Mellow Fruitfulness
Wild rose hips at Chelsea Flower Show 2021
Fruit, hips and haws have been decorating gardens and hedgerows for several weeks, long before the soft morning mists marked the turning of late summer to autumn. The hang heavy branches of trees and shrubs are the prelude to the leaves turning. Their fruitfulness creates a glorious early autumn show.
So often we concentrate on flowers to light up our gardens with colour, forgetting a display of mellow fruitfulness prolongs its interest and provides a bonus of essential food for birds and wildlife.
Roses are Red
Did you know the Rosaceae botanical family covers apples, roses and hawthorns, all producing rosy-red fruit at this time of year?
The fruits of roses are known as hips. The small, egg-shaped hips of the English wild rose or dog rose (Rosa canina) are currently scattering our hedgerows with their sparkling red fruit. They seem to be particularly good this year, and perfect to gather for inside between now and Christmas, taking care to leave some for the birds.
Rosa rugosa
Just as there are many different types of rose flower, so there are with hips. The larger glossy, marble-like hips of Rosa rugosa are arguably better than their flowers. Snip them from their prickly branches after the first frosts and cook up with apples to make rose hip jelly, delicious with game or chicken. The big pink Constance Spy Cookery Book includes an old-fashioned and simple recipe.
But my favourite rose for hips is the vigorous climbing Rosa ‘Madame Grégoire Staechelin’, with its nodding, luminous pink semi-double, sweet pea scented flowers. It has hips the size of a baby’s fist: apricot pink, and utterly gorgeous. I delay pruning this rose, planted beneath my bedroom window, until after Christmas and use the hips for table arrangements. Honestly, this rose with her glamorous name is a winner: her only drawback is no repeat flowering. So, if you have a spot for a special climbing pink rose, this one could be for you.
Crataegus monogaena
Hawthorn Happy
Haws are the fruit of hawthorn, particularly Crataegus monogaena. This magnificent May tree, commonly called due to its lovely flowers of the same month, is superseded by abundant autumn fruits: red and even more loved by the birds. Like rose hips, you can turn haws into a jelly or even a ketchup. They help protect against heart disease and can control high blood pressure and high cholesterol too. Hawthorn also has beautiful craggy branches which quickly look ancient and gnarled, attracting lichen and creating a sense of place. Sarah Raven has this native in standard form lining her driveway at Perch Hill. You can’t get much better endorsement than that!
I love hawthorn for any small garden. Invest in a Crataegus prunifolia 'Splendens', a showy form of our native tree and you will have blossom, haws and autumn colour plus an atmospheric skeletal structure for winter. Alternatively, go pink or crimson, and vary the colour of the blossom with Crataegus laevigata 'Rosea Flore Pleno' or Crataegus laevigata 'Paul’s Scarlet' respectively.
Malus ‘John Downie’ combined with late perennials outside Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, London
Getting Crabby
Perhaps my favourite tree at this time of year before the autumn colour takes off are crab apples. I love these small, variously coloured fruits which will hang on their branches long into autumn. Pick a whole branch or three and have them stylishly decorating your house in a tall, clear vase or combine with late flowering perennials for a fabulous late summer show. But with so many varieties to choose from, which are my current favourites?
Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’ underplanted with Erigeron karvinskianus
Malus ‘John Downie’: white flowers in April which are brilliant for bees and large plum like apples which are excellent for jelly. I’ve planted it as a standard tree. I’ve given it as a gift (often). I’m longing to design a garden which includes it in its pleached form.
Malus 'Evereste' has unusually large white flowers and attractive apples the shades of yellow, orange and red. Readily available and wonderful, it’s also very good for cooking.
Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’ with its bright red fruit is another winner. It’s used extensively in espalier form, as shown at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire.
Malus hupehensis or Chinese crab forms a vigorous medium sized tree and makes a spectacular decorative orchard.
Malus transitoria, also from China, has gorgeous sparkling white flowers and pretty cut-edged leaves which add summer interest before tiny, decorative yellow fruit emerge.
The Newt in Somerset
Fruit Galore
Of course, the classic place for planting fruit is an orchard. But in small gardens, that’s simply not possible and why be limited? Over the years, growers have developed many decorative shapes and sizes for apples which mean we can grow successfully and sometimes amusingly in smaller spaces.
A trip to The Newt in Somerset is a lesson in the ‘art of the apple’ possible in any garden. Step over, espalier, fan, goblet, cordon, upright and more. The shapes are endless, I could go on. Combined in a sculptural fantasy, the Parabola walled garden is something to behold for all apple enthusiasts. It’s looking wonderful now, so worth a visit for a fruitfulness fix.
Time to Plant
If your garden is low on fruitfulness, now’s the moment to look around and see what you’re missing. There is such a wide choice and I haven’t begun to mention berries! That’s for another day. Just looking at the Roseceae family, can you find a spot in your garden? The birds will thank you and your garden will light up with mellow fruitfulness. If you would like some more ideas, let me know.
Malus ‘Evereste’