Catherine’s monthly photo blog: October

1 November 2022

Volunteer gardener and talented photographer Catherine Brightwood shares her thoughts and photos from the last month in the gardens.

Wow! What a month October has been for Autumn colour at Furzey Gardens. We have been treated to a shimmering kaleidoscope of crimson, orange, yellow and gold. It has been truly breath-taking to see the sun shining through the glowing leaves. I adore the joy of the autumn colours and took time this month to walk around the Gardens to witness the changes. It gave me a real focus for mindfulness in nature. Observing the colours, feeling the wind and hearing the soft patter of leaves falling to carpet the ground. Consciously connecting to the natural world. Autumn has a unique musky-sweet smell, as the fallen leaves begin to break down and release their sugars and organic compounds into the air. It is a special time of year.

At Furzey we have a wonderful collection of trees and shrubs including Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’, Liquidambar formosana, Euonymus alatus, Disanthus cerciphyllum and Nyssa sinensis ‘Chinese tupelo’, which all impress visitors with their vivid autumn colour. I really love that Furzey is such a special place for remembrance. There are so many happy memories of past visits to the gardens with family or friends. There are benches with plaques dedicated to loved ones, and even plants and trees planted in memory of special people. One sunny day this month, I discovered a tiny plaque hanging in a tree which read, “In memory of our dearest Mum”. The sun shone through the leaves just as the birds sang. It was a beautiful, tranquil moment and I felt very lucky to have witnessed it.

One of our volunteers, Malcolm, grows pumpkins every year down by the compost heap. We have been watering and feeding them throughout the heat of the summer, but this month we picked them and made a display by the café for people to enjoy. I went to the nursery and chose some plants with autumnal foliage for the display. I really enjoyed arranging them. One of my other jobs was to transplant some more foxgloves into a bed near the lake. As I walked across the dewy lawn with my wheelbarrow, I spotted tiny fungi hiding in the blades of grass. I was reminded of a poem called ‘The Mushroom Shelter’ by Enid Blyton.

“What a shower! Helter Skelter
Through the teeming rain,
Pixies make for mushroom shelter,
Till it’s fine again.”

I crouched down to look at the hundreds of tiny fungi and smiled as I imagined our own Furzey fairies sheltering from the rain under their protective caps. Remember to look down next time you visit, as you never know what tiny wonders you will see.

This month, I was pleased to attend the screening of two short films at Hanger Farm Arts Centre, which is run by The Minstead Trust. I thoroughly enjoyed “A Potted History” and “The Founding Story” which beautifully explained the origins of Furzey Gardens and the journey to the present day, with The Minstead Trust running the Gardens as a social enterprise to support people with learning difficulties. There were question and answer sessions with guests including Pete White (Head Gardener), Martin Lenaerts (who established the Minstead Training Project at Furzey Gardens in 1986), Tim Selwood (Founder of Furzey Gardens as a charitable trust) and Adam Dodd (Minstead Trust CEO). The whole evening was emotional, uplifting and inspiring, and made me proud to play a very small part as a volunteer. It was a gentle reminder that every positive action creates ripples of change. I highly recommend watching the short films and I hope that they will inspire you to visit Furzey and perhaps get involved with The Minstead Trust in some way.

You can watch both the films and other Minstead Trust videos on YouTube.