If you look closely at the photo above you should be able to see some apples on the tree. Actually there are quite a lot there and some of the branches were bent under the weight, but I picked them off last week, just before they would have fallen off and some have been eaten in a crumble, the others were blanched and are in the freezer.

Japanese anemones – they grow like crazy and some people see them as a menace, but I love them, especially as they last such a long time and there aren’t too many pink flowers around in the autumn.

This is actually a different variety of Japanese anemone, they’re a bit frillier, there are also some montbretia (the orange flowers) in the photo, now they ARE a menace. This area is sort of organised chaos in the cottage garden style, that’s my excuse anyway!

I love daisy shaped flowers but Michaelmas daisies aren’t my favourites which is weird because I love the lilac colour but they always seem quite weedy to me.

I love my liquidamber tree but I’m getting a wee bit worried about it as in past years it has had a mass of leaves and this year it’s definitely looking a lot sparser. Maybe it prefers miserable wet and cold weather and this year’s unusual warmth hasn’t suited it – it suited me though.

The one above is my golden hop. If you’re a beer drinker this is one of the main ingredients of your brew. The flowers aren’t all that startling but I like them and it’s an easy plant to grow.

Some white autumn crocus this time or naked ladies as they are sometimes called as they pop up with no leaves at all and the leaves don’t appear until the spring, just on their own.

I love this time of the year. We went on a woodland walk today and I left the house armed with a plastic container just in case we found some juicy looking brambles which I would just have to pick. The mission was a success, but more about that at a later date.