The Joy of Leaves

Leaves fall softly, mimicking a butterfly
Sunshine warms the forest floor
Acorns are falling, watch your head
Squirrels scurry, 
chipmunks hurry down the hatch,
Birds flurry to the treetops
Golds, oranges, reds and purples wave
as the wind whispers sweetly 
Crunchy leaves underfoot
Life's ending 
or, is it
just the beginning

These are the words that fill my head as I stroll through the woodland garden. 
Humor me for I am not a poet.


November is peak color time in my garden and 
these sunny days we've been enjoying are good for my soul.


The hosta leaves are turning golden and furling up before they disappear 
amongst the carpet of leaves.


 They are especially stunning when the sun hits them. They seem to glow.


The imperfection of the dogwood leaves is nature's perfection. 


Oranges, reds and purples glimmer in the filtered light.

One of my favorite fall plants is the Sumac. 



How can you not fall in love with all the colors?
 My little forest of Sumac puts out an array of color.


The Japanese Maples that are scattered under the native canopy grow prettier by the day.


The Coral Bark Maple has turned a glorious amber that looks muted
against the bright reds and oranges.
And it won't be long before the bark shows its signature coral
that will brighten the winter landscape.


I am enamored with the orange of this lace leaf maple. It is really exquisite.


But among all this magnificent color the real goodness is right here under my feet. 
The fallen leaves will soon be decomposing and will make the soil rich and nutritious.


So what is a feast for the eyes now will soon be a feast for the plants.
These leaves are the building block of life in my garden.

I am linking to Growing the Home Garden for the fall color party where you can look at all the beautiful foliage around the country. Go take a look... 

Comments

  1. How I wish I could walk amongst the fall foliage in your garden! We have little glimpses of the color here but nothing like yours. So glad to be able to live vicariously through your posts ;)

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    1. I am surprised our color is as good as it is this year since we haven't had that much rain this fall. I hope your fall color will set in soon.

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  2. I leave my leaves where they fall. ;o) No raking here! I wish I had as much fall color as you do. Even my crepe myrtles dropped their leaves with our first frost before turning very red. Your woods are beautiful.

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    1. Thanks! We do get a lot of mulch with all our leaves. We spread the leaves around the garden and put lots in the compost pile too because they would get so thick otherwise plus the neighbors leaves always seem to blow in our garden.

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  3. Lovely post. Very evocative of the season. The beautiful pictures help, too!

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  4. Very stunning photos, and you are very privileged for being in a country with autumn. Personally seeing those colors is still a lifetime dream!

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    1. Andrea, I hope you will see the beautiful fall foliage one day soon!

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  5. Great photos. Didn't get the Fall color I usually get this year so it's nice seeing the lovely color you have.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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  6. I think you are very poetic with your words and your fabulous pictures. I don't know which is prettier the Maples or the Sumac.
    hugs, Cherry

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    1. Thanks sweet Cherry! Those oranges and reds of the maples and sumac are so stunning especially when the sun hits them!

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  7. I love your poem...paints a lovely picture...how interesting to see hostas turn golden...here they turn translucent and then mushy with cold.

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    1. Thanks Donna! I think the golden leaves of the hostas are just as beautiful as when they are green. I don't know why I am so enamored with them but I love the veins which seam to be stronger as the leaves die back.

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  8. Gorgeous, gorgeous! I love the Sumac, too. Mine wasn't as pretty this year, but others around town were simply stunning! I like the idea of having so much vibrant autumn color in November...and spring blooms in late February and March. Winters are entirely too long here in the north. But our summers are usually perfect. Hoping we won't have another drought next summer...

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    1. You can always move South,LOL! I have to say, that I really appreciate the long spring and fall here which did seem short lived when we lived in Michigan. It looks like you will make up for your lack of summer rain with winter snow! I hope that helps make up your deficit!

