Autumn shades

Autumn is here.  The shades of russet and yellow, orange and brown colour the garden by numbers.  The nights are lengthening and we have cooler, showery days now.  We are gradually putting the garden to rest for Winter.  It's time to cut the long grass in the orchard, clear borders and cut back herbaceous perennials.  Slowly the outlines of the garden, its plan and underlying bone structure can begin to be seen again after months of foaming frothiness.

We still have the intense purple of Verbena Bonariensis hovering over the beds while Tithonia rotundiflora 'Torch', the Mexican Sunflower, illuminates the borders with its brilliant orange flowers.  Cosmos too shines out of the gloomy dull light with its deep reds, pale pinks and luminescent whites.

I confess I am comfortable with the change enjoying the mood swing from a Summer of intense activity to a steadier pace.  The garden feels still and intimate.  It feels restful.  But I dread the onset of Winter and all that goes with it.  I can grudgingly endure it until the first weeks of New Year, then the burden weighs heavy upon me during the long uphill trudge to Spring.

No matter, life goes on, the garden continues to develop and mature and soon fulsome fat buds will appear on stems and branches with all the promise they bring of a new Spring over the distant horizon.