I find Autumn a season of nostalgia and it would be a stolid soul who can watch the swallows eagerly discussing their holiday plans without a wistful glance at the travel posters.  Fortunately, nature has undertaken to divert us from the moment of weakness with one of its most generous displays.

Lustrous golden mists at morning and for a brief while, the mildest mannered garden throws decorum to the winds and puts on a performance more usually associated with the frost painted falls of New England.  Foliage commands the scene, but it is not the only contributor of colour in our autumn gardens.  We have the startling brightness of hips, haws and cotoneaster berries along with the warmth of chrysanthemums, pinks and mauves of asters and the overflowing flower boxes of cyclamens and skimmia.