Is this the end?

Is this the end of autumn?

Yesterday, when I heard snow was coming, I went out to look at the garden in the sunny morning light. Good that I did. When I woke this morning, a heavy, wet snow was falling. It continued all day, and with leaves still on, trees are coming down everywhere, many across roads. The landscape will surely be marked by this early snow storm for years to come.

The energy visible in these plantings is almost electric. Though it was a sad sight to see the flattened garden in this afternoon's dim light, I know next spring will bring it all back.

Morning, July 25

A morning garden walk, nearly August, yet the usual heat and drought of summer hasn't come. The cool, rainy days we've had since spring are warmer now: highs this week will be in the mid-80's and the rain will come as thundershowers, not lingering drizzle. Communities of plants, their time come round, bloom in successive waves, a phenomenon magnified for me because I see it only on weekends. Morning light is still bright, muting colors, but some of the haze and fog so typical of fall is beginning to briefly settle in.

Rudbeckia maxima in full bloom with Physostegia virginiana 'Miss Manners' (Obedient plant) as a low background (below), and Pycnanthemum muticum (Mountain mint) just turning silver behind it ...

Rudbeckia mixing with the tall, heavily budded stalks of Silphium terebinthinaceum (Prairie dock) ...

From the opposite end of the garden, looking toward the area of the photos above ...

A closer view ... bright pink of Filipendula rubra 'Venusta' has faded to a more acceptable copper-pink color ...

The Joe Pye Weed has begun to take on color (right). I'll cut the floppy Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker (left) next weekend.

A closer view of the Filipedula flowers as they fade from pink to copper ... the foliage, particularly its angular shape, is an asset to the end of the season.


A distant view from above, the early morning haze presaging season's end ...