It’s beginning to look very autumnal around here! The red maples, sumac and Virginia creeper are blazing red. The birch trees are turning gold and leaves everywhere are drifting down with the slightest breeze, crackling and swishing underfoot with each step we take. I love the sweet scent of fallen leaves, smelling faintly of maple syrup.
The garden is still hanging on, doing its glorious thing. We just barely missed getting a frost ten days ago and have been enjoying warm weather since then.
The warm summery temperatures this past weekend were a boon and both plants and animals responded happily. We’ll take whatever we can get!
I’ve been enjoying the deep burgundy Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) with its long, rope-like panicles; it really is a unique plant in the garden and creates quite a statement. Hard to miss, visitors often comment on it.
Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum) in the background has gone by, setting its fluffy seed, but New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) are in peak bloom, filled with buzzing bees, but alas, no monarch butterflies. Makes me sad to think about. I did see a male fluttering down by the river on Sunday visiting some Common Bone-set (Eupatorium perfoliatum), so I’m not giving up hope. I’ll keep laying out the banquet.
Eliza Waters 
That first photo of the leaves is so so gorgeous!!! 🙂 Ive been staring at it for a looooong time now!! I miss autumn! 🙂
Thanks, Line. You need to put an autumn photo on your desk top – a small token of the fall season to experience daily. 🙂
Yes, I will!! 🙂 Can I put yours? I mean I know there are copyrights and stuff, but if I just keep it to myself…..
Oh, of course, I’m flattered!
Thank you so much!! 🙂 🙂
I always love the juxtaposition of the colors of fall. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks, Kim, good to hear from you!
My favorite season, Eliza! And your photo’s illustrate exactly why. It’s beautiful and breathtaking. There is just something about the colors changing and the air getting cooler that takes me back to simple days growing up in Indiana. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos!
Thanks so much!
A stunning array Eliza. All those gorgeous blooms are like a last hurrah – an announcement that “Just wait! Life is sure to begin anew when we’re all gone.”
Thanks, Dor. Yes, it is a last hurrah, indeed!
That “love lies bleeding” intrigues me, Eliza. Annual? Does it reseed for you? I think one of those might be necessary in my garden next year. Just the sort of unusual plant I love.
This is the first year I’ve grown it in many a year. I will save some seed and send it to you. The young leaves can be harvested and eaten like spinach, but I never did. In some countries the seed is ground and used in cooking. For me, it’s purely an ornamental annual! I won’t know until next year if it self sows. Just in case it doesn’t, I’ll collect seed to keep in the house overwinter.
OOOoo! So nice to catch a glimpse of your garden (I think this might be my first!) It suits you so well; colorful, experimental, wild and free but also refined. I’ve tried love-lies-bleeding before it’s definitely a unique plant. I’ve stuck with a giant variety of amaranth “Hartman’s Giant” the same magenta as your love-lies-bleeding but 10′ tall with upright blooms. It self-sows freely in our garden. But I also save seeds for insurance;). We can also buy amaranth in our grocery store (in a box) for eating (I cook/use it like quinoa). When you cook it up it reminds me of caviar. And I’ve been meaning to do some silly “pretend caviar” post for awhile now. Cool grain!
So nice to have you visit! (What, my posts don’t go automatically to your inbox? 😉 I can’t believe it! You’re missing all my great posts :-D)
I have admired your giant amaranth, but I love the drippiness of the LLB. So cool. I wonder if it will self-sow, but like you, I’ll save some seed for insurance.
Were your french pumpkins grown on a trellis as an experiment or do they do better that way- I keep forgetting to ask.
For me your photos are like tempting posters in a travel shop. So beautiful, so different, so far away. But mostly I’m impressed with how dearly appreciated and even revered the plants are! A lesson for those of us where the seasons hardly change at all.
How nice of you to say that! I fantasize about living in a year-round warm climate, but I wonder if I’d miss the 4 seasons too much. Most places have some part of the year that is unpleasant – like your intense heat and our cold. I guess you adapt to wherever you are. But the fantasies continue! 🙂
I’m still trying to figure out how to have a house in the northeast for part of the year, and a house on the west coast for the cold times. That’s my fantasy.
Sounds like a good one. Summer rental on a lake? It would be cheaper than owning. VRBO.com
Thanks for the VRBO.com recommendation. I’ve got it bookmarked now.
Cheaper and more spacious than a hotel and you can cook your own meals! 🙂
lovely pictures and a great photo essay to fall..no monarchs? With all those nectar loving plants that is sad….I see why you are sad about the monarch. I still have my four guys but I want to see more..so I am putting milkweed in this weekend and also some more natives they like…I sure hope it helps….You love heirloom flowers ,too..’Love lies bleeding”….I would love to walk your 7 acres it is heaven on earth…stunning gardens!
Thank you kindly, Robbie, if you ever make it to MA, you’ll have to come visit – it would be fun to show you around. And believe me, if I come anywhere NEAR you, I’m definitely visiting you and your garden! 🙂
🙂 that would be grand!
I love your use of depth of field in the first photo, Eliza. It makes the leaves stand right out. Really well done. 🙂
Thank you, Michael!
Love the autumn feel of these shots. That first photo is so very lovely!
Thanks so much, Fi. Your landscape colors also must be blazing by now I expect!
Eliza, I love the lighting and colors in the first picture. Nicely done.
Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
Thank you so much, Wendy!
Things are beginning to look very Autumnal here too! Great colors in your photos.
Thanks so much for stopping by!