After a warm, windy and sometimes wet September, it has been fun to spend time reflecting on what sums up the early Autumn garden. I’ve gone for rich colour in fruit, flowers and foliage to celebrate the Harvest Moon. Here are my #SixOnSaturday.
Colour starts the show. This is the time of year when I love dahlia more than ever. they blast on until the nights get really cold. I picked this little lot this morning for a vase for the house.
In the veg garden, despite a wet and miserable July, August ended warm and sunny. Climbing French beans have just gone for it this year. Purple beans look great in a salad and if quickly steamed, they retain their colour on the plate too.
Nearby, autumn raspberries are doing their usual thing. Today I picked enough for 2 bowls of fruit, filling for a cake, and a tub for the freezer.
The mid-summer damp has also been great for this season’s blueberries. There are a few rich purple fruit left, even as the foliage is turning it’s gorgeous autumn bergundy.
Another rush of colour comes from nerines, which have just started to flower. A wonderful rush of colour in the dry south-facing corners near the house wall.
Butterflies have suffered this summer. Yet at the back-end, my garden is now full of red admiral. Take a close look here: not just a few tattered leaves on some mouldering apples. there are 3 red admiral butterflies feasting here. I hope they don’t get too drunk.
That’s my #SixOnSaturday for this week. Join the sixes on Mastodon or other instances in the Fediverse via #SixOnSaturday, we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot
What a pretty bouquet! Very well done.
Regarding the red admiral, I photographed some on fallen peaches on the ground but the result is the same. It’s a feast for these butterflies…
Good looking blueberries and Nerine. 🌺 Lovely flower bunch.
I’d love some more details about the raspberries, what is the cultivar, and how many canes did you plant? I just have a small garden and was wondering whether it would be worth my while. I don’t really want to have to tie them, so a dwarf variety would suit me.
Those autumn raspberries are huge! Not that we need any more berry bushes, but it’s rather tempting… How long do your blueberries usually stay on the bushes? I ask because ours were planted last autumn and although I saw them flower, I haven’t found a single berry on any of them. We’ve got 8 or so of them, so I’m perhaps it was just a bad pollination year? Which is rather odd since the wild blueberries had an exceptional year. I thought that maybe a critter got to them, but I suppose it’ll remain a mystery for now!