Enjoying Death!

It is rather odd, rather a contradiction for the gardener who usually devotes all efforts to promoting growth, nurturing good health and fostering the treasures of the garden that, at this time of year, s/he should rejoice in the death processes of those very same plants.

 

Parrotia persica, Ironwood, has dropped its leaves, a golden yellow with flashes of red.

 

Autumn is almost a second spring rather than the death knell of the garden, a time of change, a swing in the seasons; nature’s sign that it is not an end, not a death, but simply part of the eternal cycle. It is a time of hope or of nature giving hope, encouraging us to look beyond the coming winter of bareness, cold, misery and … death! No – simply a suspension of life!

 

Magnolias – M. soulangeana ‘Heaven Scent’ and M. stellata ‘Rosea King’- moving into their autumn colours 

Magnolia stellata in good colour though much of the foliage has already fallen

So, as we pretend we are frightened by the children dressed for Hallowe’en, it is good to play along with nature’s pretence, to view the autumn colour as a continuation of summer rather than an announcing of winter.

It is hardly the weather for sitting outdoors though the fallen leaves are attractive

This has been a most glorious autumn with colour more fabulous than seen for many years. A storm was forecast for today and has now arrived with strong winds and torrential rain but I dashed outside this morning to snap what may well be the last of this year’s autumn colour.

A compensation of the leaves falling is that our view to the river is opened again 

Already, nature is showing that there are new beginnings. We haven’t reached what we would consider the end of this gardening year when next year has already begun.

Galanthus elwesii ‘Barnes’ in flower in the garden today. 

The first flower has opened on Iris unguicularis ‘Mary Barnard’