Gardens: what to do this week

Plant this

Goldenrod is an invasive pest, but I crave that sunny yellow colour in my borders in October, so I’m planting goldenrod cultivar Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’. It’s a clumper, not a spreader, and its flowers come in elegant sprays that look great with grasses. Height and spread, 1m x 1m; thrives in most soils.

Collect this

Don’t make more work for yourself by collecting dead leaves from flower borders: provided they are pushed away from the crowns of plants, they’ll act as a mulch and soil improver. Rake up leaves from lawns, though, or they’ll smother grass – or simply mow them up. Add to compost heaps or stuff in plastic sacks with a few holes pierced in them, place in a corner somewhere and forget about them. In one or two years you’ll have lush leaf mould for your labours.

Visit this

Think you’ve had a stressful year? Spare a thought for trees, which suffered spring drought then an unseasonably hot May and June. The good news is that stress brings out the most sumptuous display of autumn leaf colour. Great Comp garden near Sevenoaks, Kent, is the place to see autumn’s star trees such as nyssas and ginkgos.