The third and final part of my series of a Garden Review for 2014 looks at late summer and autumn. (If you missed the previous posts, here’s a link to Spring, and to Summer). Before I begin, many thanks to those who have been joining me in showing a review of their garden year. It has been very enjoyable looking at all your lovely photos of flowers and insects. I’m adding links of your reviews at the bottom of today’s post.
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This post is for my Mum today…
Happy Birthday Mum!
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Mid-August: Autumn came early this year, and there were very visible signs of it in August already. The normal heat stayed at bay and it was very cool and damp for the second half of the month. Look at the acer changing colour already!
However, the rockery continued to look fabulous with the Perovskia taking centre stage, and the bees kept coming, despite the cool weather…
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September came, calm and still most of the time, but thankfully we did not get a belated heatwave. This did my garden good and everything went on blooming for much longer than usual.
A newly acquired Caryopteris gave me and the bees a lot of pleasure all through this month, the sedums brought the butterflies back, and the Elder was laden with berries which the birds were gobbling up greedily. I decided to leave them all to the birds and do without my elderberry cordial this year!
The leaves were changing colour, but autumn slowed down considerably. We had been about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of normal almost all year, so now it seemed nature was correcting itself, and the season was trying to get in harmony with the calendar again. The asters flowered and flowered and flowered, and the Rudbeckia was beautiful, even after the petals had dropped too…
(Click on any picture to see it closer up)
Euonymous berries were abundant in the hedgerows nearby and a morning of foraging produced this vase full of autumn colour, which lasted for several weeks on the patio…
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October really was golden – full of all shades of yellow, lighting up the garden – yes, it was the light in October that made the garden special…
And the colour of course!
THE rose went on to flower profusely again
And the star of the rockery all summer was still looking good: Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’
To end my review, here is a vase put together in early November which summed up much of the last days of October…
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What a fabulous gardening year it was!
That winds up my series, and once again, if anyone wishes to join me and review their garden year, please do and I’ll add you to the list below!
Other garden reviews from blogging friends wh0 have linked in so far:
Gillian at Country Garden UK (Summer 2014 Revisited)
Susie at pbm Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: Spring)
Susie at pbm Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: Summer)
Susie at pbm Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: Late Summer and Autumn)
John at A Walk in the Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: April-June)
John at A Walk in the Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: July-September)
John at A Walk in the Garden (A Garden Review of 2014: October-December)
Words and Herbs 
Happy Birthday to your mum Cathy and what a lovely present for all of us….I am so loving your retrospective and seeing some of your vases again.
Thank you Donna. I forgot about some of my vases, so it is nice to take a look at them again and dream about next year’s!
Pretty pics of flowers.
Thank you!
Your garden looked wonderful in all seasons. The rockery really came into its own this year–love that image with the Perovskia. Such a helpful idea to review the garden in stages like this. Thanks for hosting. Here’s my final review: http://pbmgarden.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/a-garden-review-of-2014-late-summer-and-autumn/
A mild winter, early spring and damp summer have certainly been advantageous for the garden this year. I wonder what 2015 will bring! Thanks again for joining me Susie. 🙂
Gorgeous!
Happy birthday to your Mum.
Thanks Alys!
These photos are lovely! Thanks for sharing.
Glad to share and glad you enjoyed them!
I love the colours in your autumn garden! Do your birds eat the Euonymus europaeus berries? I have not actually seen any eating them here but I am getting conflicting information from my searches on the Internet. Amelia
I have also wondered about the Euonymus… I don’t ever see the birds eating the berries, which tend to drop fairly early, so perhaps they are only a last resort if there’s nothing else around? I’ll keep my eyes open, as there are so many near us in the hedges, mostly still intact.
Happy Birthday to your Mum Cathy, another lovely review and you are right it has been a fabulous gardening year.
Thanks Julie, and glad you had a good gardening year too!
A lovely look at your late Summer and Autumn garden Cathy. And so beautifully presented.
Thanks Chloris. It’s been lovely looking back. Now time to look forward! 🙂
So lovely looking back at all the beautiful colours in your garden in the depths of winter Cathy.
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the review Andrea. It has done me good in the darkest month to view all that colour and sunshine again! 🙂
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I have enjoyed looking back over your garden year Cathy.
I do like the Miscanthus seed heads this time of year.
Glad you’ve enjoyed it Brian. This dwarf Miscanthus looks lovely all through the winter, unlike the giant ones that get untidy and fall apart if it snows!
Happy Birthday to your mum! This is such a beautiful and comprehensive presentation of your garden through the seasons. Wintertime will be interesting too.
Thank you Uta! It has been a good exercise looking back. 🙂 Looking forward to spring now, with just a few days to go before the solstice. 🙂
Lovely pictures but I especially liked your first one: it made me look at the way the flower was put together.
Thanks Phil. That photo was a zinnia, which surprised me with its late flowers. They are beautiful close up!
Reblogged this on Living and Lovin.
A very happy (though belated) birthday to your Mum!!!! A review is such a good idea. How nice to see the beautiful flowers again this time of year.
Thanks Simone! Glad you enjoyed the review. 🙂
I love all your pictures Cathy! Happy Birthday to your mum! 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Thanks Michael! And to you too!
It does look like you had a wonderful fall garden. I enjoyed your slide shows.
It was so lovely to look back over the year. Now I’m looking forward to the new one! Have a wonderful holiday season!
The same to you. 🙂
Love these photos 😊
Thank you – glad you enjoyed the post!
I really did! 🙂