The New Emerges

Working in the new part of the garden I finally looked up and saw that the buds had burst on the Ruby Lace, standing at attention, hands in prayer. This is such a beautiful tree [link here], late to bud and every year I worry. The leaves open much the same way as a tree peony, upright and tightly curled about each other, only to open and bend backwards exposing them selves to the warmth of the sun. As the leaves mature they become a silver gray on the up side with a magenta glow on the bottom side. Such a beautiful tree, Gleditsia tri.inermis [Ruby Lace].

A portrait

leaves unfurling

caught in the wind

Sea Holly

A friend brought these over yesterday and what a treat. Definitely one of my favorite flowers and I have never seen them at a florist. The color of the leaves is an iridescent purple lavender with the most amazing arrangement of spikes on the leaves. I grow a variety in the garden, a tall stately plant, some call an architectural plant, which give them a certain gravitas. The whole plant is edible and although I have never tried it the young shoots are sometimes grown with out light and eaten like asparagus.                          

Sea Holly

Leaves in the Pond

Getting the final parts of the garden put to bed and I need to rake the edges of the pond to get out all the debris i.e. leaves and pine needles so that we do not add any more sediment to the bottom. For some reason the color of the water seems darker at this time of year and I love how the leaves appear under several inches of water.

Pond leaves and pine needles

First Frost

It was cold last night as we walked Zoe and the stars were amazing. Forgot my Ipod with Star Walk so still only know the names of about 4 stars but I'm learning. This morning when I got up there was hard frost on the ground; soft, golden light and leaves falling. I love the way the frost outlines each leaf. I become so much more aware of their pattern and texture, and I love the way the silvery, glinting frost changes the color.

First Frost

Orange

Pouring rain the last 2 days, dark and heavy with a chance of flooding....U%$#$. Good thing I shot these Wednesday in a brief period of light. I want to see if I can go through the whole color wheel using the fall colors. There is a problem with the blues, I will have to use the sky and the mountains, neither of which are visible at the moment! So here is orange.

Sumac leaves...gorgous

More sumac leaves

Peony leaves

The Fall Color Wheel / Yellow

Taking a break from the studio yesterday morning, and between rain showers, I was walking around the pond and standing under the sumac. I love sumac, the velvet stems, the orderly arrangement of leaves and the fall color is wonderful.

yellow sumac leaves

Lily leaves

Butternut leaves...I think