium, Spanish jasmine, lantana, Indian nasturtium, aloes, chrysanthemum, rudbeckia, campanula, shrubby mallow, aster, plumbago, black flowering lotus, heliotrope.

JANUARY

Essayist Joseph Addison advised gardeners to plan ahead for the colder season by creating a Winter Garden:

'...which should consist of such Trees only as never cast their Leaves. We have very often little Snatches of Sunshine, and Fair Weather, in the most uncomfortable Parts of the Year, and have frequently several Days in November and January, that are as agreeable as any in the finest months. At such time, therefore, I think there could not be a greater Pleasure, than to walk in such a Winter Garden as I have proposed.' The Spectator, September 1712.

Suitable evergreens for such a Winter Garden would be holly, yew, box, and conifers.

Holly standard at Hampton Court Palace

Kensington Palace

In the kitchen and herb gardens: Continue to prepare ground for planting. On warm borders sow radish, carrot, lettuce seed. In severe cold when ground is frozen, carry and spread dung, prepare garden tools, repair hedges. Make a hot-bed for sowing cucumbers. Sow cress, mustard, rape, radish, turnip and salad herbs on hot beds. Cover mushroom beds with earth or fresh straw, old

covering will become rotten with moisture. If buds of asparagus appear in beds made in December, earth them over and cover with frames. At end of month transplant carrots, parsnips, leeks, cabbage near a hedge or wall to shelter from strong winds. Late in month plant peas and beans, sow parsley and chervil.

In the fruit garden: Cut dead and cankered branches from fruit trees. Cover branches of espaliered figs to save tender shoots from frost. If season is mild, prune dwarf trees of hardy pears, apples, vines, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. In mild weather prepare ground and borders for planting new fruit trees. Mend and repair decayed poles of espaliers as necessary, fastening with wire where they are loose. If weather is mild, plant strawberries and raspberries.

In the flower garden: Cover beds of ranunculus, anemones, hyacinths in wet or frosty weather. In rain or severe frost cover pots or boxes of seedling flowers in rain or severe frost. Turn over compost, so frost can mellow it. In mild weather make new heaps of compost.

Primroses in snow

Flowers in bloom: Winter aconite, hellebore, black hellebore or Christmas rose, blue and white winter hyacinth, scilla, polyanthuses, primroses, single snowdrops, spring cyclamen, hearts-ease, narcissus, periwinkles.

Flowering trees and shrubs: Laurustinas, Glastonbury thorn, Mezereon, spurge-laurel, box tree, witch hazel.

Greenhouse citrus

In the greenhouse: In very severe weather keep frost out of the greenhouse, if it reaches the earth or orange trees and freezes, it will cause the fruit and leaves to drop off. In mild weather provide air to succulents. Care for the pineapples which begin to show fruit.

Greenhouse plants in flower: Double nasturtium, scarlet-flowered geranium, Indian yellow and Spanish jasmines, papaya, aloes, euphorbia, persian cyclamens, China rose hibiscus, African marigold, shrubby African lavatera, amaryllis.

Jasmine

FEBRUARY

Weather permitting, there is much work to be done.

In the kitchen and herb gardens: Prepare the ground for carrots, parsnips, radishes, spinach, and lettuce, which now may be sown. Sow young salad plants on moderate hot-beds or warm borders near walls or hedges. Sow also parsley, winter savory, marigolds, and sorrel, and most other hardy plants. Plant garlic, shallots, rocambole, and chives. Plant beans. Sow peas every fortnight. Towards end of the month plant potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.

This is also a good month for establishing an apiary.

Removal of vermin, especially moles, is another recommended task: 'The worst Enymyes to gardes are Moles, Catts, Earewigges, Snailes and Mice, and they must bee carefully destroyed, or all your labour all the year long is lost.' (1659.) How, you might wonder, are moles vanquished? 'Take red Herrings, and cutting them in pieces, burn the pieces on the Mole-hills; or you may put Garlic or Leeks in the Mouths of their Hills, and the Moles will leave the ground.' (1660.)

