Autumn's pink fireworks

If I were to write a shortlist of garden "must-have's" it would certainly include Nerine bowdenii.   Just as almost everything else is fading these shocking pink flowers burst into brilliant life like fireworks brightening up a dark sky.   Given to me by my next door neighbour I tend to forget about the corms amid the dense chaos of my flower-planting and certainly don't give them any special attention but they are remarkably good-humoured about it.

Nerine's grow best planted shallowly in a sunny spot where they can get nice and hot during the summer. I must remember to transplant some to where I can see them from the house next year.

Another "must-have" is evergreen honeysuckle Lonicera Japonica Halliana which seems to me to have flowered at virtually every time of year but is currently flourishing and wafting its gorgeous scent around the garden.   Smelling it always makes me feel happy and it's a great addition to any little bunch of odds and ends I can find for the house.

 In the greenhouse the beans, rocket and land cress are doing very well.

We had a first light frost this week but it didn't touch the dahlias - even though I had rushed out with a torch to pick the best of the last blooms!   It has been incredibly dry with hardly any rain for weeks but the leaves are still hanging on most of the trees incredibly well, the colours barely beginning to turn.   Only my little amelanchier has shed its leaves so far.

More remarkably, I am still picking a few raspberries and strawberries!