The unexpectedly warm Autumn weather continues, a few days dry with a decent amount of sunshine, other days showery with the occasional sunny interval.  The effect in the garden, like in the Park and on the mountain, has been colourful and in some ways unusual.

Heavy showers followed by sunshine always make colours in the natural world more intense.  There are simple laws of physics and meteorology to explain this.  And so it has seemed recently, with Autumn colours more vivid than usual.  Because plants in the garden tend to be exotic rather than native species and chosen for their flamboyance, Autumn colours have been even more vivid there than on the mountain.  Not quite as spectacular as the Westonbirt Acer Glade but small pockets of exotic colour nonetheless.

But the unusually warm weather has also meant that plants have been a bit confused.  Some are still in flower, some coming into flower again after a very indifferent summer, others flowering for the first time.   It is unusual at this stage in Autumn to have such a variety of flowers in the garden.

Vivid red of a Japanese maple

Still in the shade but vivid enough to brighten up a dark corner of the morning garden

Deep purple against a blue sky

.... and against a green lawn

From a different angle

A mountain ash, planted 30 years ago for its Autumn colour

Cotoneaster is smothered in berries this year

.... and they come in different colours and habits

...... augmented by the equally prolific and colourful pyracantha or Firethorn

There are also splashes of colour from plants in flower including cyclamen

Welsh poppies which are springing up even in gloomy corners

Even though under cover I thought this begonia had died in last winter's cold but it survived ans is now outside in the wet .... and in flower

Having survived last winter outside, this fuschia is doing better now than it has in the summer

This geranium is in danger of taking over large parts of the garden and still in flower so I hesitate to cut it back

This campanula is similarly invasive and in places growing up through the patios

In general the garden is a mass of contrasting colours

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