Autumn days are best. The sunlight has become less intense. Colours are not washed out in the garden as they were over summer. Colour comes in the flowers and the foliage, some of it new and fresh, some of it old and changing colour and soon to be gone. There is a hint of melancholy as the days shorten and the air cools in the evening earlier. But there is so much still happening in the garden that there is plenty to distract the mind from wintry thoughts.

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans), so understated for the rest of the year comes into its own in autumn. I have it planted in a thicket of shrubs that is being strangled subtly by an ornamental grape (Vitis spp.)

And this little patch of Cosmos in the vegetable garden is from seeds I gathered last year. It has replaced the dahlias which have suffered with the drier conditions.