callmemadam | In the garden: signs of autumn (Reply)

Misty mornings. Berries on the hawthorn in the hedge and on cotoneasters. Annual visit from squirrel, busily burying hazel nuts all over the garden. Berberis dripping with coral seed pods. Blackberries. I’ve taken my geranium cuttings and a few others. Spring bulbs have been ordered from Crocus, to make sure I get the varieties I want, not just the ones the garden centre chooses to sell. Now that we’ve had rain at last, I’ve started planting out. Horticultural Society Autumn Show in two weeks’ time.

The picture shows a pot overflowing with plectranthus and sugar-pink begonias. When it hasn’t just been rained on, the plectranthus is even more silvery and the combination is pretty. I haven’t grown waxy-leaved begonias before because I don’t much care for them. I have to say the ones in this pot are very good doers. I have some of the other kind, blowsy things, in my chimney pots this year. From a distance they look like roses.