What  amazing weather we have just been having for late September early October. The colours on the trees are spectacular and some plants have even started to flower as if it were Spring. Autumn is beginning and harvesting produce from the kitchen garden has been so rewarding with bumper crops and enough apples to feed an army.

Time to collect everything including seeds and fallen fruit is the problem for many of us but with such wonderful weather the evenings can be spent outside a little longer to carry out these tasks.There are still some wonderful gardens to visit in October and great local Autumn fairs with country produce as well as local crafts.

I have been working non stop this year and darting all over the countryside visiting as many trade fairs and local craft fairs that I can, finding and sourcing products. Indeed, people often wonder why employ a garden designer to help you design your garden. Not only does a designer offer you ideas and can help you transform your outside space but many like me can source unusual products and put you in touch with specialist crafts people which you would not have been able to find yourself.

Contacts are very important in most fields of work and just as important in Garden Design. Whether you are looking for a special bench, a bespoke pergola, shed, paving or water feature or perhaps even a good electrician, employing a designer can relieve the pressure and help in so many ways.

August can be a messy month in the garden with lots going over but it can also yield surprises with lovely grasses standing tall and blowing gently in the wind against soft hues of echinecea and asters.

On a recent trip to New York, I walked the length of The High Line which is just wonderful. An elevated park has been created above the busy streets on a disused 1930s railway. The eco wild landscape includes lovely prairie style planting, lawns to relax on as well as moulded benches, loungers, bistro tables to bring a picnic or light supper and little cafes.

The whole landscape design was inspired by the self-seeded look that naturally occured when the trains stopped running.There are more than 200 species of perrennials, grasses, trees and shrubs,with bird boxes,water and crickets making lovely noises in the naturalistic beds.

Coming from such a large metropolis back to the UK has made me wish for our cities to embrace some of this wonderful space which can only be considered good for the soul and above all is free to all and brings such pleasure to many.

Back to this month and I have been busy completing two large private gardens with fruit trees, drystone walling and pergolas lined with lavender.I have also been sourcing products to be used in the gardens and layed a lovely clay paver patio with path.

 And in this month's Homes and Gardens , September issue, I give tips on ponds on page 166. 

It has been a couple of years since I have been back to Hampton Court for the Flower Show and it was lovely to go as a visitor and not as an exhibitor. Having a chance to look round the showground at leisure puts a whole different perspective on the show.

The showground has moved on a lot since the Daily Mail tent  which often featured a lovely little cottage took centre stage. A new Floral marquee which is extremely long and full of independent nurseries , sits where the Country Living Tent used to preside and has moved from the long water.

In its place is an RHS edible garden , the largest in the show at 1,850sq metres. With a focus on artisan as opposed to commercial production, there were demonstrations featuring beer making, bee keeping, a lavender field and tropical area.

Hampton Court is much better at the ‘real gardens’ look and so many ideas can be gained from not only the large display gardens but also the small show gardens and many of the plant nurseries.

Walking round the show  gardens it was clear that much of the planting was herbaceous and there was quite a lot of stone but not so much hard landscaping. Colours were quite muted in most apart from the bright maze of plants in The Matter of Urgency garden designed by Jill Foxley.

If you think of heathers as boring old fashioned plants then think again as they were very cleverly used by the Heather Society in the small garden section. A modular vertical wall system planted with different varieties of heathers lies at the back of the garden. A bumblebee lodge attracts the bees to the planted areas and dining table for entertaining nestles in a sunken area.

In the Palace area of the showground are the  English Poet’s Gardens based on poems by Keats, Shelley , Byron, Kipling and Lewis Caroll. Near these is the scarecrows competition which have been made by school children in various schools in the South of England.

Walking down one side of the Palace gates a long queue was forming outside A Garden by Night. Completely enclosed under cover, visitors are invited into a garden with illuminated planters, chandeliers, Led lit stepping stones across a pool and plants which have been selected for as they call ‘ after dusk performance value’. I did keep thinking someone was going to come out of the shadows and jump on me but we all walked slowly through and it was actually quite exciting!

With all the trade stands at the show it is easy to get distracted but in The Plant Heritage Marquee which adjoins the Rose Marquee, it is fascinating to see many of our National Collections , part of 640  Collections held in this country. These are true living libraries and the collection holders are Internationally recognised as experts in their field.

Conceptual gardens always create a bit of a stir and this year’s didn’t disappoint with lots of ums and ahs from onlookers. A Swinging Sixties Floral and Fashion show as well as a catwalk in Bloom tempted many into the shade of the marquee out of the heat of the sun.

Then as always , huge grey clouds appeared over the palace and the heavens opened! This was the queue to run and try and get into the car before the grass parking areas became a pond.

It has been an exhausting time of late. Yesterday I was on the stand I designed and built at Chelsea Flower Show for the British Plant Nursery Guide and we were awarded a Commendation from the RHS.

The stand has had a great deal of media attention, not least because in the middle is a restored pale blue Morris Minor Traveller .

The theme is Kate and William on honeymoon and they have stopped in a Cornish Cove to have a picnic. A beautiful beach hut with oak posts was made by Sussex Oak Framers and Stonemarket supplied the stone sleepers that I used for a curving path and under the car. All the plants have come from British Nurseries and all the sea shells and odd bits of seaweed from West Wittering beach which I ransacked!

All over the sand are mussels which I have to admit I ate! So I kept the shells and used them to scatter over the beach areas.

Designing a trade stand for commercial purpose is so different from a show garden or a domestic one and you have to be aware of the amount of foot traffic on the stand. It was also tricky as I was not allowed to dig into the ground so the plants are in very shallow pockets of sand with hardly any soil around them but they are quite happy and surviving.

 I used a lovely new Verbascum called Blue Lagoon, developed by Thompson and Morgan around the car, pink and white Valerian, Armeria, Erigeron and Cistus. Not too many plants as you don't see too many on the beach but just enough to give a taste of the Cornish Coast.

 In fact due to the heat ,it has been a lovely day at the beach in Chelsea!