In the kitchen garden: Gather cabbages, savoys, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, turnips, red beets, salsify, cardoons, spinach, potatoes, artichokes, onions, leeks, garlic, shallots, sage, parsley, sorrel, mint, tansy, tarragon, salad herbs, mushrooms, endive, celery, chervil. Pot herbs and aromatic plants: winter savory, hyssop, thyme, lavender, rosemary, pot-marjoram, burnet.

In the fruit garden: Uncover fig branches in warm weather to prevent mold. Continue to repair espalier frames. Transplant fruit trees. Look carefully after bullfinches, at this season they do great mischief to fruit trees by picking off blossom buds and can destroy all garden fruit in two or three days. Transplant most sorts of hardy forest trees and flowering shrubs. Plant chestnuts, sow seeds or berries of other hardy trees and shrubs and cover with earth. Plant cuttings of currants and gooseberries.

In the flower garden: Plant out carnations in pots place in a warm situation. Sow seeds of auricula and polyanthus in pots or tubs of light, rich earth. Add fresh earth to auricula pots. Near the end of the month, stir the surface of flower beds, clear them of weeds and moss. Late in the month transplant Canterbury bells, French honeysuckle, daisies, rose campion, foxgloves, pinks, sweet williams, bachelors' buttons, campanulas, thrift, scarlet lychnis, columbines, goldenrods, and other fibrous-rooted plants. On dry frosty nights cover beds of ranunculus, anemones, and tulips to protect from injury. Rake and clean in the wilderness, because the flowers under the trees are beginning to bloom. Edge the grass walks and lawns, and roll them when the ground is soft. Make hot-beds for tender annual flowers.

Flowers in bloom: Winter aconite, Persian iris, early tulip, saxifrage, black hellebore or Christmas rose, blue and white winter hyacinth, polyanthuses, primroses, single snowdrops, spring cyclamen, hearts-ease, narcissus, periwinkles, single anemones, yellow and purple crocuses, spring cyclamen, spring daffodils, daisies, hepaticas, hyacinths, Persian iris.

Crocus

Flowering trees and shrubs: Laurustinus, red and white mezereon, spurge laurel, traveller's joy, white-flowered almond, cornelian cherry, filbert, hazelnut, Gastonbury thorn.

In the greenhouse: When weather is mild and air soft, admit air into the greenhouse, cautiously at first and never when the wind is sharp. Water myrtles, oranges, geraniums and other hardy plants. Pick off dead and decayed leaves. Make hotbeds to sow tender exotic seeds.

Greenhouse plants in flower: Indian yellow and Spanish jasmines, papaya, aloes, euphorbia, Persian cyclamens, China Rose hibiscus, African marigold, shrubby African lavatera, amaryllis, cotyledon, coffee-tree, hypericum, Mexican lily, starwort, Indian gladiolus.

Rose arbor in winter

English Garden History: Spring Guide
English Garden History: Summer Guide
English Garden History: Autumn Guide

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margaret Porter is the award-winning and bestselling author of twelve period novels, whose other publication credits include nonfiction and poetry. A Pledge of Better Times, her highly acclaimed novel of 17th century courtiers Lady Diana de Vere and Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, is her latest release, available in trade paperback and ebook. Margaret studied British history in the UK and the US. As historian, her areas of speciality are social, theatrical, and garden history of the 17th and 18th centuries, royal courts, and portraiture. A former actress, she gave up the stage and screen to devote herself to fiction writing, travel, and her rose gardens.

Author Website

Blog

Facebook Author Page

Twitter  

Amazon

Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Autumn

by Margaret Porter

Autumn colour

Autumn in the English garden is a time of vibrant hues, gradual decay, tidying, and preparation for winter as well as spring. As gardener, garden historian and collector of gardening manuals, I tend to follow the advice of gardeners long past as often—perhaps more often—than current experts. As historical author, maintaining authenticity in terms of what was grown in a given period, and when it bloomed, is extremely important to me.

