A IS FOR..................

I had intended to get some photos of the acers showing their autumn colours; unfortunately the plain green one has dropped its leaves almost overnight. One of the drawbacks of a long summer that suddenly turns to autumn.

The aconitum flower towards the end of the summer. They are commonly known as monkshood (note the shape of the flower) and are poisonous.

Anna Lodden, is part of the campanula family. Because our garden is rather shady when it first starts coming up it can get very tall and leggy. We let it get to about 1m and then cut it to the ground. That way when it regrows we get a lovely flowering at a manageable height and it doesn't overshadow everything else. It also has a lovely scent; especially on a warm summers evening.

How the bees and butterflies love the Agastache. The leaves are quite aromatic; a sort of spicy smell. When there are a lot of flowers out it looks a bit like a candelabra with all the flowers sticking up.

Not a garden plant but a house plant our African violets always bloom well. I love the fact that they are so easy to propergate. Just snip a stem with leaf off, pop it into some water and before many weeks pass little leaves and roots start appearing at the base of the stem and you have a brand new plant. It amazes me that you shouldn't get water on the leaves of the parent plant yet these baby leaves actually grow under water.

We didn't actually plant this antirrhinum; a passing bird or a gust of wind must have sown it for us. We love it and hope it will seed around and come true as it has variegated leaves.

I really like these shorter alstromerias. In a small garden like ours the taller variety can take over. They make a lovely cut flower and really last well in a vase.

These Agapanthus are a shorter variety too. As with a lot of the plants from sunnier climes they do not do as well as they would in a hot sun baked garden; but we love them so are pleased that they flower at all for us.