For Michael and Hanne

Sunlight catching the large fleshy strap leaves of the Clivias that grow beneath the shade of the Swamp Cypress in my garden. Each season has its own particular brand of beauty!

This post has been prepared with Michael and Hanne in mind. They are the authors of Penticton Commentary, a marvellous Canadian blog that features their travels and the landmarks both in and around Penticton, where they are based. They refer to themselves as 'Retired Travellers' and they certainly have lived and travelled all over the world. Michael is orginally from the UK and Hanne is proudly of Danish origin.  They remain true to their roots, yet totally united in their obvious love of Canada.  They spend their days cycling, enjoying wonderful walks, scenic drives and visiting and entertaining their friends and family from around the globe. Please do visit their blog...  http://mhs22.blogspot.com/2011/06/linden-gardens.html 

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Michael is an outstanding photographer...and pedantic about ensuring horizons are perfectly straight ;)  He always seeks out the unusual and enjoys weaving into his posts an interesting and varied commentary about current affairs, both locally and from around the world. Michael also creates the most beautiful digital paintings from his photographs. Hanne is frequently his model and she often coordinates the colour of her apparel to the subject matter...whether deliberately, or by happy accident, is their secret ;)

A while back, I'd featured a post on Autumn in my garden and, quick as wink, Michael wanted to know where the fallen leaves were...at that time, I'd been too busy gathering the daily mounds of large leaves from the Liquidamber and the Japanese Elm's smaller, but equally vast droppings, to take any pictures. My favourite leaf fall in Autumn comes from our Swamp Cypress, which is one of our last deciduous trees to dump. I like them most particularly, because they are so delicate and leave a beautifu,l fine, russet drape over everything. Herewith follows a selection of pictures taken in the garden this past week...I hope these satisfy your curiosity, M & H !

I do not remove leaf litter from the garden beds, unless they are really far too thick...in our climate, where it rains during the winter months, the leaves break down fairly quickly so that by the time summer arrives, there's very little evidence of the previous season's drop!

Beneath the leaves, I have layers of bark mulch, put down and added to over the years...this manifests itself into a haven for earthworms and other little bugs and beetles that thrive in this environment...which, in turns, leads to plenty of snack material for visiting birdlife and daily foraging for nesting pairs.

I have to be quite meticulous with removing leaves from the pond surface, as they quickly sink and form a very thick layer of sediment. When this rots, the water can turn anaerobic seemingly overnight, leaving our three wild fish gasping for air and causing a foul stench to pervade the air...not desirable consequences at all! When this does occasionally happen, quick action is required...the pond needs to be flushed and refilled with clean water (we use tap water and have never had a problem in all the years we've had fish). We run the pump continuously at this time of the year in order to keep the water properly aerated.

We sweep the pathways and paving regularly...slippery leaves can become quite treacherous and I've had one fall too many in my life to risk taking chances.

The area adjacent to my greenhouse is particularly thickly covered as this is near to where the Swamp Cypress grows...

The very last tree to shed is the Willow tree, which also grows here (right overhead, in fact!)...some of its leaves have begun to make their appearance intermingled with the Swamp Cypress leaves, but the bulk of the Willow tree leaves have yet to fall.

Even the wooden disks, cut from trunks in the garden and placed in the beds as steps, have been hidden completely under the carpeting of Swamp Cypress leaves...I do make time to brush the leaves off these very regularly, lest they start to breakdown and become slippery.

The camelia flowers have also begun to drop...this area will soon be carpeted by the fallen flowers. Coco loves them, regularly choosing one to bring indoors.  One evening, she plucked a complete flower, scattering all the pink petals across our bed. It looked ever so pretty and although I couldn't help giving her points for creativity, I admit to not being too enchanted with her handiwork, as it meant more cleaning (and there's enough to be done already without Coco adding to the workload)!

You can see my fascination with logs and stumps! I have groupings throughout my garden beds.

Larger palm fronds dwarf the tiny leaves of the Swamp Cypress, which towers high above the palm.

What I love about the leaves from the Swamp Cypress is how quickly the tiny leaflets break free of their stalks...they form such a fine mulch on everything, without smothering and they smell lovely.

View towards our bedroom from behind the pond.

So, Michael and Hanne, this is what my garden looks like in Autumn! Completely smothered by leaf litter and everything in "Go Slow" mode :)