This is the second of four seasonal guides, with information taken from 17^th and 18^th century sources in my personal library. I shot the photographs either in historic gardens in England or in my own 21^st century gardens, in which I grow heritage plants. The previous entry is Garden Guide for English Historical Authors: Summer.

Vegetable & cutting garden, late September

SEPTEMBER

Autumn cabbages and greens

In the kitchen & herb gardens: Plant cauliflower on old melon or cucumber beds. Mid-month sow lettuce seeds under frames or glass, to be covered during severe frost. Sow lettuce, radish, turnip, cress, mustard, chervil in warm location. Make mushroom beds, laying the dried spore on a dung bed heaped up at least  3 weeks to a month prior. Weed beds of turnips, onions, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, and cabbages sown month before. Plant beans. Transplant aromatic herbs--rosemary, lavender--to take root before frost comes. Transplant cauliflower and broccoli plants. Harvest cabbages, carrots, artichokes, leeks, garlic, celery, endive, kidney beans, marrowfat peas, radishes, tomatoes, squash, burnet, thyme, basil, marjoram, hyssop, other herbs. Gather ripening seeds of hemp, pepper, saffron, cucumber, fennel, fenugreek, lettuce, lentil, lovage, flax, hops, millet, cress, parsley, elderberry, mustard, nightshade, and goldenrod, and spread on cloths to dry before storing.

Lavender in autumn

Fruit & vines: Take hardwood cuttings to root new plants. Gather ripening fruit early in the month, and late in the month harvest those that keep well over winter. Guard the grapes from birds. Transplant strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and currants. Plant cuttings of gooseberries and currants. Prune and train espalier fruit trees. Harvest apples, pears, peaches, plums, muscadine grapes and other ripe grapes, figs, walnuts, filberts, medlars, currants, Morello cherries.

In the flower garden: Dig borders and manure beds for planting hardy flowers. Transplant perennial and biennial flowers from the nursery. Plant early tulips, hyacinths, and anemones. Sow auricula and polyanthus seeds in pots or boxes of light, rich soil. Cut down stalks of decayed flowers. Late in the month transplant most types of hardy flowering trees and shrubs. Divide irises, peonies, aconites, lily of the valley, columbines, perennial poppy.

Poppy

Flowers in bloom: Stock gillyflowers, scabious, Marvel of Peru, China pinks, French Marigolds, Hollyhocks, chrysanthemums, lupines, sweet-scented peas, cyclamens, goldenrod, asters, spiderwort, snapdragon, candytuft, scarlet bean, sunflowers, mallow, hydrangea, nasturiums, jasmine, monthly rose, passionflower, honeysuckle, azalea, kalmia, tamarisk.

Aster

Nasturtium

Mallow

OCTOBER

Espalier pear tree

In the kitchen & herb gardens: Cut down asparagus plants. Hoe the weeds out of the beds. Transplant cabbage and lettuce plants to warm borders, frames, or beside walls for winter protection. Plant beans and peas upon dry ground in a warm place. Weed onion beds. Sow salad herbs on hot beds or under frames. Make hot beds to sow mint and tansy for use at Christmas. Protect mushroom beds from wet and frost with frames and glass, or thatch. Cut down stalks of mint, tarragon, and other perennial plants, clean beds of weeds. Harvest cabbages, cauliflower, some artichokes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, onions, leeks, potatoes, shallots, beets, salsify, celery, endive, cardoons, chervil, radish, mustard, cress, lettuce, spinach, sorrel, sage, rosemary, thyme, winter savory, pot marjoram, and other aromatic plants.

Ripened grapes

Fruit and vines: In the middle or late in the month prune peach trees, nectarines, apricots, and vines, so wounds will heal before hard frosts. Remove useless branches and shorten the remaining ones. Prune apples, pears, and plums. Gather vineyard grapes in dry weather when there is no moisture on the vines. Cut grapes for preserving over winter in clusters, to be hung in rows, not touching, in a warm room where a fire is kept going through the winter. Transplant fruit trees. Plant gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries so they can take root before winter. Harvest fruit for winter keeping, only when the trees are perfectly dry. Ripened fruits: peaches, grapes, figs, medlars, quinces, plums, walnuts, hazlenuts, almonds, pears, apples.

