Transitions

I've FINALLY got my camera (a venerable Nikon D100) and lens back after their cleaning and "spa" aka repair at the Nikon facility (in the lens' case).  

It's been months, thankfully much of it filled with travel with a small Panasonic (my hubbie was the photographer), and many images to post afterwards.

There's actually not too much of interest right now in the mountains.  Gloomy skies, dormant perennial beds, and vegetable beds filled with frosted veggies!

I hadn't downloaded any winter break trip photos to my laptop, so am just reminded of last fall's color, looking at the Lightroom stream that's popped up.

This was in November, 2014.

Fall, 2014

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It's been a wonderful fall

The cold and wind is pushing out the last fall leaves, but I'm reminded of what wonderful fall color that we've had in the Southeastern U.S.

The maples just went on and on and on.

view from Biltmore terrace

I was reminded about how beautiful it's been, as I looked back through some recent photographs.

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The fall colors keep coming...

Even in the mountains, there are still plenty of yellow and reds illuminating the landscapes.

In the Piedmont this morning, I felt like I was saying good-bye to fall color, but maybe not, even as the arctic cold front (and wind) descends this weekend.

oak-leaf hydrangea

gingko, sassafras, viburnum, and oaks

Fothergilla

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Gingkos: with and without leaves

After the coming weekend's fall blast of cold air, unusual for mid-November, we won't have much fall color left.  I'm thinking the wind will bring down all of the yellow, orange, and red maple leaves, and probably most of the oak leaves, too.

A touchstone of our seasonal lives in the Eastern US is fall color -- mainly from native trees, but also from ancient trees, with a heritage far different.

Gingkos fall in that category. A Chinese temple tree, extinct in the wild, they've been planted widely along streets and in landscapes. Their fall color glows a luminous yellow, and their leaves fall all at once, carpeting the surrounding ground.

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A look back

Amazing to search for sassafras (which is a vivid color right now) in older posts, and pick up this post from several years ago - on this date.

It's remarkable to see how much larger some of these trees are -- even just three years later (we've had a LOT of rain).

http://naturalgardening.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-fall-color.html

The sassafras is the deep red to the right of the yellowing ginkgo (and above the yellow-leaved viburnum) on the right side.

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More fall views

A morning hike in the mountains of Western North Carolina:

view beyond the field

distant view

reflections on Bass Pond

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Ginkgo fall colors

a luminous ginkgo

From my study window, the ginkgo under the power line corridor is amazing right now -- both from the study and our bedroom.  We planted it almost 20 years ago, so it's tall now.  And beautiful this year.

view from my study

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Fall's ebb and flow

It was cooler today, and with the time change, it's now dark earlier in the evening.

Happily, in late afternoon, light streams into the living room and dining room, as the sun is lower in the sky as fall progresses, so it was lovely to spend time there late today. 

My study is in shadow by then, as is the kitchen, so it's a joy to be experiencing the light out front, being surrounded by the woodland garden and forest.

view from the side gate

I love the view from our front rooms and porch every year in fall and winter, as the light illuminates the rooms.

Here's a post from 2009 and another along the same lines.

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Storm time

I've been reminded again today, as Sandy approaches the northeastern U.S., of the power of storms.

We've had nothing but some strong winds and a bit of rain today, mainly from a Gulf-based system, not Sandy.  But leaves blew off, raining down on the lawn and mulched beds. I wish we'd got some more rain, as it's been dry for weeks.

But, it's been a glorious fall so far, and the reds have deepened on the dogwood leaves, the sassafras and persimmon leaves are striking, and the hickories and oaks are holding forth, too.

No yellows in our ginkgos yet -- they're late.  I just searched ginkgo in previous posts and these came up, all mentioning the clear yellows in November!

This image was from Nov. 20, 2010.

Ginkgo biloba, SCBG

It's one of a pair of ginkgos near the nature center at the South Carolina Botanical Garden planted at the same time (one is a lot larger than the other).

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Evening porch view

A wonderful September day (in late October) found the porch a perfect spot for dinner.  It's still normally nice at lunch, but at dinnertime -- how pleasant (although a bit unnerving, too).

evening

The reds and purples have been deepening noticeably over the last few days, along with the yellows and oranges becoming more evident.

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Fall color

 A beautiful fall day had me admiring the purples in the dogwoods and the exuberance of the (non-cut-back swamp sunflower) in the border that we see from the porch.

from the porch

Normally, I would have reduced the stem height in June, but didn't this year.  The tall stems are now flopping dramatically, but are really quite pleasing.  And the buddleia to the right continues to host an abundance of butterflies, including the last push of monarchs, as they're moving south.

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