london1952 | Oct. 22nd, 2010

Well, it seems Autumn is truly here, it's been rather chilly this week with some quite heavy morning frosts, and the foliage is begining to "glow". The shops are full to the brim with Halloween merchandise of all tacky types...... When I was in the supermarket this morning there was a group of ~~witches~~ old dears stood around a (presumably battery-operated) "toy"..... a fearsome looking witch-like doll rolling around cackling maniacally..... and they were cackling too ! LOL ... A whole aisle of orange, purple and black tastelessness !

We have just had a charity fund-raising event at the Garden Museum, and the autumnal feel was somewhat more tasteful ! A number of florists spent the day in preparation, working their magic with boxes full of amarillis, roses, hydrangea, sea-holly, rosemary, et al

Hops from Kent adorn the entrance porch, and bevy of beautiful table centre floral arrangements lie in wait for the big evening !

A big box of lovely chinese lantern flowers, and one of ornamental gourds sat waiting to be added to the final touches............

And the bright October sun was shining through the trees creating a peaceful scene over Captain William Bligh's tomb in the garden. The Artist in Residence at the museum, Charlott Verity, has been out in all weathers since the begining of the year working on paintings to form an exibition in Spring 2011.... there she is at her easel, next to the Tradescant tomb.

At home, amazingly, we have a number of rosebuds waiting to bloom, hopefully they will succeed as it is rather late in the year, though here is one that is in full loveliness now ! It's a rose my sister gave us for our first (civil partnership) anniversary ..... and a very late flowering "morning glory" - such a vibrant colour !