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  9. Yes, sumacs can be absolutely brilliant up here as well! Another couple of unexpected stars for fall color in my garden are Rosa setigera (Illinois rose) and dwarf blueberry (Vaccinium).

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    1. Jason, I noticed my blueberries starting to put on their fall color too. They are really gorgeous! What type of color does the Rosa setigera put out?

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  10. Wonderful words to your poem Karin. I enjoyed the look at Fall leaves too. The Sumac was not as colorful up here this year. Many plants were muted and shadows of themselves color wise.

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  11. Your poem is lovely Karin - more please! You capture the poetry of nature with your lens so it's only natural that the same love will flow through words.
    I love this time of year and I agree that it's not so much the end as the start of another new cycle. Beautiful!

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  12. Thank you for letting me catch a glimpse of autumn again. Everything is grey and dormant here.

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  13. The joy of read and yellow in fall!

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  14. The joy of read and yellow in fall!!

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  15. Beautiful photos - sometimes I wish Autumn would last forever! But then again, I love all the seasons!

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    1. I could probably do without winter, LOL. I love looking at snow photos since we rarely get any here but it is a good time to rest and rejuvenate.

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  16. Oh, that sumac is stunning! It's the one thing I miss about this time of year. Most of our trees here are evergreen, so fall color is a bit sparse. If it wasn't for our fruit trees, I'm not sure we'd notice the transition from summer to winter. I'm still conspiring to plant a Japanese maple, or maybe a Ginko somewhere here, if I can convince the deer to leave it alone!

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  17. so much lovely colour in your garden. i'm envious of your japanese maples, they have such pretty colours and the shape of the leaves is so attractive. I was really impressed when we moved out east and saw the colour on the sumacs. one of my fall favourites too.

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  18. Beautiful fall images Karin! I love your last sentence- So what is a feast for the eyes now will soon be a feast for the plants.- so true! I never thought of it that way before.

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  19. I love the glowing fall colors. Yours is really nice. Love all the different colors of the Japanese maples. My coralbark is still coppery yellow.
    You mentioned you wanted a Euonymus americana 'Heart's a Bustin'. I have them coming up all over. I can pot one up for you...hoping to get to your plant sale in April. Maybe I can bring it then or some other time (we need to get together). Let me know.

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    1. Janet, that would be fantastic...I would love to receive a pass-along from you! I am so excited that you are thinking of coming over for the Spring Expo too! And, yes, we do need to get together.

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  20. So beautiful...you have highlighted those leaves so wonderfully. My favorite is the photo of those glowing hosta leaves. There are so many colors in autumn. It is a feast for the eyes.

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  21. Don't have the skill set to be a good poet but I can see if there's one time to be inspired it would be now. I totally agree with your comments re sumac and the leaves against the black background is frame worthy in my book.

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  22. What a lovely series of autumnal photos Karin.

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  23. Oh my Karin, beautiful Autumnal images – I smiled seeing the coral barked Maple leaves, we’ve these here – well we did have ;-) How pretty these leaves look when freshly on the ground too – nature paints the ground like an artist :-D

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  24. We don't have many reds or oranges here. I love the photo of the sumac with the light filtering through.

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  25. I absolutely love fall colors. The sumac and Japanese maples are so pretty! I have a coral bark, but I'm not sure it likes where I put it. I hope the bark still turns a bright red, though!

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  26. Your post is wonderful! I'm glad to know I am not the only one who finds Sumac beautiful enough to let it have space in their garden. It is also encouraging to know that I am not alone in finding leaf mulch is a far better alternative to burning! ~Lynda

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  27. Gorgeous post, my dear.

    Never thought of hosta leaves as a thing of beauty until NOW. Do you remember if this is a blue one?

    I adore the fully red colored sumac but that image turning all those rich colors would make a beautiful large framed image.

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  28. It all sounds poetic to me. The autumn colours are magnificent.

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One of my favorite things about blogging is the conversation with readers. Leave a comment and let's get talking. ~Karin

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