A Special Time of Year and Michaelmas Daisies

October and it is time for the michaelmas daisies to flower in my garden. It is a hardy perennial, its latin name is 'aster' and it has a similar look to a daisy with its yellow centre and fine petals. The flowers look star shaped and bloom in clusters. 

The plant grows between 20cm and 50cm high and its dark green leaves give a good contrast to its lilac flower heads. They can flower between July and October. Mine start growing tall over the summer and come into bud during September. In October they come out in full bloom and brighten up the garden once more after a lot of the summer planting has died back. 

Late September and early October is a very special time in my life. It was the time I got my new gift of life and received my heart and lung transplant. The day before my transplant was a gorgeous day and I'd noticed how my michaelmas daisies were full of bud and I was looking forward to seeing them in full bloom. 

While I was recovering in hospital, my husband brought pictures of them in so I could see them. I was lucky and was allowed out of hospital for a weekend after a few weeks. It was another gorgeous Sunday and I couldn't quite believe I'd had my transplant and come home. I was still learning to walk properly again, but I managed to get down the garden and see them. It was a precious moment. 

Michaelmas daisies will always be significant flowers in my life now, that remind me of that wonderful gift I received and the special person who gave it me. 

October and the Walled Garden at Holkham

We were in Norfolk at the beginning of the month and the weather was glorious and sunny and we went for a look around the stunning walled garden at Holkham. The gardens are an ongoing and huge renovation project, which is interesting to see as the years go by. 

We came here once about four years ago and the renovations were in very early stages. Since then an enormous amount of work has taken place and many of the once derelict looking areas have been completely transformed. 

Although it was early autumn there was still plenty of colour and interest. 

The garden dates back to the 1700s and the walls act as a windbreak and reflect the sun to create it's own microclimate in the garden. There are some spectatular Victorian greenhouses, which have been restored with the help of the English Heritage. There are sunken greenhouses too and there are plans to renovate them. 

The garden contains orchard areas, a vineyard, greenhouse areas, an enormous fruit, vegetable and cut flower plot and a most stunning herbaceous square containing a rose garden. 

October is a beautiful time in the garden, the fruit is picked and the herbacous borders and annual plants are finishing, but I always think that this adds to the beauty and change in colour. Fading sunflowers created beautiful structures, the sunflower heads heavy with seeds. The last of the tomatoes were in the greenhouse and it gives you a sense that summer is not quite over and hopefully might stretch on for a few more weeks! 

There were still plenty of roses in bloom in the rose garden and it was a balmy day, so the scents were mingling with the gentle aroma of wood burning somewhere in the distance, this time giving that feeling that we are actually in autumn and conjuring up those thoughts of log fires and cosy, warm nights. 

Autumn thoughts were with me once more in the vegetable garden where squashes and pumpkins

were growing. It made me think of homemade, warming soup and crusty bread! 

I was delighted to see sweet peas, scattered around the garden, growing in displays as though it was high summer. There were in groups of just one colour- shades of pinks, reds and berry colours. Then there were patches of another autumn favourite of mine - sedum - it always brightens up the garden when the rest of the plants are fading back. 

It was a beautiful day, balmy and warm just like it can be in summer with just a slight autumn nip in the air now and again in the breeze. The garden echoed just that - that summer meets autumn feel; that not quite autumn yet and summer hasn't quite finished yet feel! 

The Swiss Cottage Gardens, Shuttleworth

This is a beautiful garden at Shuttleworth air museum, Old Warden  in Bedfordshire. A visit to the garden can be combined with a visit to the air museum. We visited it on a sunny day in late September, after it had been recently reopened and restored. There is also a shop and restaurant.

 It is a garden that dates back just under 200 years ago and has recently been renovated and restored to some of its former glory. Some of the stunning vistas have been opened up and ponds have been cleared. There has been much restoration to the unique and interesting building structures there too. 

The majority of paths around the garden have been redone and are level and wheelchair user friendly. A new woodland walk and sculpture trail has been established too. This leads down to a lake, with viewing platforms to watch the wildlife. 

We had visited this garden before the extensive restoration and loved it, but now it has been beautifully restored. There are still some renovation works going in and I will look forward to visiting again in another season - spring or summer - to see how it's coming along. 

One of my favourites for autumn colour - sedum

The grotto and fernery

The garden room with its beautiful stained glass

Stunning autumn crocus

Part of the Swiss cottage

For more information visit the website below: 

www.theswissgarden.org