The beginning of autumn

Andrew Staib runs Glorious Gardens, which is a garden design company based in Brighton. Below he talks about the change in season and the colours that autumn brings to our outside spaces.

There is still colour in the gardens in early Autumn with the small but stately pink Veronicastrum, the lush edible beauty of Kale, the empty seed heads of Campion and the super vividness of blue Agapanthas. Having colour at the beginning of autumn creates a strange paradox of feeling.

Winter has had its passport stamped and is slowly making its way down from the north. The nights have a chill and it is pitch black by 8pm. Yet all the vigorous growth of summer is still filling up the garden beds and the colours of some flowers seem even brighter than their cousins in summer.

Dahlias, the ultra violet blue of Ceratostigma, bright purple Asters, Lobelia tupa and red flowering salvia delight the eyes even as autumn is beginning to draw the lifeblood from the vegetation around and the first crumpled brown leaves are beginning to collect in the corners of gardens.

The light is beginning to have that supernatural thinness which highlights the crisp edges of things.

So even as nature is slowly bedding down these bright flowers and vegetables are still full of life and optimism.

To contact Andrew, email andrewstaibuk@yahoo.co.uk or visit the Glorious Gardens website http://www.gloriousgardenssussex.co.uk/. Andrew updates his blog every week with beautiful pictures of nature: http://www.gloriousgardenssussex.co.uk/blog.

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