AUTUMN COLOURS

Wakehurst Place, near Haywards Heath, is renowned for its autumn colour and has two more weekends when the gardens can be seen at their seasonal best- this coming weekend and on November 3 and 4.

In the grounds maples provide flamboyant oranges and reds around the Mansion Pond and Water Gardens- these survived 1987 unscathed, with more specimens added in recent years.

In the Water Gardens and near Compost Corner, the spectacular rowan, Sorbus commixta from Korea, dazzles with red leaflets and is another post-storm addition.

The false larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) near the Chapel Lawn lost a substantial part of its crown, but continues to glow a burnt yellow. The National Collection of birches displays luminescent yellows on species such as cherry birch and yellow birch in Bethlehem and Horsebridge Woods.

There are also flowers at this time of the year, where the specimen beds have been redeveloped catering for autumn flower species, like the Kaffir lily, which flowers in low sun, while varieties of Liriope throw up dense spikes of blue flowers for many weeks.