End Of Season Draws Closer

The blankety mist this morning, followed by rich golden sunshine lighting up the fallen apples in the orchard and picking out the white sheep on the hills, is powerfully autumnal.  We still haven't suffered a frost at the flower garden, where we are sheltered by excellent high walls, and although the dahlias and other powerhouses of the garden are slowing down, there are still some new treats to look forward to each week.  This week we've begun to pick the scented leaved pelargonium, which we planted rather late in June, but which has now come into its own and is producing the most incredible long, strong, fragrant leafy stems, received with great excitment by our florist customers.  For next week, there will be an upright variety of erigeron, with little airy daisy flowers which begin white and then fade to pink, making it similar to a Michaelmas daisy, but later-flowering and more disease resistant.  We have also been sparingly parting with honesty, lunaria annua, with its magical silvery moons encased in dull papery disks, picked in the summer and now dried for winter enjoyment.

Barney has been putting in the miles again, getting the flowers to the customers.  We think it is an important part of what we are able to offer, that we can get the flowers to the florist without having to take them out of water at any point, so that they arrive fresh and unstressed, and with a good long vase life.

Surely we must be coming to the end of the deliveries now?  With glorious autumn days like today, perhaps the season will continue for a few more weeks?