09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette

Summary

As summer fades, September transforms the landscape into a patchwork of muted yet striking hues. Once-vivid greens soften to dusty tones, while bracken bronzes and reedbeds shift to pale purples. Across fields, the straw-yellow of stubble is lifted by purple scabious and pink centaury, while heaths blend soft heather purples with the sunshine yellow of gorse. In gardens and hedgerows, brighter splashes break through: crimson Virginia creeper, scarlet pimpernel, and the fiery reds of sheep sorrel or herb robert. Even wildlife joins the renewal—birds gleam in fresh plumage, and butterflies like the red admiral and peacock emerge more vibrant than ever. From harvest moons to hedgerows, September’s colours remind us that autumn’s beauty lies in richness and contrast.

Return on September 9th to explore the full spectrum!

Article

Colour

All the bright colours of spring are now muted. Leaves that were bright green, then become darker in the summer, are now often just a dull, dusty green and shrivelled at the edges. However, as some lose their pigments they return for a short time to the vibrant translucent colour they were earlier in the year.

September sees a range of different colours in different habitats. After the corn is cut there are great swathes of straw-coloured stubble. If it has been dry, downland can be a similar colour but attractively dotted with purple scabious and pink centaury.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

Woods on the other hand are still dark places with dense canopies. Hazel coppices are amongst the most gloomy, having such low canopies. Heaths may be splashed with the soft purples of heathers mixed with the egg yellow of gorse. Reedbeds tend to be a handsome but uniform pale purple. Where there are tracts of bracken it is now starting to turn from green to bronze.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

In London’s streets it is usually the yellow composites and mustards that tend to be noticed. Patches of lemon-yellow common toadflax are more typical of country lanes farther out of town.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

Beside water, dense patches of purple loosestrife make a big impact as well as a range of soft lilacs from various mints. Gardeners seem to specialise in more violent colours with great splashes of bright crimson Virginia creeper suddenly appearing. September was considerably more colourful when arable weeds such as corn marigolds and corncockles ran through cereal crops, but they are all but gone except for the occasional field margin or hedgerow where they hang on or are being encouraged to do so.

There are a small number of species that make an impact wherever they are. Scarlet pimpernel always stands out on bare, rocky ground and there are still places on the outskirts of London where you may see swathes of poppies.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

The wayfaring tree on downland as already mentioned can show as dramatic a range of colours as any plant, especially when its berries start to ripen. Spindletrees come close, both in the wild but especially among the garden species. A fine collection of these can be seen at Wisley. September doesn’t see too many other reds except for small plants such as herb robert or sheep sorrel which suddenly produce individual leaves that are a fiery red. Other plants have individual leaves that equally as quickly turn purple, e.g. sowthistles, black bryony and some of the more common umbellifers.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

Birds were more brightly coloured in the spring when they were courting. Feather colour can reach a low ebb either due to the rigours of raising a family or just due to the feathers wearing out. New feathers whenever they grow, and many do this month, give the bird concerned an added brilliance.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

This is even true of rooks which are developing their slight green sheen again. Similarly second broods of butterflies are far brighter than their faded, tattered parents. Any Vanessides seen in gardens are especially bright. Newly emerged red admirals are an intense scarlet with velvet black wings crossed with ice-white wing bars.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

The colour of peacock butterflies at this time has been compared to crimson damask. The colours of a harvest moon are always commented upon. Compared with other full moons they are remarkable for the length of time they can be seen.

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image

09-Sept September’s Subtle Palette Section Image