The shadows fall

SEPTEMBER brings a strange surge of energy, gleaming cosmos and dahlias and all those rusty, dry, hairy plants: echinacea, rudbeckia, zinnias.

Although we think of hedging and topiary as a winter benefit, during this year of almost continual deluge I realise they have come to count for more: their sharpclipped, shadow-bearing forms have come into focus, throwing shapes early, noon and night.

Having relished the flossy shag of the yew’s greenest new growth in June, I dread the grand tidy up that comes with July; yet, when it is done, we smile with satisfaction at the rewarding new look. A firmer garden emerges, bronze Henry Moore curves, bold when the border plants are getting flopsome. Sept- ember is rich in moonlight, when hedges and clipped forms come almost to life, moving and murmuring. Our regiment of topiary domes are individuals already, leaning and listening, sentries and scouts.