Farewell to summer. But there is still gardening to be done in autumn

I love summer, and I hate it when it’s over. Every year, with the aid of vests and leggings, I try to stretch it out as long as possible, and every year around the middle of October I’m forced to admit that it’s getting chilly, and I need to dig out some warmer clothes.

But it was a good summer. There were four heatwaves, and temperatures in London reached 34.7C. This doesn’t bode well for the planet, but it gave me a lot of pleasure, and the Roof Garden seems to have enjoyed it too. Though of course it demanded gallons of water.

Most gardeners will tell you that it’s been a great year for apples and roses. Apple trees are beyond my capabilities, but the roses have done extremely well, bearing in mind that most of them started life in small pots procured from Tesco’s. One morning in June I was delighted to bump into Eileen O’Keefe from Gordon Mansions and to invite her back to the Roof for a viewing of my “Eileen O’Keefe Rose”, bought two years ago to provide a spray that I could pin to her birthday card. The rest went into a container, and this is the result.

Fitzrovia has been flourishing in other locations too. A couple of weeks ago a small crowd celebrated the refurbishment of Crabtree Fields by Camden Council. And on the other side of our borough boundary a set of colourful planters provided touches of brilliance, funded in the main by a Community Infrastructure Levy awarded by the City of Westminster when FitzWest became an official Neighbourhood Forum. Watering is a major task here as elsewhere, so if you fancy joining the volunteers who help to keep the plants on Gosfield Street and Great Titchfield Street alive and glowing, email info@fitzwest.org to get in touch. The commitment is very small and any help — even just one day a week for ten minutes or so — would be brilliant.

Finally, a brief run-down of my Roof’s other achievements since I last submitted a report. The versatile “geranium rozanne”, brought to my attention years ago by Gardeners’ Question Time, continues to be a joy, and is still flowering in mid-October. My hibiscus, another Tesco purchase, once again dazzled me with its sultry blooms. The hydrangea, grown from a cutting by my mother-in-law in the 1990s, was in full flow. And one of my Canna lilies produced a flower, an unlooked for bonus when its leaves are already so lovely.

Now it’s the turn of the Michaelmas daisies, which always put on a splendid show just in time for their feast day on 29 September. They herald the advent of autumn, of course, as does the deep red tint flaunted by the leaves of my Chinese Virginia creeper, inviting admiration before they are shaken to the ground by a gust of October wind.

So summer is over, and all I have to look forward to is adding some baubles to my miniature spruce tree as Christmas approaches. My roof garden and I will have to content ourselves with dreams of hyacinths and daffodils. It’s a laborious task finding room for some bulbs in my overcrowded pots, but it has to be done. Spring will be a long time coming, and it needs all the encouragement that we inner-city gardeners can muster during the grey days of winter.

Sue Blundell is a playwright and lecturer in Classical Studies. sueblundell.com

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