We marked the seasonal change into autumn in the small hours of this morning, by putting our clocks back. Nature does things its own way and each species in our gardens reacts in their own time to the falling light levels and colder night temperatures.

The trees bearing berries time them perfectly to be ripe and ready for the migrating birds as well as our resident ones, and while some plants may be showing only slight changes to the colour of their leaves, there are ornamental grasses at their very best, flowering beautifully, as if they had all the time in the world to set seed.

In my garden the stag’s horn sumach takes centre stage, it’s angular branches of flaming leaves, just like the antlers of its name sakes, soon to be strutting their stuff and impressing the hinds in the forest over the river.

We gardeners might see this time of year as one of decay, the falling away of life, nature in the garden hunkering down to brave out the cold dark winter. But just like the stag giving his all to pass on his genes, our garden plants, from the most exuberant and showy ornamental ones to the humble hawthorn in the hedge, are all doing the same. They are spreading their seeds, not just by feeding the birds but having them flown elsewhere, to germinate in new territory, along with their own little dose of fertilizer.

Isn’t nature wonderful, and even on a wet and windy day like today, just look out of the window at the garden and look forward to next year, your garden’s plants already have!