The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is likely to be particularly vivid this year, with the combination of a sun-drenched summer and rainy September causing excellent conditions for autumn colour in many of the UK’s loveliest gardens.
Experts at the National Trust are predicting a long, gradual wave of reds and yellows, the warm conditions meaning annuals and herbaceous perennials are having a second flush, adding to the bright palette.
A “mast year” of abundant acorns, conkers and hedgerow fruit may be good news for wildlife and there are also reports of bountiful fungi and berries in many places.
John Deakin, the head of trees and woodland at the trust said: “Autumn is such a pivotal moment in the calendar, shorter days combined with normally cooler temperatures and changes to rainfall patterns all contributing to the vivid sylvan scenes of ochres, oranges, red and yellows we associate and love with the season.
“In recent years with the climate becoming more unpredictable, it’s become even trickier to predict autumn colour. However, this year with the combination of reasonably widespread rainfall in September and a particularly settled spring, we should hopefully see a prolonged period of trees moving into senescence – ie the gradual breakdown of chlorophyll in leaves, which leads to the revealing of other pigments that give leaves their autumn colour, as well as a bounty of nuts and berries.”
The September rain put a brake on the “false autumn” that led to leaves turning and falling, while Storm Amy at the weekend did not cause as much havoc to the nation’s leaf-heavy trees, as had been feared.
Sheffield Park and Garden in East Sussex, well known for its autumn colour, is one of the places that found itself in a “false autumn” but the showers have put the season back on track.
Steve Feazey, the head gardener, said: “Our trees have had a good drink and we are now hopeful that our autumn display will be as fiery and spectacular as ever.
“When our bitternut hickory at the entrance turns completely yellow, we’re officially in autumn – I think this will happen this week. Cold nights and potential frosts over the upcoming weeks will then accelerate the autumn colour.”
At Petworth House and Park in neighbouring West Sussex, whose golden autumn beauty was immortalised in the paintings of JMW Turner, the countryside manager, Martyn Burkinshaw, said the summer drought had been hard on veteran trees.
“Some have unfortunately died and others have already dropped their leaves for winter, but our American oaks, scarlet oaks and pin oaks are beginning to turn red,” said Burkinshaw.
The gardens and countryside manager at Stourhead in Wiltshire, Tim Parker, said he believed the autumn colour there would peak in the last week of October or first week of November.
“We’re already seeing early performers like the katsura tree turning buttery yellow and there is some acer colour – and there’s plenty more to come,” he said.
Chris Flynn, the head gardener at Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, said he expected highlights to include its Persian ironwood, which gives a rainbow of colour from bright green, purple and orange to almost jet black.
It also looks like being a good year for fungi. At Dyrham Park near Bath, the meadow is inundated with waxcap fungi.
Further north at Dunham Massey near Altrincham, Greater Manchester, head gardener Emily Chandler said the volume of acorns was “the largest we have ever seen”.