Autumn colors in Kent at Great Comp Garden, Hever Castle and Mount Ephraim

Autumn is the season that ranks highly for garden visitors in Kent because of its color and drama.

As the early morning mist lifts to reveal the burnt orange, golden and deep red hues of the shifting trees, eagle-eyed nature lovers can spot red-winged birds arriving from Iceland to spend the fall and winter here.

Among those keen to welcome the redwings and watch the leaves change colour, William Dyson, curator of the Great Comp Garden in St Mary’s Platt, is preparing to celebrate the autumn season.

The park’s new Bulbs ‘N Things event, which will open from Sunday 15 October, will welcome visitors to come and get tips on what to plant with the ground chilling.

The Great Comp Garden is filled with autumn inspiration as the Katsura tree drops its sweet-smelling golden leaves and the oak turns a vibrant red in The Sweep.

The garden is home to tall grasses, colorful dahlias, perennials and prominent sagebrush. The pinks and purples of sage bring drama and color to larger grasses in the border.

Visitors can also enjoy woodland walks at Great Comp and watch the colors change and the plants prepare for winter.

Hever Castle, in Edenbridge, will also celebrate autumn color in October with events focusing on fungi, how to create a dye garden, and an autumn walk around the lake.

Home to an impressive collection of trees, visitors to Anne Boleyn’s childhood home will be able to pass beneath the oak trees on the aptly named Anne Boleyn Walk.

They can also gaze upon evergreen Scots pines, red oaks (Quercus palustris), and the delicate buttery yellow of pine trees (Larix) on Walk Lake.

Visitors can stimulate their sense of smell on the Sunday Walk with the yellow scent of Cercidipylliam japonica or immerse yourself in the forest thicket above the lake on the Smugglers Walk before past the folly of a Japanese tea house.

Acer palmatum and Quercus robur cast red shadows on the water and the last of the universe in the meadows bring the Lake Walk to life.

Not only do trees provide color and structure at this time of year, countless grasses in our gardens at home bring structure and movement.

Faith’s Garden at Hever Castle contains many miscanthus and Stipa Tennuissima plants which provide a beautiful backdrop to the colorful perennials forming shapes with their multi-dimensional seed heads while asters, alstroemeria and rudbeckia flourish.

Autumn colors begin to appear at the end of September, and if you have time, you can catch fall foliage in the family-owned Edwardian gardens at Mount Ephraim in Faversham.

Located next to the Kent Downs and home to the Dawes family since 1695, the gardens were designed in the early 1900s with topiary, lake, Japanese rock garden and a magnificent maze that still looks stunning in September.

There’s early fall color thanks to Mount Ephraim’s impressive array of trees, and if you head to the water park you’ll see the iris trees as they begin to spin.

If you’re planning a fall garden, you should consider Acers and maples – they are great fall staples and can grow well in pots as well as in the ground.

Mount Ephraim will also host the Botanical Exhibition Roadshow for the first time on Sunday, September 24 before the gardens close for the year at the end of the month.

The plant exhibition will be a finale to the Kent and Sussex team that featured heavily in BBC coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Plant vendors will specialize in perennials and fall favorites.