Last of the Autumn Foliage Found in the Garden

September Bloom Day Complementary Colors

Today I share a few complementary colors in blooms and butterflies. The very last two orange blossoms of my daylilies stand with rosehips, jewel weed and lily-of-the-valley berries, along with purple asters which offer sweet nectar to the lovely butterflies... Orange Sulphur and American Painted Lady. The American Painted lady is also known as Vanessa virginiensis. This is my first photo ever of a painted Vanessa and I only just learned that all Vanessa butterflies migrate. To learn more about Vanessa butterflies go here . To see other gardens in bloom the world over visit May Dreams Gardens.

Waning Garden Waning Moon New Dawn Day

Venus shimmers above the eastern horizon... high over Walnut Hill, as dawn stretches and yawns merging with the near gone darkness of night last. The waning, shining silk, milk moon slowly sails higher still, directly up from my roof... it casts onto the studio loft floor... a few last minute light beams, before being washed away by day. A brand new beginning... no wrinkles yet... fresh and crisp, like a newly laundered dress. River mist rises, so too the birds stir and sing a note or two, to let each other know they made it through the night, or might it be... they just enjoy beginning their day that way. Dawn now blinks and pink becomes the hue of sky, as dark gray wisps of clouds float by. There is a phoebe, dipping tail and calling phoe-- be... phoe--be, though I cannot see it I know its habit... so few songs or calls are heard this time of year ... at least here this August. Little bats are scurrying to their roost gathering a few more flying bites of breakfast on the way. There is a steady drip drip, from the metal roof onto leaves, just before the open door. The refrigerator hums then rests... but no more... no other sounds but these... a Veery near... Catbird whine... wings fluttering by... towards red Viburnum berries ... bees are up so early too going in and out of Himalayan Balsam just ten feet away self sown, before the lilac and screen. Light is everywhere now throwing shadows between thick tree canopies across the way a thickly forested hillside. Here a few glimpses into this garden on the wane... these images taken days ago. The daylilies days are numbered, while second roses bloom and hydrangea blue unfolds new florets... something is always happening only more subtle now in mid August.

Winter Color

A gray thick fog has set in this morning making these colorful birds a welcome memory of yesterdays vivid winter palette. There is a stillness of naked branch and fragile trunk lines of the various apples, lilacs and viburnums just outside my doors and windows. Though with the temperatures climbing into the 40's I imagine stirrings in roots anchored beneath the snow below the thawing earth. Rock Maples are dripping sweet sap and farmers gather buckets to their sugar houses.

Feathers of birds are slowly beginning to show more saturated hues towards Springs bounty of mixed colors and song. The Robins breast glows in tones of burnt sienna with touches of yellow ochre. The winter plumage of the goldfinch is still attached to part naples and cadmium yellow with a trace of green, while brilliant cadmium red and red purple hues paint the male cardinal. The males may add richness to their red colors by eating rosehips, as seen in this photo. They must be very agile while dining with the numerous sharp thorns surrounding the fruits.

These rich colors are what our mostly white winter landscape offers, while out west the desert is dotted with thousands of blossoms including California poppies... washed in orange and yellows from desert dandelions, brittlebush and desert sunflowers.

As we anticipate springs return here in New England, we are thankful for the fleeting flashes of color the birds offer us while feasting on fruits in the winter garden.