Forget about Autumn Lets have an Indian Summer

Surprisingly, even way up north in Aberdeen the garden still holds on to a Summer look at the very end of September, and with an improvement in the weather, lets hope for an Indian Summer.

It makes me smile when I think of how often I hear people in this part of the world say–I wonder if we are going to have an Indian Summer— Well this is the honest to God truth, the only time I can recall such an occurrence was back in 1959 when I was 14yrs old. October of that year had warm sunny days when the kids were still swimming in the river. However back to the present and heading into October its quite clear that the garden is not all about flowers. Oh! here is some interesting information on the  Indian Summer

The Filipendula Rubra with its bright pink candy floss flowers in July may well look magnificent. However after the blooms go over this is how it looks for weeks to come, foliage continues to look fresh and the copper coloured seed heads are equally garden worthy.

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I have noticed that some of the Thalictrums look messy very quickly in our garden when flowering is over. Not the Aquilegiifolium album. When the white flowers go over the seedheads at first have a purple hue and then turn a pale rusty brown, looking great for the rest of the Autumn.

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This one I have decided is my perennial of the year, Aruncus aethusifolius, what a little beauty it is and once again it looks great for months after flowering is over.

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Lets not forget what the berries bring to the garden at this time of year.

Once the flowers go over the apricot berries of the Hypericum magical beauty are quite stunning and stay like this almost until the beginning of Winter