With everything that's been going on the garden this year in relation to the koi pond, and the delays due to the wet damp summer we had its felt like the gardening year never really got going for us. Even to the point that a couple of weeks ago it sort of felt like spring. Not just the weather that weekend but the act of gardening and being excited. However that feeling is short lived with the cool damp weather here to stay.
Now before you think this is a post wallowing in misery (honest its not) I'll move on, rather than being miserable about the season we are embracing it, making plans and looking forward.
We are not usually ones for bedding plants, but despite that we bought a bunch of brightly coloured seasonable plants on Saturday from Crews Hill. Nothing at all exotic, but rather primulas, heathers, cyclamens, pansies (!) and even the rather strange looking ornamental cabbages. Nothing unusual, exotic or rare here, but bright and colourful. These have gone into tubs and baskets by the front door. Even in the depths of autumn and winter these will give a shot of color by the front door as we leave for work and return home (it won't be long before we are doing both again in the dark). So we will be leaving with a cheery smile from a lovely selection of bright clashing colours as we head to work each day.
Not our usual sort of planting but what the heck...
Mark was looking back through some old photos of Paris in a recent blog, and so we though how nice it would be to have a mini break before Christmas, so we have that to look forward to, and then of course there is Christmas too. Of course these are non-gardening things (well mostly as we will include a visit to the Botanic gardens in Paris - especially to go into the Glasshouses we missed previously). Now its all planned I can't wait, and I promise to share photos of the glasshouses on our return.
Paris in the summer
But the best thing about this time of year are the bonfire colours in the trees, so we took a trip to local park near to us for an early morning walk round. The only other people there first thing on a Sunday morning were dog walkers and a few joggers. The colours are not quite there yet, perhaps next weekend will be truly stunning.However this tree is just on the corner near where we live, every year we comment on it, and every year we forget to take a photo (until this year!).
Autumn is a great time to reflect on the year as well as look forward to next year. Despite the cool weather, and the risk of frost just around the corner, I'm looking forward to the seasons ahead (especially Spring 2013!).
Gaz