Have you come to share my walk through a day flecked with hints of autumn's approach? Perhaps you can blame the gardener for that pot of orange mums in the front garden, but what about the blush of color just teasing the edges of the leaves in the woods of the eastern hills? As we walk down past the Fiesta Maple, we see that it's carnival of color has yet to begin but, in the garden just beyon the maple, a little sunflower mummurs something quietly about summer's end. Did you hear?
The cosmos are unfolding... This picotee, with it's delicate color and vivid edges was the first to bloom. A seashell cosmo blooms nearby. We stop for a closer look, but a spirited breezes urges us down the trail.
Despite the aura of autumn that circles the garden, most visible in the abundant goldenrod, there is still a lot of pink in the garden... in the sedum, some of the mums, and in those resilient coneflowers.
Other blossoms echo the hues of the fields and wild-edges beyond the gardens.
Enjoying the afternoon sunshine, the warmest hours of this Sunday late in August, we wander through the yard from the butterfly garden to the vegetable plot. Amid the ripening pumpkins and watermelon, and a sea of still-green tomatoes, we find a little zinnia on the cusp of her grand entrance. We see a little sunflower, still green, but stretching toward the sunlight.
Like the seasons, we have come full circle... As we approach the front door, I stop for a sprig of fennel to sweeten our tea. Let's go in and put the kettle on.
Where-ever you are, what ever the weather, I wish you the all the beauty of this season.
all photos by Aisling, August 30, 2009
It isn’t so much that it’s raining today, as that the wind is blowing veils of mist across the sky. The lush green everything outside my windows reminds me to be thankful for the rain.
The milkweed has set pods and seeds are forming for next year's milkweed. The milkweed borers are hungry, but not stealthy at all. It is hard to be mad at anything with such handsome antennae!
