In summary, this month our garden is confused. It’s recovering from the summer’s drought slowly, a few downpours have helped with that. The autumn crocuses, the colchiums are out and looking superbly vibrant, but I know they won’t last long. The gentle pale pink cyclamens have started to flower and I know they’ll keep going for many months yet. Over the years we’ve been here they’ve multiplied so much and those few initial corms (fifty or so) was definitely worth it.

a pale pink cyclamen amongst black grass and alongside a concrete sphere

The number of spiders seems earlier this year, and I’m pretty ambivalent to them to be honest - slugs are my nemesis. I love the intricacy of their webs (outside, not inside!) and it was a delight to discover this dew-jewelled web, looking quite similar to the London Eye (if you use your imagination!). It stayed for quite a while, and I have to admit that I forgot to tell our decorators and I think he fought his way through them, oops.

A dew laden spider's web between the fence and our conservatory

And of course with those downpours came growth. And with growth came pruning! The jasmine throughout the garden has suddenly gone rampant, and an unexpected and unplanned pruning session filled many garden trugs and one green bin. But it looked so much better for it afterwards. The sedums have already started to turn their autumn pink, which seems early, but I think the heat will help deepen the colour, so I’m sure we’re in for a treat.

pink sedum flowerings tumbling over the border onto the grass

But the big news this month is that our grass is returning. Look at those green tufts showing just how resilient grass can be. I doubted it, that’s for sure.

A low down look at the grass returning showing small clumps of green grass and still drought ridden grass

Two types of fern - planted in a lined gabion basket - starting to come back to life

Elsewhere in the garden the ferns are also recovering, over the summer months they had completely died back so it was good to see their green fronds return. The Mexican fleabane is also flowering, earlier in the year I’d planned to divide it but in the end left it as an established plant, and that seems to have paid off. The other thing that’s got it’s growing legs back is next door’s vine. It’s already a metre and a half into our garden and is making its way to the top of my ‘chop’ list.

flowering mexican fleabane tumbling over the wooden sleeper onto the slate

Next door's vine trespassing in our garden over the holly bush at the front of one of the rear beds

glossy green leaves of the elephant ears and euphorbia under the sycamore tree

The yellow bedding plants have also picked up and have started to flower again bringing a pop of colour to the patio. Clearly they know that winter bedding is just around the corner and are trying to persuade me otherwise!

Looking down on the yellow flowers of antirhinnums and zinnias in a terracotta patio pot

A closeup of one of the white/cream annabelle hydrangeas

The Annabelle hydrangeas, which turned an almost green over the summer, are back to cream again which is good to see. The large heads are full of smaller intricate flowers and have been a great addition to our garden. This is the first year that they’ve flowered so well, and so it will be good to see how they progress.

So September has been a month of rejuvenation, a different September to usual but one that’s been so good to see.