In my part of the world, October is the month when trees lose much of their foliage, many flowers stop growing and we lose a lot of the colour that has brought us pleasure during the summer months. But there is still enjoyment to be found in gardening – whether it be outside, or by tending those plants we keep inside.

For those who are able to snatch at dry moments to go outside, or those who don’t mind a little rain or drizzle, there are plenty of jobs to be done – tidying up: cutting back plants which have finished their display for this year, trimming hedges and seeing to the lawn, or preparing for next year: splitting plants to make more, and planting bulbs ready for a good Spring showing.

Personally, I am a fair weather gardener – I enjoy dead-heading to encourage more blooms, a little light weeding, tending to a few pots – but mostly I enjoy sitting in the garden with my coffee, admiring the results of my husband’s hard work!

But now that October is under way, with cooler winds and rain, sitting outside does not have such an attraction. So I have turned my attention to indoor plants. My latest acquisitions are a few succulents and cacti which, I have been assured, I am very unlikely to accidently kill off 😊

My intention was to use a large shallow bowl to create a little inside garden that I could take outside and place on my bistro table next spring. Unfortunately, finding the right size bowl, one which also matches up to that of my imagination, is proving more difficult than I had expected. However, I temporarily lined the little plants up on a plastic tray on my windowsill to await the said bowl and – surprise, surprise – I think they look great just how they are (although I will remove the stickers from their pots ! )

They are curently sitting proudly between two other indoor projects of mine – a small orange tree growing from a pip, and a pot of basil which has amazed me by being the first basil plant to survive more than 2 weeks of my ownership and care.

Fingers crossed that everything continues being healthy. But even if they don’t last forever, their unassuming presence means that I am still getting a lot of pleasure from plants as we say goodbye to summer.

.