A touch of Autumn In a vase on Monday

OK, I admit it, Autumn is here. I was in denial but there is no getting away from it. 
I've swept up leaves two weeks in a row, the mornings are cool and damp and in the evenings the temperature drops quickly. Three seed catalogues have arrived this week with luscious things to tempt and thoughts turn to how to do even better next year.
I am making mental lists but will try and be sensible about how many seeds I can really manage.
There are still plenty of summer flowers and the garden looks colourful and lush but some things are going over gracefully. Others look dreadful after lots of rain. 

I found these rose hips growing in a hedge. The attack our long suffering postman when I forget to prune around the post box. I thought I'd use them in an autumn themed arrangement. 

This looks better in real life but I'm going to stop wasting time trying to get a better picture. 
I found some Atriplex looking very brown. I'm sure this will seed so I won't have to nurture it next year, in fact I'll probably be pulling it up in handfuls. Then I chose some Echinacea flowers. These are not the newest but some which have faded to a soft pink to add the autumnal look. 
I've also been collecting a few things to dry. I'm not a huge fan of dried flowers but it's nice to have a few hangovers from summer.

I found my Caryopteris is finally flowering so I picked a couple of sprigs. I am taken with small arrangements since making my buttonhole show entry a few weeks ago. While googling how to make them I found many tiny but perfect flower arrangements. This one is not tiny but it's quite small at about 15cm.

I added:
Caryopteris 'White Surprise' which has varigated leaves.
Salvia 'Violette de Loire'
Some kind of double achillea 
Tiny white geranium grown from seed
Artemesia 'Powis Castle

It was going to be blue and white but then I couldn't resist the purple salvia. It came through the last winter but I've just taken some cuttings as insurance. 

Just a couple of notes:

These have lasted very well, opened more and look as good as they did last week.

This went on getting better and fuller and the roses opened right out. I kept it for a week. 

Sadly the acidanthera didn't last long in water but I still have some in the garden. I'll (probably) leave them there next year. 









For colourful and creative vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the garden for In a vase on Monday.