Autumn's Intensity

       

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Suddenly it's autumn. The evenings are chillier, the days shorter and without any noticeable change in the plants that are flowering, their colours take on a marvellous intensity. It must be to do with the low angle of the sun. It was noticeable at the Chelsea Flower Show and it's noticeable in my little garden.

I am enjoying the bright scarlet of the last cabbage rose and the rose hips peering over the hedge with the dusky red of the Sedum 'Autumn Joy ' at its foot. 

Yew hedge with sedums, big red rose and rose hips

I admire the dahlia I bought in Devon earlier this year from an 'open garden' just labelled 'red' (it must be one of the Bishops  but I don't know which one). I am amazed at the wonderfully coloured deep blood red pelargonium on the patio. I don't go in for pelargoniums too much because the insects are not interested in them, but this does make a lovely splash of colour near the house.

                                                   Dahlia 'red'                                                   Deep red pelargoniums

 There's a bright red pepper, some red tomatoes and the one alstromeria that was not eaten by slugs.  

        Just in time - my peppers turning red                 Red alstromereia hugging the ground

The  alstromeria never retained any height but it flowered well and shows what, with any luck, it could become next year. I am enjoying them all very much. They are accompanied by an aster called 'Mönch' with big blue flowers which is liked by bees and dozens of the wild blue aster you see out of train windows which the bees absolutely adore - and so do I because they are such useful companions to so many other plants. 

There are also clusters of tiny Cyclamen hederifolium with bright puce markings which will grow in the dryest of places, even  under trees. 

Cyclamen hederifolium

But the highlight of this week was a friend giving me a lift down to the local garden centre where I spent two happy hours - and a generous voucher from another friend. I set off determined to buy sensible supplies of compost, grit and sand and  a few bamboo stakes. But when we got there I was completely seduced by the fantastic choice of plants and their amazing autumn colours. So in the end I came away with several yellow perennial foxgloves and a truly astonishing echinacea. My echinacea is called E. 'Sombrero Salsa Red'. 

                                  

                   This is the very autumnal echinacea                I think it might look good with the sedums

When I got home I began to worry about the echinacea. It's only label was Dutch which made me think it probably came from a large nursery where they might well be using compost full of pesticides. I think the only thing may be to cut off all the flowers, remove the soil and plant it in wool compost and hope that by the time it appears next year it will be as safe as it looks beautiful.