The Light Side of Gardening

As we slide into Autumn (in the northern hemisphere, at least), the days are getting noticeably shorter and cooler. The sun doesn’t reach as high in the sky and spends an awful long time getting there (and back). The low angle of the sun at this time of year means this season is all about the golden yellow sunlight that filters through trees and plants, backlighting flowers and leaves. Gone is the harsh, bright, glaring sun that blows out highlights and turns shadows black (on camera); instead a much softer and diffuse yellow light colours the garden and paints shadows in a way that no other season can.

We’ve pretty much finished all our gardening tasks for this year, other than preparing the garden (in particular the Nomadic Patio Pots) for the coming winter. One of the few things left is to write about all the smaller jobs and changes over the last couple of months (the “catching up” series). The rest of the time can be spent simply observing the garden on sunny days where everything just seems to glow with a relaxing soft halo surrounded by a warm yellow haze. I find it strangely comforting, it’s how Summer gently says “goodbye” as it lets autumn take over and I know a winter rest is on its way. It will soon be time to down tools, pack away and let the garden (and gardener) sleep, rest and recuperate until the next growing season starts.

Related posts

End of Season NGS Wrap-up

Walking on – no – Waiting on Sunshine

Flaming NGS Success in a Not-so Flaming June

4 comments

casa mariposa 06/10/2016 - 2:07 am
Everything looks wonderful! I love the lighting in these pics. I have been redesigning sections of my garden like mad. I let my verbena b. seedlings take over and they suffocated several plants. :( Oh well! That just gives me a chance to buy new plants!
Sunil 17/10/2016 - 7:58 pm
Thanks, Tammy. The days are getting shorter, and wetter. I've still got various jobs to do in the garden and they're all about winter preparation. I can't wait to read about your garden border redesigning!
Jean 24/10/2016 - 1:32 am
I especially love the image of sunlight on dark foliage. For me, autumn is a speed-up time rather than a relax time as I try to finish up garden projects and prepare for our long (and often severe) winter.
Sunil Patel 31/10/2016 - 7:39 pm
Hello Jean, we've been gradually preparing the patio for winter, the garden is still very much in leaf, though some of it is colouring. We've been having a mild autumn which has bought us some time to finish off. We won't completely stop gardening over the winter, but it will give us chance to do other sorts of jobs that aren't entirely focussed around new borders and plants.
Add Comment