Now in November the sun is low in the sky, adding to the late autumnal atmosphere in the garden. When this light catches the foliage it brings it alive. Autumn colour has been great this year, just one of the November highlights at Wisley.
If it's cold outside, step into our Glasshouse where you can find plants from all around the world, from arid to tropical regions, on display. In November we have our famous chrysanthemum display.
Euonymus europaeus (spindle tree) is one of many shrubs that enliven the garden this month with their ornamental berries and seeds. You can find this one, and its cultivars, all around Seven Acres. Look out too for the purple berries of Callicarpa (beauty berry) and Clerodendrum trichotomum (harlequin glorybower) with its extraordinary bright pink and turquoise display.
Wisley is well known for its sweet gum trees that provide spectacular colour in the autumn. You can't fail to miss the stunning Liquidambar styraciflua in Seven Acres, surrounded by many other trees that offer impressive autumn colour. There's also a fine collection in the Arboretum, including a very pale cultivar near the children's play area.
Mahonia x media 'Lionel Fortescue' is in bloom in November, attracting bees with it's freshly opened, bright yellow, scented spikes of flower. Your nose may also catch the powerful, sweet fragrance of Osmanthus x fortunei which has clusters of small white flowers that contrast against glossy, evergreen leaves.
Ornamental crab apples have many seasons of interest, and at this time of year they bear a brilliant crop of miniature apples. This one is on Seven Acres, but you can find other examples all over the garden, including in the Arboretum.
Panicum virgatum 'Hanse Herms' is a beautiful grass that lights up wonderfully in the November sunshine. You can find it among the stipas, miscanthus, pennisetums and others in the Grass Borders on Seven Acres. They look great at a distance in the watery autumn sun, and intricate when the seed heads are misted in the morning.
Pine needles with a distinctly orange tinge? Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is Taxodium distichum, or swamp cypress, a deciduous conifer, and it looks lovely as its summer costume turns gloriously bright in autumn before it sheds the lot to stand bare over winter.
The Caucasian elm, Zelkova carpinifolia, makes a bold display of autumnal colour beside the lake on Seven Acres.