On Saturday I was in the garden pruning and planting. Before I was able to start planting any of my spring bulbs though, I had the mammoth task of clearing piles and piles of wet muddy leaves away. In the end my garden bin was overflowing and the composter was jam packed. During this process I started to feel myself getting sickened with the leaves and I actually started to feel annoyed at our neighbours for their massive trees that hang over into our garden. I was cold, wet and tired and being honest a little bit miserable!

Once the leave picking up was finished, I took a walk up to Sainsburys to get some fresh veggies for dinner. On my way up I decided to take a detour through Victoria Park. Half way round the park I began to feel tired  so I took a rest on bench. It was then I saw a woman in the distance, she must have been in her mid forties and she was well dressed.  I noticed her look around as if to see if anyone was watching. She didn’t see me, and when she thought no one was looking she stepped off the cleared path and into the massive piles of autumn leaves beside it. She then started kicking them up as she walked happily through them. It was so lovely to see the secret child-like glee light up her face as she strode through the crunchy colours. It was funny how all of a sudden my tiredness and despising of leaves did a complete turnaround and I began to remember to celebrate their loveliness.

Yesterday my mum was up and we went out to Main of Drum garden centre for a little wander. When we were there I came across a plant I have been looking to buy for a while….SNOWBERRIES! (Symphoricarpos albus) I just think they are so beautiful at this time of year and really add interest to gardens  in the colder months as well as ground coverage. I was delighted to get them.  Since it was Halloween last week an interesting fact about snowberries is that they are also known as ghostberries and the Native Americans belief is that they are the food of the dead. Spooky…..!