91热爆

It鈥檚 a bright Autumn Thursday in the middle of the day and I鈥檝e just taken a wander round the garden which is always a chastening experience at this time of year.

All I ever seem to see, at first glance, are the jobs I haven鈥檛 done, the problems and the mistakes.

The Verbena Rigida and the lovely tufty Pennisetum grass which I bought recently are still in pots, yet to find their perfect place. The lawns on each of the three small terraces are looking decidedly neglected, not to say downright baldy where hardy geraniums have tumbled enthusiastically over the edge of the border, shutting out the light and leaving bare earth behind.

The fence is bent in places under the weight of a clematis, a honeysuckle and a scrambling rose which of course look as pretty as a picture on their own but which en masse have become a tangled jumble of loveliness and destruction.

And finally, there is that general sense of 鈥渋t鈥檚 all run away with me again鈥�, which happens every autumn as lack of time and wayward weather win out over my best intentions every time.

So I鈥檓 back in the kitchen with a bowl of chicken soup, writing this and making my 鈥渢hings to make and do鈥� wish list before winter sets in.

And it is this鈥︹��

* Top-dress and re-seed lawn.

* Prune clematis, honeysuckle and rose or get rid of altogether (decision)

* Mend fence get help)

* Dig up and give away two contorted hazels鈥︹��(lovely winter catkins but not so nice in summer and anyway, haven鈥檛 the room. I wonder who might like them?)

* Tether and prune (wrong time I know) ornamental quince before it strangles someone going up the path. Then perhaps I might have more than one golden quince to boast of.

* Paint wall, paint shed, repair bench.

* Tackle the ferns before they smother everything.

* Cut hedge (get help)

* Plant bulbs before it鈥檚 too cold and too late (again)

* And, plant up containers with winter lovelies like cyclamen and ivy to brighten the garden and me on a dark winter day.

It鈥檚 not all doom and gloom and work though, far from it.

The camera came with me on my dander and somehow there is nothing like narrowing the focus (and the lens) to help you see the lovely instead of the neglected.

Like the last roses of summer, perhaps more solitary and a little more fragile than their earlier companions but set against the quiet of the autumn garden, all the more lovely for it.

The bright panicles of Achillea 鈥淧retty Belinda鈥� contrasted with the evergreen foliage of the Irish Yew and the 鈥測et to fall鈥� leaves of the Magnolia Stellata and the Acer which throws such a lovely cool shadow on a hot day.

The dappled pastels of the hydrangea flowers with their own end of season delicacy, before they become golden brown papery pom-poms.

And in contrast to those plants on the wane, are the vibrant, hearty evergreens which give the garden structure through the winter months. Firm favourites with me are the Skimmias 鈥� Kew Green鈥� and 鈥� Veitchii鈥� and the Holly tree which took from a Christmas sprig optimistically stuck into the ground about 15 years ago. And in flower, the ivy which threatens to strangle the old willow tree at the top of the garden, it鈥檚 little fists of frog-like flowers making me think of winter days to come.