2 Oct 2011

Saturday Snap: Summer swan song

Goodbye summer

Of all the flowers in the garden, the sunflower is surely the one most readily associated with the long, leisurely, picnic-filled days of summertime.  Most of my sunflowers have either faded and drooped their lovely faces towards the soil or have been cleared away during the last week due to their extremely brown and crispy appearance. As this gloriously welcome hot weekend dawned over the veg patch on Saturday morning, there are two sunflower plants still putting on a show.  By standing on a wall, I could just about photograph this one;  with the sun shining through the petals, I was struck by how beautiful the back of the flower is. It seemed an appropriate view to symbolise the last of the summer. 

This unseasonal heatwave is forecast to start fading soon, with it lingering the longest in the South East of England, and then we'll be forced to face the reality of October as it should be.  I noticed a heavy beading of dew on the cauliflowers so the night temperatures are low; not too long before we all have to think about night frosts and cloches, I think.  

7 comments:

  1. Lovely shot Caro - my sunflowers are still going strong but the flowers are getting smaller and smaller. I don't want to think about frosts just now thank you - although when I go to the allotment first thing the dew is really heavy - luckily I now have a new pair of wellies - no leaks, hurrah!

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  2. As you know I love sunflowers and grow lots of them! I like the photo, and haven't ever taken one like that. Most of mine have finished flowering and are now being enjoyed by the birds and squirrels.
    Yes some mornings have been noticably cool, but I hope that a frost holds off as that will finish off the cosmos and nasturtiums which are still flowering profusely.
    Flighty xx

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  3. Thanks as always, Elaine. Autumn is very much on my mind as I'm thinking ahead about winter veg so watching the weather closely. My last wellies were from my sailing days and lasted a couple of decades so I hope yours will give you good service for years to come!

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  4. Flighty, I didn't realise cosmos flowered this late but am reading 'The Jewel Garden' by Monty Don - he plants Chocolate Cosmos for Sept/October colour and fragrance. I like the idea of that, maybe with Empress of India nasturtiums and red orache growing alongside.Re the photo, I like to walk around my subject, sometimes a different angle makes a difference and I'm very pleased with this one! Thanks! Caro xx

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  5. A lovely photo. It's still warm here, but certainly not as sunny as it has been. We're supposed to be getting the tail end of a hurricane later on in the week.

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  6. Jo, that really will feel like summer's end! I hope for your sake that the forecast is wrong, the weather is completely random this year!

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  7. I'm already facing the reality of October, lol :) I also like the back of sunflowers...the layering of greenish 'petals' on yellow is really lovely.

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