Fabulous Fall

I love spring when the plants venture forth out of the cold ground and begin to show their colors. I admire the plants that are determined to be the first to bloom. It is exciting to see color and life after a cold white (and sometimes brown) winter. Summer brings it show of flowers. These are the fair weather kind. They put out their blooms when the days are long and the frost is far from everyone's mind. However, the fireworks of flowers seems to come in the early Fall. The plants that wait until the fall put forth a vast array of both flowers and color. I think that they have to have more flowers and more color to attract the insects that will pollinate them as they don't have much time before frost bites at them. The fall flowers seem to last a bit longer. All summer long I have had to resist pulling out the mums because they seemed to be taking over the garden (well, in fact they were taking over the garden and killed off other plants in their way), but when the yellow and burgundy flowers came out and covered the bushes, I decided they were probably prettier than the flowers they killed off. The asters took off a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure what to expect, but then came a spray of lavender and yellow. I can just sit out on my patio and look at the asters and mums and life is good. Other perennials are also putting up an additional blossom now that the intense heat of the summer if over. This truly is a beautiful time of year (even before the trees change color - although I am enjoying the color high up in the mountains). I guess my Eden right now is my backyard where I can see the colors of the flowers against the colors of the mountains.