Autumn surprises

"There is a harmony
In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which through the summer is not heard or seen,
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!" Percy Bysshe Shelley

In the northern part of Europe, we are able to enjoy the power and the wonder of the changing seasons in an exceptional way. In southern England, as I drive through the country, I pass through beeches with leaves blazing, hawthorn berries give the green of the hedges a rusty hue. Walking through the village I see wisteria in yellow and sumac in bright dark red.

In our little garden everything is changed. I no longer concentrate on individual flowers or weeds, I take in the collages of colour as leaves turn to yellow, orange, red and purple, and forget the obsessions of the summer.

Sometimes a neglected corner brings surprises. I didn't think that when in the spring I planted witch hazel in a big pot, I would be now looking at a picture that included yellow leaves, a lily stalk and the remaining green haulm of a sweet pea. 

 Or at the effect made by the brightly marked leaves of pulmonaria against the fallen leaves of the Viburnum plicatum. 

The breeze-block wall is now mainly covered by a regenerated Virginia creeper, at it's best at the moment.

Each day I tell myself that this will be the moment to tidy up and prepare for winter ….. and each day I put it off till the next, so that I can enjoy the ever-changing patterns. The first frost to penetrate our little sheltered space will tell me when to get down to tidying.