Jewels Of An Indian Summer

There’s still time to hunt around for plants that are able to offer a gem-like blooms, fascinating fruits or intricate pods for later this year, says Anne Swithinbank

- Anne Swithinbank

WE all hope for an Indian summer, that magical spell of warm, still, autumn weather between now and winter. The sun loses its summer harshness, the soil is moist but not saturated, and gardeners can plant, prune and mulch surrounded by late flowers, fruit and foliage.

The origin of this descriptive phrase has been traced back to a literary work penned in 1778 called Letters from an American Farmer. The author describes Mohawk country (originally the northeast region of New York State extending into Canada) and writes: “Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm, which is called the Indian summer.” When this occurred, Native Americans could continue hunting before the snows started. Gradually the term gained favour in the UK, elbowing out our traditional St Luke’s or St Martin’s Summer, previously used to describe balmy October or November weather.

With three months of autumn ahead of us, it pays to plan a succession of plants able to deliver gem-like blooms, fascinating fruits or intricate pods. Place them where they’ll be caught by low shafts of sun by day and patterned by beads of dew in the morning.

I tend to go for quality over quantity, as there’s already a lot going on with leaves changing colour and grasses mellowing. Most folk do their plant shopping in spring and summer, but visit garden centres and nurseries now to see what they have in their displays.

Spring planting