Autumn does indeed come along early after the long dry spell and it is inevitable that stressed trees shed their leaves and everything has become a bit straggly and worn out. 

 

The waterways are tidied as much as possible, but there is nothing we can do to keep them completely topped up as they have never fully recovered from losses in level earlier in the season. The stone aqueduct by the Top pond has stopped flowing. In the Temple pool the lily circles and Albrecht Dürer piece of turf are reduced and kept in shape.

 

There are plenty of nettles still to be removed as well as keeping the narrow pathways clear from falling in growth as tired limbs, leaves and seed-heads droop over.

 

The lawn grass having survived this far is now showing more bleached out and worn areas from the prolonged dry conditions. The ground in spite of some heavy showers is still fairly parched.

 

Topiary box forms and any other hedging which has not yet got a light late season trim is attended to, so that their structure will retain formality and their shapes continue to be the skeletal backdrop to the garden over the coming months.

 

A columnar copper beech ‘Dawyck’ is planted in a gap by the Claudi bridge to screen the view to the lochan which should be encountered as a surprise when rounding the corner, and opening up to a new vista.

 

Seed sowing in the new greenhouse is underway, perhaps we can get a head start with some things for next year. There is further propagation from cuttings – sage, nepeta, honeysuckle amongst others. Also a bit of potting on from earlier sowings.

 

The beds in the Front and Pompeian garden are given a late season tidy out and a few gaps filled. Also around the Woodland garden where the understory ground-cover has really filled out this summer with the unexpected introduction of light following on from the loss of storm damaged trees. Having struggled to establish planting in this area it is now a case of complete reversal as rampant unwanted growth needs to held in check.

 

The Little Wood by the front entrance is tidied, cleared of nettles and some stray willow herb. The trees here have matured nicely, and very much now settled in place. Home to the last working beehive and resting ground for the upturned hulls of long since abandoned boats.

 

The last of the Kailyard and Allotment crops are lifted – the vacant beds are dug over.

 

Around the base of the LN stele there is some further planting and spreading out of forget-me-nots and daisies, which seem an appropriate motif here in this hidden corner.

 

Some bulb planting is also underway with snowdrops – Elwesii, Ikariae and double Flore Pleno – grouped by the Diana / Artemis bridge, the Wayfaring tree milestone and the 1794 urn in the woodland.

 

As we reach the end of the visitor season for this significant year of IHFs centenary, the garden has felt busier, with more individuals or groups coming to experience the very particularity of this place. The way we see things, the way we experience them, what we encounter, what we miss, all becomes part of being here. We are reminded again, as Finlay himself stated, that

 

 

Or again, as a definition: