Fall arrived this past weekend. The sun was shining full at a low angle, bringing the first intimations of the season's glowing golds, yellows, oranges and reds, stippled by purple asters, black seed heads, fruits and berries that announce the end of the garden year. The fermenting fragrances of autumn soon will begin to rise from the earth.
This set of sun-lit photos contrasts with the twilight photos in the previous post. Click on this
link to see that post.
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| Leaf-strewn terrace overlooking the garden. The worn blue stone paving dates to the mid-1960s giving the modest sitting area a patina of age. |
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| Late blooming Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar'. |
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| Geranium 'Rozanne'. |
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| Steps down to the garden, of native argillite stone. |
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| The small pond surrounded by mounds of debris just heaved out. |
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| The bank up to the house, still a work in progress. |
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| As the sun drops behind the trees, theatrical shafts of light create moments of transient radiance. |
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| Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'. |
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| Filipendula rubra 'Venusta' in its copper phase, asters yet to bloom behind. |
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| The native Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia). |
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| Rods of Rudbeckia maxima, Goldenrod, some of which I must pull out to control its spread. |
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| Looking across the garden toward the east. |
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| Tall Silphiums and Rudbeckias dominate here earlier in the season. More interesting ground level plantings are in the works ... orange daylilies in grass, Pycnanthemum muticum, Rudbeckia 'Henry Eilers'. |
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| Serpentine wall. |
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| Wave Hill chair with Miscanthus purpurescens on right. |
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| Looking up toward the house. Is refuge in the house or is it in the garden? |
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| Back path with partially planted area on the left. I just seeded Sorgastrum nutans, which is endemic to this site. |
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| Miscanthus 'Silberfeder' and Inula racemosa 'Sonnenspeer'. |
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| View across bracken toward six red walnut logs, with new Miscanthus giganteus making a partial wall behind. |
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| Hidden path into interior sitting area. |
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| Pycnanthemum muticum and Panicum. |
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| A place to sit, like a nest among tall perennials. |
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| Late blooming vernonia with asters and blue lobelia. |
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| Pycnanthemum tenuifolium, naturally occurring on this site. |
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| Vernonia seed heads. |
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| Inula and Miscanthus purpurescens. |
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| Looking toward the hidden terrace. |
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| Mystical 'omphalos' of the garden. |
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| The elevated box hedge slowly merging with the garden as perennials seed into the planting. I do have to control this. |
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| Great blue lobelia randomly seeded in. |
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| White Eupatorium perfoliatum and Great blue lobelia, with a large self-seeded Patrinia scabiosifolia between, randomly timed to grow tall and bloom next year. Hydrangea quercifolia behind. |
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| Looking across to the woods. Patterns of light shift moment to moment. |
