On my online workbook this week: Toning down the summer up into the earliest autumn

Dear

This week's inspiration is a slow flip over to all things autumn.

This week my tip is about adding autumn details into a design… when there are not yet all that many autumn details to be found.

Here are four all natural ways I use to mute the summer colours into autumn: One is to wait until the flowers are pollinated. After the flowers are pollinated their colours are always slightly muted as they divert their energy into producing seeds. Seeds or even on their way to becoming seed pods flowers are great ways of instantly adding an autumn aesthetic to your design.

The second way is to remove any of the brightest parts of the flowers, for instance petals or even brightly coloured stamens, or cutting brighter stems shorter. A lot of flowers have gorgeous and unusual pistils that can add that something special and unusual to your design that you might feel is missing for this time of the year.

The third way is to use the back of flowers or foliage. We often underestimate how pretty the backside of a leaf is with the even more prominent veins and midrib on display. These are often in a more yellow or reddish colour and can be used to add an autumn… “this just fell from the tree” feel. Same with flowers. Flowers often have an elegant neck that curves beautifully. Flip your flower for autumn to give it that turn of the season elegance.

And the bonus tip takes a bit longer but it is fascinating. Placing plant material in slightly brighter… and I mean slightly, not so much that it actually burns, but just enough that the plant is triggered to protect itself from the sunlight will cause the plant to become a reddish colour. This is particularly visible on passion flower vines where the tendrils actually become a reddish purple when moved into the sun. It in no way harms the plant nor do you need any dyes or chemicals but it is not instant so you need time for the natural process to happen before you get to harvest the coloured design details.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine