SEASON OF CHANGE
AUTUMN IS A TIME WHEN TRANSIENCE IS CELEBRATED AND
DECAY BECOMES BEAUTIFUL. FIVE WRITERS DESCRIBE THE
SEASON IN MAGICAL PROSE FOR US TO SAVOURGarden
BY DAN PEARSON
In his columns forThe ObserverDan Pearson
explores the rhythms and pleasures of a year in his
London garden, and the rolling hills of Somerset.
Here he sings the praises of autumn riches, before
plants and humans hunker down for winter.T
here is part of me that wants to put everything
on hold at the moment, to leave the remaining
bulbs I have yet to get in the ground and risk not
bringing in the tender perennials in their pots. I want
to leave the gutters to fill with leaves, the runner
beans on their tripods to topple, the compost heap
unturned and the veggie patch to moulder. I want to
ignore all the tasks that stop me looking up and to put
gardening aside to enjoy the magnitude of autumn.
I’dfinditimpossibletolivewithoutseasons.Eachyear I fall in love again with the scale of the change
we are in the midst of just now. Whole landscapes
shifting as if growth is in reverse, foliage drawn back
to earth, and that yeasty smell that comes with the
damp and decay. Skylines change from green to
brown or russet, red and gold in a good year, and then
suddenly to transparency if we get a storm to rattle
the branches bare. The countryside is the place to be- to feel it, to smell it and to kick through foliage.
Without an autumn walk or a forage for nuts,
mushrooms or blackberries, I feel we have failed to
“Each year I fall in love again
with the scale of the change we
areinthe midst of just now”Selected and edited by EITHNE FARRY