Autumn

 

The rudbeckia that arrived labelled ‘aubergine’ continues to give us pleasure, year after year.  The dwarf variety, Toto, we bought as plug plants have done very well, but seem to have a shorter flowering season than than the Rustic mix of previous years.  On the other hand they are much more compact, which suits our needs better: they don’t get leggy or require staking.

We have bought pansy and polyanthus plug plants from the same supplier, and they are potted up to grow on a bit before we plant them out.  The mini greenhouse is chock full: the rooted rosemary cuttings now total over forty, so if they make it through the winter, we’ll have the makings of a little hedge.

Cyclamens are flowering now, and we’re enjoying the fleeting lemon-yellow blooms on the autumn crocus Sternbergia.  From my armchair by the French windows I look out to an old butler sink: after a superb show of aquilegias in the spring and early summer, we now have lots of flowers on some fuchsias that over-wintered.  Also from that angle, I see the last of the fruit on the Sweet Olive tomatoes that have been feeding us for weeks now.  San Marzano tomatoes have been a real disappointment.  The ones in pots succumbed to blossom-end rot, no doubt because of under-watering.  The two cuttings I planted in the raised bed have brought some fruit to ripeness, but someone else eats them in the night.  Lesson learned.