Whatever happened to autumn?

Our somewhat apparent predilection with all things horticultural coupled with this weeks unseasonal warm weather here in KT (seems we have our own micro-climate) has provoked a rather heated debate as to exactly when autumn actually begins and ends. Well “heated debate” is perhaps an exaggeration, Eddie just happened to mumble something over his coffee this morning about the official start of autumn…

But this just made me think how autumn gets a bit of a bum deal nowadays… With the gradual erosion of distinct seasons, we seem to finish late summer just as Christmas decorations start to appear in the shops. Perhaps it’s simply the power of media, it seems autumn is slowly being squeezed out in favour of more profitable seasons.

Time I thought to put forward a case for autumn and where better to start with the images of nature, a brilliant landscape of yellow, gold, copper and red, the smell of garden fires, conkers, clear days and chilly nights evoking memories of gloves and scarves and long walks.So instead of focussing on flu jabs and cold remedies lets put some positives back into autumn.

So just what is the essence of the Autumn Season we have the name but what are its core values and how do we create a new vision with weight, length, breadth and depth.

As everyone knows Autumn is various shades of Greenish – Brown, has a crunchy sound underfoot and a burning smell.

To help define the essence we find it beneficial to create a 'Seasonal bottle'. For all you dyed in the wool strategists out there requiring substantive objective research, here is the recipe:

Autumn Seasonal Bottle

Purpose:
Observation of Autumn - Formulation of strategic approach to re-brand

Materials:
Plastic bottles
Autumn leaves, holly and pine needles, silk flowers

Directions:
To make an autumn bottle, place 5-8 colourful leaves in the bottle. Fill with water.
Observe the leaves as they change colours and decay.
Make notes and plan approach.



Oh and by the way Autumn officially started this year at 21.18 on the 22 September!