After weeks of heat and dry weather, I’m very much looking forward to cooler temperatures and, hopefully, some proper autumn rain.
There is always something exciting about the change of season in the flower garden.
The colours begin to deepen, the grasses take on their beautiful golden tones and the garden starts producing a completely different palette of flowers and foliage.
For dried flowers, autumn is particularly lovely. Bronze, rust, cream, soft green and warm golden tones all start appearing naturally in the garden, and these colours are some of my favourites to work with.
So, despite the challenges that this hot, dry summer has thrown at me I’m trying to look at this summer as another part of the learning process!
Every year teaches me something new about growing flowers.
Some years bring perfect growing conditions. Others bring too much rain, late frosts, pests, wind or, this year, seemingly endless heat and very little water.
But that’s gardening.
You work with what you’re given, save what you can, learn from what didn’t work and look forward to the next growing season.
And perhaps, after a summer like this, I’ll never take a good rainy day for granted again!