Autumn in the Hidden Garden

A reasonably mild and dry day today, Ula and I went to the Hidden Garden to meet a friend and her toddler. We packed a picnic: a salad of grated carrot, red cabbage, apple and sunflower seeds, with a little white wine vinegar and pepper; cheese; rye and caraway seed bread, raisins and a few pears - along with a groundsheet for the grass. S made a tasty black bean sald, with feta and spring onions. S is a friend I met when I lived for a short spell in the East End of Glasgow last year, and we have recently begun to meet up every week or so and share a picnic together.

Lots of textures to interest Ula in the garden today. Grey, velvety buds on the branches of a magnolia tree; shrivelled up rose hips; the dried up flower heads of some thistle type plant, that feel like a soft brush when stroked across your cheek, then quickly disintegrate as you crush one between your fingers. The ginkgo tree looked stunning, emboldened by its golden leaves. I collected a few to try in the flower press we recently found at a car boot sale in Govan.