and suddenly, it’s autumn

Hello! I did not mean to disappear there, but the truth is I’ve been very ill (and am still rather unwell). My elderly dad ended up in hospital a few weeks ago following a fall and while there, contracted Covid. The hospital only tested for this after I caught it from him and tested positive myself: just one in a lengthy series of care-related oversights and shortcomings which lead me to want to break my long unspoken rule of not criticising the NHS. Happily, my dad is now ok, and finally back home. I am still not ok: this is the first time I’ve had Covid (which having avoided for 5+ years, I suppose at some point was inevitable) but I’ve honestly not been this unwell since the days immediately following my stroke.

I’ve lain in bed for 12 days and I am not out of the woods yet, but I have finally been able to get up today. Of course I went straight out into the garden (one of the many things I have missed). And I discovered that while I’ve been stuck indoors feeling like shite, there has somehow been a change of season!

The seeds I planted back in spring have transformed into huge sunflowers . . .

. . . whose flame-red is a very cheering hue.

. . . and there are other joyful reds in my garden too, like these Hesperantha . . .

. . and the newly-flowering Crinodendron . . .

One thing I just love about my garden is how the former owner filled it with spectacular plants that bring colour through all seasons of the year.

I don’t think I had knowingly seen a nerine before encountering them here, where they provide a stunning pop of early September colour.

Having carefully tended the nerines this year, removing their yellowing leaves, weeding around the exposed bulbs, and dressing them with grit and gravel, I feel ridiculously proud of these blooms.

and I’m also pleased with the hydrangeas, which are doing just fine, despite some of my concerns (I was worried that I’d pruned them far too early and too too hard)

The garden revealed other early-autumn surprises too, like these colchicums, which are popping up every where I look

And these Astrantia, which don’t seem to ever want to stop flowering! I planted a few pale pink cultivars in a new bed and, with regular deadheading they have flowered prolifically, and very beautifully, from spring right up till now.

This is part of the new bed, and I’m feeling proud of it too, bouncing back into bloom after quite a vigorous cutting back. Here you can see nepeta, salvia perovskia, dianthus, astrantia, and, of course, the wonderful geranium rozanne (a plant that every garden surely needs). I’m going to fill in all the gaps with bulbs in a few weeks time (energy levels permitting).

What a joy to get outside, do some deadheading, and see my lovely cosmos and dahlias again!

Just encountering my flourishing September garden has really cheered me up today.

And I cheered myself up a bit more by making something out of it!

A seasonal wreath, to hang on our front door.

Lavender, eryngium, echinops, poppies, allium sphaerocephalon. I grew all of these plants myself. What fun!

Anyway, I thought I’d pop in here and let you know that I’m ok, or at the very least, improving (Covid really is a bear, isn’t it?). And if you are interested in what I’m up to outwith the garden, I should also mention that I’ll be delivering a zoom webinar a week today on the interesting subject of Fearless Colourwork. We still have a few places left, if you are free at 5pm on Saturday, September 13th, and would like to join us. Hopefully I’ll be feeling well by then!