GBBD: rekindled love

I’m looking the other way. I could show you the bare branches, the leaf piles, and the shriveling plants. But it’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! So I’m focusing on the bright flowers still blooming in my garden. Although it was a windy day, which made the photography a bit more challenging, the light was right to capture the season’s last outdoor blooms.

We haven’t had a hard freeze yet, so we’re in that delicate transition time when colorful annuals bloom next to autumn Pumpkin and Cornstalk decorations.

Zinnias on the sunny west side of the house keep producing their bright, knock-out flower heads.

Sedum is has ripened to a deep wine, but it’s still just as lovely as it was in pale pink.

Bleeding heart hangs on to its last blooms, even as its leaves wither and drop.

But the flower I’m truly celebrating is Cosmos—as reliable as it has been all summer. I haven’t planted Cosmos for a few years. I don’t know why, because I’ve fallen in love with it all over again.

What’s more enchanting than a small vase of cascading Cosmos? This bouquet has lasted for more than a week, and it's brighter than the day I picked it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be planting Cosmos again next season.

(Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!)

To autumn...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 

   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

       To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

       For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

~John Keats

(I missed Garden Blogger's Muse Day on Oct. 1, but this Keats poem describes the season so well. I'm not too late to join Dave's Fall Color Project meme. Check it out, and keep track of the beautiful color changes from north to south in the Northern Hemisphere. Thanks, Dave! All photos in this post were taken in southwestern Wisconsin or southeastern Minnesota near the Mississippi River.)

Beyond the Maples

There's no denying Maples are glorious specimens at the peak of autumn color.

But so many other lovely plants, shrubs, and trees add color to the autumn landscape, including the gold/green medley of some large-leaf Hostas...

The peachy/lime/burgundy hues of Dwarf Korean Lilac...

The brilliant sun-catching gold of the Shagbark Hickory and Redbud...

The variegated salmon/orange/green of Flowering Almond...

And, of course, the show-stopping, hard-to-believe-it's-real crimson/fuchsia of the Burning Bush...

Autumn color takes my breath away!

One of America’s ‘best fall color drives’

Traveling through Wisconsin during the first few weeks of October is like passing through a watercolor painting.

All the regions are fantastic, but Travel and Leisure recently ranked the “Driftless Region” of southwestern Wisconsin among “America’s Best Fall Color Drives.”

This past weekend, my husband and I had the pleasure of passing along the edge and then through the heart of the region. Trekking to this part of the state has always been one of our favorite pastimes.

On this particular weekend, we traveled Interstate Hwy. 90 to “family weekend” at our daughter’s college; then took a couple of side trips on state highways and county roads through the Driftless Region on the way home.

The leaf colors are changing so fast now, it’s hard to pin down which region is “near peak” or “peak.” But the color in and around the Driftless Region is definitely worth a road trip.

The U.S. Geological Survey describes this region as a “highly eroded, unglaciated” landscape. Much of the area was never covered by glaciers, or contains deposits from the edges of the glaciers. The landforms, plants, and even some animals (bats) are unique to the area.

 Here are a few sources that describe the Driftless Region in detail:

• U.S.Geological Survey
• Wisconsin Geological Survey
• Driftless Area Land Conservancy

I-90 from Madison to the Minnesota border passes along the edge and in and out of the Driftless Region. The sections of the interstate in the glaciated regions are just as beautiful. Along the way, Maples, Hickories, Hemlock, Birch, Ash, and Sumac blaze as if on fire. At peak, the Oaks join in with their burgundies, bronzes, golds, and deep browns.

Traveling I-90 is easy—with clean, well-tended rest areas and tourist stops along the way. But if you want to see more rustic locales, take a side trip on any of the state or county highways for photo ops, picnic spots, apple orchards, and produce stands.

The sun is setting earlier in the day, so the oblique light highlights plants in shades of color that are hard to adequately capture with a camera, a painter’s brush, or a blogger’s words.

But I have another chance next weekend—we’ll be heading back that way again to see our daughter in her first role in a college play production.

(Thanks to Hanni at Sweet Bean Gardening for hosting the Hope Grows meme. What will I look forward to next month? Maybe a surprise?)