erica's garden: The joy of warmth

All change - autumn in full swing and the blackberries and hazels are ripening. A lovely nephew comes to stay as he starts college (welcome RB!) and both sons prepare to start back too, one in Montréal, one here in Dublin. Best of luck all, may you have a great year.

For me--after formative years in school and college--this time of the year still feels like a start, which is a great feeling to offset the endings in the air as summer bows out and gives way to the ripening of autumn. On the morning walks with Iz, I meet a man who lives nearby foraging joyously for blackberries: deep shining blue-black drupelets staining his hands a wine-dark purple. I met the same man this time last year when we were both doing the same thing and I haven't seem him since. A handful of blackberries can make a nice difference in the morning though at the moment I supplement my breakfast with plums that fall onto the public path from a neighbour's tree. They don't seem to have any interest in their plum trees (how can that be?) and it's such a shame to see fruit go to waste...

The season may be autumnal, but the weather has been all about Indian Summer. At last the warmth of summer has arrived in a sustained way over the last few weeks. The water lilies have bloomed all over again - two gorgeous, pure white, many-petalled flowers in the pool; the late flowers are blossoming in abundance throughout the garden (the Verbenas, and, coming up fast, the Asters) and the bees and hoverflies are delighted. I cut back the old tatty flowerheads of the Anthemis but the warmth and sunshine have encouraged it to give flowering another go.

The warm weather was a bonus as I visited the (definitely) sunny south-east this weekend. A night and day combined perfectly to provide a starlit (well alright, there was a torch app on someone's phone at one stage) post-prandial walk on the beach on a warm night, followed by a day of unending sunshine, a long seashore to walk along, tasty food, relaxation and laughs with a dear friend and some good friends of hers - a great bunch. Many thanks for a lovely time LB!

On the way home from the short break I detoured to the Camolin Potting Shed, which I've read about but never had a chance to visit. In the Irish way, it turns out that Gerry (one of the owners) knows Hans from Kwerkerij de Hessenhof (which we visited in the summer) well and buys some of his stock from there. Camolin have some beautiful plants, all looking very happy and I couldn't walk away empty-handed. For the first time--as I explained to Gerry's bemusement--I saw the point of Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum), especially as it was covered in butterflies and bees. We both agreed that it's the late summer warmth that has finally brought them flying again in our gardens. I also couldn't resist a Salvia (S. uliginosa) with the most sky-blue blue flowers I've ever seen - carried lightly on tall flowerheads. And finally, I took a chance on a plant I'd never come across before, an Althea cannabina, which apparently Gerry first spotted in Beth Chatto's garden. It's a beautiful thing, again airy and light and tall. Many thanks to Gerry for a warm welcome and great plants. I hope to return!

Have a good week all.