A delivery from the Beth Chatto nursery, always known for propagating quality plants in conjunction with the renowned garden she developed. In doing so she became hugely influential both as a horticulturalist and as a garden designer. She wrote a number of books on various facets of her work and they are essential reading. 

 

 First storms of winter blew across the country the past couple of days (coinciding appropriately enough with the end British Summer Time). No dramas to report, just a spindly Silver Birch at the music school that blew over and snagged another tree. It was slender enough that I cut it with a bow saw and dragged the sections deeper into the trees to rot.

 

Still life.

 

 The last harvest of the Runner Beans is the dried out pods containing next year's seed.

 Ok, I'm cheating (a bit). I sowed Foxglove seed in trays to prick out into small pots for planting next spring. But I left it a bit late (end of August). Foxgloves are biennial which is a somewhat flexible term. If you sow them early enough they can flower the following year e.g. in 2026 for 2027. Then again they are apt to take two full years i.e. a 2026 sowing will bloom in 2028.

 So I bought a tray of plugs as seen above which are more advanced than my seedlings; hopefully some or all will flower next year. Plug plants are not as cheap as growing from seed but they still represent good value. These were a pound per plug plus a few pounds postage.

 

Autumn in South London.

 Bulbs- 480 of them, which I ordered for planting en masse at the music school. Bulbs are relatively inexpensive (unless it's something rare) so you get a lot for your money. These came to £94.99 including delivery, that's 20p each on average. I got Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete', Crocus tommasinianus and Chionodoxa forbesii for spring and various Alliums for early summer: A. caeruleum, A. sphaeroephalon, A. hollandicum and A. moly.