Thursday, October 19, 2017

The Autumn Garden


The garden is taking on autumnal hues these days. The loosestrife has lost all its bright purple flowers, and its tiny leaves have turned crimson and yellow.


The inulas are still towering over the other plants, but all their blossoms have dropped away and been replaced by bristly seedheads. (Well, not quite all -- I see one yellow flower out there still.) Their leaves are turning yellow and brown, too.


The teasels look entirely dead. We've left them up because supposedly birds like to feast on the seeds, but I haven't seen a single bird touch these spiny cones.


The cardoon is, likewise, entirely brown now. Did it really bloom at the end of October a couple of years ago?!


The nasturtiums are looking tired, but they're still cranking out flowers. The roses have a few last blossoms too, their pink, yellow and red softening the otherwise decrepit-looking flowerbed.


And the hydrangea flowers are beginning to blotch and fade, but still add a touch of color -- especially when paired with the plant's purpling leaves.

13 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Beautiful pictures - subtle and well-observed.

crafty cat corner said...

There is beauty even in ageing if you look for it, at least that's what I'm telling myself. lol
Beautiful photos.
Briony
x

Ms. Moon said...

Love it. Yes, time for the garden to rest awhile.

Red said...

Nice post on plants in the fall.

Sharon said...

Nature is beautiful even when it's declining. I've seen a lot of pictures on Instagram of lots of fallen leaves in the parks of London. I'm not sure if those are old pictures being posted or ones taken in recent days but, they are quite pretty.

Anonymous said...

Fall is my most favorite time of the year. The air cools. The light is even. The plants and flowers do their last beautiful colorful dance. Love these photos.

37paddington said...

The garden may be bowing down to fall, but your photographs are glorious.

Catalyst said...

Lovely photos.

The Bug said...

Lovely! We like to leave our bloomers be even when they're all straggly, because the flowers make us smile.

jenny_o said...

Oh how I love the colours in that first shot!

Fall has a different kind of beauty.

Sabine said...

Gorgeous!

Joanne said...

I’m having trouble leaving comments on blogs but I am trying. I think you are a genius in photography. For real. These are so very lovely.

ellen abbott said...

same here. what wasn't washed away entirely is looking old and tired. except the penta which never changes unless we get a hard freeze.