The approach of autumn is very evident now here at Autumn Cottage. After the very first signs a month ago - the very first leaves turning and falling, the very first misty morning - the season is now clearly upon us. It's one of the nicest seasons here (it is Autumn cottage, after all!) and the colours are really starting to glow in the flower beds. I've made an effort over the last 12 months to infuse more colour into the garden, something I always felt it was missing, but now the Rudbeckias and the Asters, the Heleniums, the Crocosmia, and even a second flush of the lovely ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ Austin rose are giving a burst of colour and it really lifts my spirits.
But even as the colours of autumn start to show off, gardeners everywhere are starting to think about springtime - and so it is here. This afternoon I've been at the bottom of the garden, down by the lower pond, planting primroses! I've situated them on the bank below a huge Acer Flamingo tree, but that tree has made the work hard for me, as it sucks all the moisture out of the soil, so that I've needed to use a garden claw and a serrated trowel to hack out planting pockets. They are pockets which I have, however, filled with garden compost and leaf mould, to improve both the planting place and the soil around it; It can only get better!
The primroses are some of my ‘plants for free’ – which make me very happy. I potted up tiny little seedlings that popped up all over the place in the spring, which now have nice root systems, and by covering the little bank with them now, I'm hoping they’ll be getting their feet down over the winter, giving us a pretty springtime show in early March. There are also swathes of snowdrops and English bluebells down there, and in the next few days I will be planting 15 to 18 double Hellebores on the other side of the path, so hopefully springtime will burst beautifully in 2021.
Journal prompt
Are you planning ahead for anything in the next 12 months? I am an advocate of living in the moment, but there are also times when we do need to plan ahead, especially in the garden, as nothing there is instant (though some garden centres, TV programmes and supermarkets would have you believe that gardens can be made in the flash of an eye, if you only just buy their garden-ready pots and plants!) It can also be necessary in other walks of life; it seems that events like weddings need to be planned like military campaigns these days – and holidays to popular places need to be chosen and booked way ahead.
Whether it's big or small, an event or a plan of action, write about what you have in mind for the future – near or far, either in words or by using the very useful tool of a MindMap. Then date your journal for one year ahead of today's date - and write an (imagined) review of how the whole thing went, Visualisation can be tremendously helpful in really setting intention - believe it and you will achieve it!
Looking back over the last year – what did NOT go to plan for you? What UNplanned surprises did The Fates have in store?
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