Figs

In the flower garden: Finish planting bulbs and roots such as tulips, ranunculus, crocus, jonquil, hyacinth, narcissus, iris, lily. Transplant hardy tuberous or tooted plants such as hollyhock, Canterbury bells, honeysuckles, columbines, monkshood, daisy, chrysanthemum, sweet william, asters, spiderwort, peonies, wallflower, thrift, rudbeckia, monarda. Clean borders of weeds and refresh with clean earth and well-rotted dung. Prune flowering shrubs. Transplant flowering shrubs: roses, honeysuckle, Spanish broom, laburnum, spirea, peach, almond, cherry, syringa. Clean walks and lawns of fallen leaves.

Flowers in bloom: French marigold, Marvel of Peru, Indian tobacco, autumn carnation, Michaelmas daisies, goldenrod, cyclamen, auriculas, heartsease, chrysanthemum, tuberoses, Guernsey lily, linaria, bugloss, feverfew, sunflowers, Spanish jasmine, autumn crocus, broad-leaved phlox, helenia, spiderwort, late honeysuckle, passion flower, monthly rose.

Quatre Saisons, Autumn Damask, the "Monthly Rose"

NOVEMBER

In the kitchen and herb gardens: Remove glass and frames from lettuce and cauliflower in warm, dry weather. Sow peas and plant beans in dry weather. Sow salad herbs on hot beds, to continuously supply the table. At beginning of the month sow carrots and radishes on warm borders. Harvest carrots, parsnips, potatoes, beets, and salsify towards the end of the month. Also red cabbage, onions, leeks, garlic, shallots, turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, sage, mushrooms, salad leaves and herbs.

Apples ready for picking

Fruit and vines: If weather is mild, continue pruning fruit trees and vines. Remove all ripe fruit from fig trees. At beginning of the month it is still safe to transplant fruit trees. If weather is mild, plant gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries. Keep beds well-weeded. Continue harvesting pears and apples on dry days, also almonds, chestnuts, hazlenuts, walnuts, medlars, and late grapes.

In the flower garden: Stake newly-planted trees. The boxes and pots of seedling bulbs and flower should be set in a warm, sunny location and screened from cold winds. If weather is mild, continue transplanting bulbous and fibrous-rooted plants and flowering shrubs as in October. Rake over borders and beds to prevent weeds and moss from growing.

Passionflower

Flowers in bloom: Goldenrod, white periwinkle, blue periwinkle, cranesbill, boarge, valerian, stock gillyflower, heartsease, pansies, perennial sunflowers, antirrhinum, helenias, arbutus, laurustinus, late musk rose, passionflower.

Plants recommended for adorning rooms during autumn: aramanth, asters, balsam, French marigolds, passionflower, Marvel-of-Peru, larkspur, honeysuckle, tuberoses, African and French marigolds, convulvulus, sunflowers, hollyhocks, double violets, spiderwort, poppies, candytuft, auriculas, polyanthus, stock gillyflowers, ripe apples and other fruits.

Amaranth

Marigolds

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Margaret Porter is the award-winning and bestselling author of twelve period novels, whose other publication credits include nonfiction and poetry. A Pledge of Better Times, her highly acclaimed novel of 17th century courtiers Lady Diana de Vere and Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, is her latest release, available in trade paperback and ebook. Margaret studied British history in the UK and the US. As historian, her areas of speciality are social, theatrical, and garden history of the 17th and 18th centuries, royal courts, and portraiture. A former actress, she gave up the stage and screen to devote herself to fiction writing, travel, and her rose gardens.

Author Website

Blog

Facebook Author Page

Twitter  
Amazon