I WAS a bit surprised this week, and more than a little miffed, to see autumn hues appearing on two different trees, both maples, one in Grasmere and one in Hayes’ car park in Ambleside.

Given what a washout this summer has been, the early arrival of autumn colour seems to be adding insult to injury.

The cool, damp weather has meant a lot of growth on both trees and shrubs; I’ve been in the garden this afternoon trimming back branches on a large crab apple tree, which has begun to overshadow most of the flower border beneath.

This crab is a tree that was already here when we moved in, it looks to me as it was grown from a pip – it’s growing on its own roots (well, it’s not grafted on to a dwarfing root stock, that’s for sure) – the fruits are small and they don’t colour well.

Really we only keep it because the birds like the shelter and the fruit it provides.

If I were planting a new crab apple, I’d want to use one of the ornamental varieties that are widely available in garden centres and nurseries. My favourite is Malus ‘Golden Hornet’ which has pink flower buds followed by white blossom in spring, with long-lasting, golden-yellow fruits in autumn. There are any number of good varieties of crab apple to choose from nowadays, they all have delicious blossom in spring, in colours ranging from white to dark pink, and they all have ornamental fruits from late summer onwards.

The only other variety I have grown myself was Malus ‘John Downie’. It was grafted on to a very dwarfing root stock and failed to thrive in the long grass of the orchard in which I planted it. The moral here is that if you want a small ornamental tree for the garden, look for a dwarf or semi-dwarfing rootstock, but if you want to grow your crab apple in a grassed area or as part of a hedgerow or orchard, go for something more vigorous.

Of course, if you’re buying from a small garden centre, the chances are you’ll have to take what there is, beggars can’t be choosers. So if your tree seems to struggle, or grow very slowly, make sure it has a good clear space around its trunk with no competition from grass or herbaceous plants, and mulch it annually with well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost.

On the other hand, if your tree seems to be growing too fast for its allotted space, it’s quite a simple matter to shorten branches as I’ve been doing or to spur prune the tree just like a culinary variety.

A quick aside - either I’ve got fleas or there are an extraordinary number of little bitey insects around in the garden at the moment. If anyone has any cunning and effective tips to keep them at bay, I’d love to hear from you – the dog has begun to look at me strangely!

Jobs for this week: Continue hedge cutting through August into September.

Prune rambling roses, tying in new growths and removing some of the older stems to ground level. Tying stems horizontally will encourage the production of flowering side shoots for next year.

Order bulbs for autumn planting outdoors, and for growing and flowering in bowls indoors.