September Garden Notes

From my notebook on nature and the garden - September 2024

From left - Cosmos Rubenza, Dahlia burlesca, autumn cyclamen, Japanese Anemone, cosmos Rubenza, phlox cherry caramel, scabious summer fruits, cosmos double click cranberry, dahlia Perch Hill.

Summer just about hangs on through September, this year it has to hang on ever tighter with just a scattering of warm sunny days between the rainy ones. The mornings have been chill enough to have you reaching for a jumper and socks, the nip in the air enough to make your breath billow in clouds some days. I have lain awake in the early hours of several mornings wondering if a stealth frost might see off the dahlias, but fortunately it’s stayed just warm enough.

The colours are deep and dusky now, rich pinks, burnt oranges, carmine reds, even the pale cafe au laits have an added depth now, a warmth to their hearts that tells of autumn. On the trees the leaves are darkening too, bright greens turning khaki, dulling with age, slowly beginning to burnish in the brief moments of autumn sun that slide slantwise through the branches making everything glow.

I’ve done little work in the garden in September, just the bare minimum to keep it ticking over, deadheading cosmos and dahlias to keep them in flower until the end of the season, willing them to keep going as the cool weather urges them to go to seed. Each time I’ve thought I might get a few spare hours to weed, the rain has poured down, keeping me inside. It’s been both a blessing and a curse the rain. The grey grumbly days keeping the guests inside too, fallen leaves creating a discrete camouflage blanket over the worst of the weeds on the terrace, the terrible weather giving me an excuse for the borders looking a bit de-draggled.