April 14th, 2026Beetham’s Botanicals

Well here I am again penning another article for you, the reader, to enjoy...

Well here I am again penning another article for you, the reader, to enjoy…
This time I’ll be featuring moments in our autumn that make this special time of year so magical.
Below is a list of pleasurable jobs and observations that I look forward to each year:

• Continuing to nurture previously sown (or planted) vegetables and herbs that will appear on the daily menu and consider sowing plants (there’s quite a few that may surprise you) such as coriander during March to April.
Avoid the heat that causes rapid bolting by direct sowing seeds 6mm deep, 20cm apart in well-drained, composted soil making sure to keep the soil consistently moist for a quick harvest – and don’t forget to keep a supply of seeds for sowing at a later date.

• I’ve talked about bed preparation in the past and there is no better time than autumn to make this a job to look forward to. Making up a brew of soil mix can be challenging as you need to get the right drainage and pH to suit myriad plants but fear not, I’ve had a crack at growing plants in 100 per cent Perma-Fert (look it up) with mixed results as the moisture retention is lousy. However this product and similar soil conditioners can be a vital ingredient to a good brew.

• As daily temperatures begin their inevitable decline, plants such as deciduous trees begin to have a rest and leaves change colour because shorter days and cooler temperatures cause the green pigment, chlorophyll, to break down, allowing hidden yellow and orange pigments (carotenoids) to appear.
Red and purple colours (anthocyanins) are now also released. Here in the Central Highlands we see claret ash, golden ash and liquidambars strut their stuff and a few extra special ones such as upright crabapple or malus trilobata – see image below

• Not to be outdone, bulbs such as the Guernsey lily (nerine bowdenii) certainly dominate a garden bed with its iridescent pink flowers appearing out of nowhere.

• It’s close to bare-rooted season which means trees and in some cases shrubs, will come onto the nursery market shortly. So if you’re planning to add some new plants to your old or new garden, it’s worth doing some searching to see what’s available. A lot of nurseries run out of listed taxa well in advance so be quick.

And so to sum up this transitional time of the year, I’d like to think that as I peer out my study window at a coral bark maple or acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’ – the world might be a better place soon.