Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons. ~Jim Bishop
Cold nights finally arrived this week and transformed the trees and shrubs around the garden and through the woods. Green is giving way to gold and bronze and red, filtering the already golden light through a stained glass canopy of warm colors. It is one thing to view the fiery colors from open ground and another entirely different experience to walk beneath them. I feel as if I am in a new world seen through a new lens.
Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonize. ~George Eliot
Everywhere I turn, most of the green beneath my feet and above my head has been changed out to a new color scheme. The morning has been a constant shift between hesitant sunshine and spats of rain and every surface is saturated and rich with color.
“And I rose
In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days…”
~ Dylan Thomas
(click on any photo in the mosaics to enlarge)
A few flowers continue to bloom, offering rich color and the last bits of food to pollinators.
Some of the garden faces are still smiling.
Angel and I make the rounds several times a day – not only are the colors beautiful but the autumn earth is rich with scents. “At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth.” (Rilke)
The leaves are beginning to fall as the rain begins again; it won’t be long before the trees are bare and this glorious color is a memory. “Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” (Chad Sugg)
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot
All photos and text ©2017 Lynn Emberg Purse except where noted; All Rights Reserved.
composerinthegarden 
You are lucky to have such lovely woods adjoining your home. I love the photos in the mosaic, especially the one that shows the contrasting dark purple leaves (Cotinus?) with the yellow and orange nearby.
Love the woods, Jason. I spent most of my childhood in them and was delighted when we found this place. I feel like I’m in a treehouse when I’m on the decks.
The dark purple shrub is the native ninebark (Physocarpus) ‘Diablo’. That part of the garden is partially shaded in fairly wet soil and Diable keeps its dark color throughout the season, getting even darker in the fall. Wonderful shrub; I keep it pruned to shoulder height but it can grow much bigger.
Autumn is a big splash from the colour palette. A beautiful post, Lynn.
Thank you, Otto – it certainly is a big splash!
Thank you for sharing Lynn. My views here in Sq Hill are gorgeous this week. I love it when the lighting elevates the golden tints against a blue sky with grey clouds and the dark oranges are in the background. There is nothing like a stormy and sunny autumn in Pittsburgh.
Thank you, Janet – today was a perfect blue sky gold leaves kind of day, but I know what you mean about the stormy sunny autumn days – always beautifully dramatic.
This is an excellent batch of images, Lynn, but I have to particularly note the third image in the first array (the vertical with the blossoms on the bottom). By all means, that one should be printed, large, and framed.
Kerry, thank you for such high praise. I haven’t printed an image in years but I may consider your advice. I do love the way the garden looks right now – the shadows and light fascinate me.
Yes. It’s a great season to enjoy the explosion of colour accompanied by an outpouring of beautiful poetry. For the gardener too, there’s the thought of all that leaf mould in the making!
Leaf mould – yes! As soon as it dries out a bit, I’ll be mowing the leaves and putting them in garbage bags over the winter for a quick rot into that wonderful garden gold. Hope you are enjoying a beautiful autumn in your part of the world, Richard.
Autumn is a bountiful buffet of transition. Cheers to the beauty you maintain in your garden and the natural beauty of the setting.
Thank you, Frank. I imagine the fall colors are good in southern Ohio as well – enjoy nature’s show!
Such a beautiful season. Especially so in the East. If it cannot last longer, at least it is gorgeously captured here.
Thank you, Audrey. To my surprise, the leaves are holding up in spite of heavy rain and sleet, so the views from my windows are now completely gold – gorgeous!
A wonderful woodland walk. And all yours too!
Glad you enjoyed it, Jude! Part of the woods are a “borrowed” landscape but I do enjoy every inch of this place 🙂
You’ve been bronzed! And gilded, too, I think. What beautiful, quiet colors, so apt for November. I know what you mean bout the experience of standing underneath a colorful tree and feeling the light filter all the way in to your soul. And there’s an intense deliciousness to be had under a fruit tree flowering in Spring, too. George Eliot’s idea about being a bird and flying around to keep watching autumn reminds me how I used to love going south for Spring break with my family, then I got to experience it all over again when we came home.
I enjoyed the ramble through your woodland garden again, Lynn, thanks!
Thank you, Lynn – you “get” everything about this garden. Yes, I’ve been bronzed and gilded by my garden 🙂 After I posted this, I realized that the colors in my garden are the same as the colors on and in my house; it is very much an inside and outside experience this week. Always great to have you stop by and share your amazing insights.
It’s a delight to suddenly find congruences like that. My mother used similar colors in her home. Stopping by is always my pleasure, never doubt it! Enjoy your weekend!
The beauty of autumn is well represented in your garden, Lynn. Gorgeous – I love the burgundies especially.
Thank you, Eliza. Yes, the deeper the color, the more I like it – good to know that someone else treasures the deep tones of autumn.
Gorgeous, a little melancholy, but in way that soothes, if that makes any sense…deeply peaceful to my soul. Thank you, Lynn!
Ah Kitty, I totally get it – I find this time of year soothing yet with the knowledge that soon it will be bare and color free. One can only celebrate the feast laid before us.
so beautiful – my favorite season )
Mine too! My house is all of these colors, so this is the season where the outside and the inside resonate together 🙂
That final show before everything goes to bed.
Bernadette, thanks for stopping by. I’m sure autumn is similar for you now – I’m rejoicing in the experience of walking under a cloud of gold and red 🙂