After a summer of heatwaves and dry weather, your garden may be behaving differently. Discover the subtle changes happening as September arrives.
September is usually described as the month when the garden begins its gentle transition from summer into autumn. But after the heatwaves and prolonged dry spells we’ve been experiencing, that transition isn’t looking quite so straightforward.
Some plants may already be looking tired. Lawns may have turned brown weeks ago. Trees can begin dropping leaves earlier than expected, while other parts of the garden are still behaving as though summer is in full swing.
Look a little closer, though, and there’s plenty happening. Here are some of the quieter changes taking place in your garden this September.
Your lawn may actually be waking up again!
After weeks of hot, dry weather, a lawn can look completely lifeless and frazzled. But brown grass isn’t necessarily dead grass.
During prolonged dry spells, grass often stops growing and becomes dormant as a way of protecting itself. Then the rain arrives, temperatures fall slightly and suddenly – often much to the surprise of anyone who thought they’d finished mowing for the year – it starts growing again. . More about that here.
September can be the month when lawns begin their comeback
Your trees may be dropping leaves earlier than usual
Leaves falling from trees are usually associated with autumn. But after a particularly hot or dry summer, trees can begin shedding leaves much earlier as a response to stress.
Dropping some of their leaves reduces the amount of water the tree loses, helping it cope when water is in short supply. So, if your garden looks as though autumn has arrived a bit early, it may not simply be because the seasons are changing. The weather could have something to do with it too.
Your plants are making seeds – and taking a break
Many summer flowers are beginning to fade and produce seed. But heat and drought can speed things up. Some plants may flower and go to seed earlier than expected, while others may have struggled to flower properly at all.
You might notice your borders looking a little tired or uneven, with some plants thriving and others clearly having had enough of summer. Especially with how hard and dry the ground has been.
That’s one of the things gardening teaches us every year: no two seasons are ever quite the same.
Your garden starts changing as soon as the rain arrives
After a long dry spell, rain can transform a garden faster than you might think. Grass starts growing. Plants perk up. Weeds reappear – usually with impressive speed. And seemingly overnight, mushrooms can begin appearing in lawns and borders.
Fungi thrive when conditions become cooler and wetter, which is why a sudden change in the weather can reveal a whole hidden world beneath the surface of your garden.
The birds are changing their behaviour too
September is a period of change for garden birds. The intense activity of spring and summer is easing. Young birds are becoming independent, while some species are preparing for migration.
After a hot, dry summer, changing weather conditions can also affect the availability of insects, berries and other natural food sources, so you may notice your regular garden visitors changing their routines – or entirely different birds appearing instead.
If you want to find out who’s flying in and out of your garden currently, we’re obsessed with the CornellLab Merlin app. It’s free to download and identifies all the birds that around by identifying their unique sounds and song.
Your garden is preparing for autumn, whatever the weather
Perhaps the most interesting thing about September is that the garden is responding to two things at once.
The weather tells plants what conditions they’re dealing with right now.
But changing daylight tells them what season is coming.
Even during an unusually warm September, the days are getting shorter. Plants are gradually receiving the signals that autumn is on its way. So, while the temperature might still feel like summer, your garden knows something is changing.
September doesn’t follow the rules anymore
After a summer of heatwaves, dry spells and unpredictable weather, September gardens can look very different from one year to the next. Some lawns are recovering. Some trees are already shedding leaves. Some flowers are still putting on a show, while others have gone to seed weeks earlier than expected.
And that’s perhaps what makes this month so interesting.
Your garden isn’t simply moving from summer into autumn.
It’s responding to everything the British weather has thrown at it – while quietly preparing for whatever comes next. We’ve created a list of top jobs to think about tackling in this magnificent month of September
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