Fall Color
Leaf Season
The fall season belongs to trees; their vibrant colors outshine everything else in the landscape.
Sugar maples are the first to come to mind when thinking about colorful leaves, as they undergo a gradual shift from yellow to orange and finally to red.
Next come the burning bushes, which truly live up to their name, with their bright ruby color in mid-fall.
The intense yellows of black locust and ginkgo trees illuminate the gloomy October skies, perfectly complementing their leaden color.
Oak leaves glow in the dappled forest shade, shifting from dark green to vibrant scarlet, showcasing the beautiful array of colors in between.
The little serviceberry's salmon red leaves perfectly harmonize with the barberries' rosy maroons.
Last, if you really want a display worthy of a painter's brush, you must experience a birch forest in the fall: the fiery foliage glows atop ghostly white trunks, projected against the bruise color of the clouds like a vision from another world.
Autumn Flower Garden
Mums and their colorful mushrooms become ubiquitous as the weather cools down.
The colors and scents of the late flower garden are as comforting and warm as those of the harvest: decorative cabbages in vibrant purple and green, bright yellow goldenrods, deep gold, russet, orange, and brown marigolds and calendulas, and the darkening rust sedums.
The fall garden showcases fewer flowers, but compensates for the lack of variety with vibrant warm colors that mirror the brightness of the changing leaves.
We don't pay much attention to the ground with the stunning color show the trees put up, but herbaceous perennials have colorful leaves too: cranesbills display gradients of ruby, gold and purple, hostas and lily of the valley turn lemon yellow in rainy weather, plumbago's blue flowers are followed by intense red foliage topped with maroon seed heads.
A slow stroll through the garden in the morning, with soft fog lingering around the rounded shapes of mums and sedums, is one of those humble found experiences than bring life happiness.
Scents
Autumn's scents are as intense and comforting as its fiery colors.
There is, of course, the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin, but above everything there is a hint of sweetness in the air, a scent of warm honey, which comes from the ripened fruit and grains, and, believe it or not, from the sugar inside the turning leaves.