callmemadam | In the garden: autumn magic

I’ve been out in the freezing cold (frost!) this morning taking photographs and still the light wasn’t quite right. Here are Sedums colouring up nicely.

Because of the earlier drought, the garden actually looks better now than it has done all summer. This bed is full of mauves and acid greens/yellows, a combination I like. The colour is too washed out in the (edited and changed) pic. The tall plants are Verbena bonariensis, totally drought-proof and seeded everywhere.

I’m particularly pleased with this aster because it cost next to nothing at the nursery sale. (Again, too pale; it should look violet.) I’ve no idea why they were selling them off so cheaply as they were big plants and nothing wrong with them.

After doing nothing all summer, Fuchsias are now dripping with colour. This is Fuchsia 'Genii' and you can see that the leaves have suffered.

Here’s a Bergenia which, unusually, flowers in autumn. It’s called ‘Autumn Magic’ and is a very good doer. There are cyclamen in the same bed but they’re impossible to photograph.