Autumn Colour

While still waiting for summer, autumn has arrived. Although we have had such dismal weather the garden has never bloomed so well.

The circular bed I can see from the kitchen window is full of colour, which will remain for some time yet. With deadheading, dahlias will bloom until the first frosts.

The large clumps of Agapanthus occidentalis still have a number of china blue flowers but are beginning to set seed so will soon be over, but the large white Phlox maculata 'White Admiral' (pictured left) is looking at its best, with the added bonus of fragrance.

Further touches of white are added by Lychnis coronaria alba which when constantly beheaded lasts for weeks, and a few pots of white margariles, which I have set on the border where earlier flowers such as the Fair Maids of France and white Aquilegias have died down.

A medium-sized cactus Dahlia 'Pink Princess' blooms profusely as does the white 'sport' which I managed to grow from it last year. The pink tone deepens to red with the longlasting Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (pictured below). Along the edge of the circle the dwarf pink Astilbe chinensis is beginning to flower and several plants of a single pink chrysanthemum have survived the winters without having to lift the 'stool'.

Large patches of the pom-pom dahlia 'Amber Glow' brings it all together. Seedlings of the annual Atriplex hortensis var rubra (Purple Orache, pictured above), which pop up every year add a bit of height with their purpley-puce foliage. If they get a bit out of hand they can easily be pruned to more flowering sideshoots. I believe this plant is edible but I need to find out more about it.

It is a good time for me to see what other people have in bloom in these shades, as I would like to change the chrysanthemums.

Autumn tip - Look out for seed which could be ripening, not only on flower seeds such as sweet peas, both everlasting and annual, but also vegetables such as broad beans, overripe runner beans and, perhaps, some shot beetroot which is flowering.

Doreen Moody