Autumn Highlights: The changing colours of Highgrove

Autumn Highlights: The changing colours of Highgrove

Table of Contents

    The weather may be cooling and leaves may be falling from the trees, but Highgrove Gardens are still teeming with life and colour.

    Pull on your boots and don your cosiest jumper for a stroll in the crisp autumnal air. The garden is full of changing colours with glorious hues of red, gold, and green standing out against the autumn sky, so what should you expect to see?

    Painted Sage (Salvia viridis)

    Cottage Garden 

    Plucked straight from the pages of a fairy tale, the vibrant blue and pink leaves of the painted sage continue to produce colour in the Cottage Garden into autumn months. These fragrant plants are part of the colourful borders which line the garden.

    Pear (Pyrus communis 'Beurré Hardy')

    Kitchen Garden 

    Laden with golden fruit, autumn is the prime time for harvesting the juicy pears found in the Kitchen Garden. Popular with bees and butterflies during the summer months, the ripe fruits stand out against the green autumn leaves.

    Crimson Glory Vine (Vitis coignetiae)

    Front of House 

    Climbing the front of Highgrove House is a magnificent display of Vitis coignetiae, also known as Crimson glory vine. With leaves the size of dinnerplates, this deciduous vine turns a vibrant scarlet in autumn turning the house a magnificent crimson.

    Crab apple (Malus hupehensis)

    Lower Orchard 

    Planted amongst the apples, pears and gages in the Lower Orchard are a number of Malus hupehensis, or crab apple trees. While in spring they’re covered in bee-friendly flowers, come autumn the boughs are laden with red cherry-like fruits, which are used to make crab apple jelly for sale in the Highgrove Estate and Tetbury shops.

    Chinese Dogwood (Cornus kousa)

    Arboretum

    The Cornus kousa ‘Porlock’, also known as the Szechuan strawberry or Chinese dogwood, is a small shrub or tree whose leaves turn a beautiful reddish-purple in the autumn. Its fruit, which looks similar to a strawberry, is edible and tastes similar to a persimmon.

    Garden Tours

    To capture autumn at its best and while tickets are still available for garden tours, book today.

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    The sale of highgrove products, garden tours and events support the charitable work of the kings foundation.