THERE'S just something in the air that makes you feel that summer is over. The sun may be out and the sky blue and cloudless, but there is a lightness to the rays. They are starting to enter the atmosphere at a lower angle now, and beginning to make the colours softer and more muted.

The advantage of this in the garden is that the different shades and depths of greens show up more. This is timely, as many of the bright floral heads are going over and fading, and the cloak of greens keeps the interest alive for a few months yet.

Not all the flowers have finished. The crocosmias are still doing well. They seem to have made a resurgence in the popularity stakes, along with the red hot poker. They must have become so commonplace in their bright orange form that people saw them as 'tacky'. Orange is also one of those colours that clashes with just about everything. The new vibrant yellow and crimson red strains are much easier to place in the border.

The plant itself couldn't be easier to grow. It originates from South Africa, but will thrive equally well in dry shade, full sun or damp soil. It only needs cutting back once, early in the year, and be split and divided whenever necessary. Even when not in flower, the sword-like leaves add height and make a wonderful backdrop to other plants.

The poor plant has gone through something of an identity crisis over the last 80 years. It first hit the catalogue lists under the name of Tritonia, from the Greek word 'triton', meaning weathercock. This was a reference to the shape of the arrangement of the stamens. Its more common name, montbretia, became its proper name, but this was changed more recently into its current one.

The shortening days, though, have turned my attention towards the literary area of horticulture. The one good thing about cold, wet winter days is the amount of time you can spend snuggled up reading about how you are going to transform your garden next season.

I have been browsing through several gardening-related books which have just hit the shops. The first is a practical one. It is called Great Gardens of Britain and Ireland, is part of the Insight travel guides and costs £16.99. After a thoroughly interesting trip through the history of garden design, the book acts as a guide as to where to go and what to see in the world of gardening. It is sectioned geographically, so if you were holidaying in, say, Somerset, you could flick through the relevant chapter and pick out the best places to visit in the locality. Conversely, you could even choose your holiday destination according to the most attractive or abundant garden destinations as suggested in the guide.

Alongside some sumptuous and enticing photography, the book answers all the questions you would want to ask a travel agent before visiting any local attraction. It has easy-to-follow directions on how to find the place. It gives costs and times, tells you whether you can take the dog, contains information on refreshment facilities and suggestions for nearby accommodation (and best of all, local pubs). There is a potted history on each attraction, and a paragraph on the best bits to see. This is a must for any garden lover's glove compartment.

There is still a good deal of good weather left in the year yet. There is plenty of gardening still to be done, but if you do start to get a bit despondent with the on-rushing autumn, you can dash round some of the local stately gardens and pick up some refreshing ideas for next year.

JOBS THIS WEEK

Start to lift pelargoniums DIG up and pot on any large pelargoniums that have been planted out in the borders. This gives them a month or so to get settled in before the winter gets a grip. Keep the pots in a sheltered greenhouse and they can be planted out again next year.

Raise your blades THE grass is slowing down its growth now. You will need to start raising the cutting height of the lawn mower now in order to help it build up for its winter survival. Still cut as regular though.

Guard against coddling moths PLACE greasebands around the trunks of apple and pear trees. This is just sticky tape, but it prevents the wingless female from crawling up and spending winter in the shelter of the tree.

READERS QUESTION

Young Peter (age 71/2) from Bishop Auckland told me that he knew what coppicing meant, but what was pollarding? COPPICING is an old fashioned method of getting a tree or shrub to throw off more shoots by cutting it close to the ground. It used to be used in the charcoal making and iron smelting industries, in particular with hazel. Pollarding however is usually done for more cosmetic and manipulative reasons. Whereas in coppicing, the tree is cut down at soil level, pollarding is done much higher up the trunk, often from about six foot upwards. The trees most often pollarded in this country are willow, lime, beech and hornbeam. This is usually done nowadays in order to limit growth, particularly in built-up areas.

POST SCRIPT

Brigid and Tim are on hand every Sunday from 12-2pm to answer all you gardening questions on Ask About Gardening, on 95FM, BBC Radio Cleveland. Send your questions to be answered in The Northern Echo to Brigid at brigidpress67.freeserve.co.uk or write to her care of Nature's World, Ladgate Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough.

Published: 30/08/2003