Now that I have accepted that summer is really over, having never seriously arrived, I am beginning to embrace this autumn malarkey.  Especially on such a gloriously sunny day.   There are exciting changes in the garden, rather like springtime in reverse.  Which I suppose it is.   A week between visits to The Farm means that there is a lot of new to observe.  Flower production is noticeably slowing as is weed growth, but leaf turning and seed development is making up for this diminishing.  Today I collected some Leonotis nepetifolia seed.  In the few seed heads I collected there were earwigs, tiny flies and beetles.  In my struggle to release them back to safety I realised that it is not just birds that benefit from postponing tidying until the spring.

These Helenium ‘Red Shades’ have now shed their pollinator-enticing, colourful skirts.  The warm sun will have been ripening their seed on this beautiful day.  I will be watching.  They are next on my donor list.