Gardening notebook

Season of plenty

In this golden season, this autumnal equinox of the Southern Hemisphere, it is a time of celebration; of harvests gathered, fruits ripened on the vine, veld grasses the colour of ripened corn, road verges bright with pink and white cosmos, and gardens donning their autumn dress amidst the faded grandeur of summer.

There is always movement in the autumn garden as the breeze moves among the trees and leaves spiral down to spread carpets of yellow, orange and red. Virginia creeper and Boston ivy are a mosaic of flame and gold on garden walls, while ripened berries on shrubs and hedges provide a feast for birds. In borders, roses that faded in the fierceness of the summer sun are now showing rich colouring, and dahlias are as generous in their autumn flush as they were in summer. Oak-shaped leaves of begin to take on colours of rich mahogany and red-purple.