It's Autumn in Scotland . . . and my garden is alive with color and wonder.
The days are getting shorter . . and many of the birds have gone.
The leaves have gone red . . .
. . . or golden.
The apples are ready to harvest in the far end of the garden.
The garden is very old and the original planter created a garden that has continuous flowering . . . when one plant fades, another comes into bloom. These are still flowering in late October.
These miniatures grow from the nooks an crannies of the garden wall.
The garden hedge sprouted these blossom buds recently . . . although they have not opened, they attract large numbers of bees, wasps, and flies.
There is a great variety of foliage throughout the garden.
The roses were among the first to bloom . . . and they are still producing amazing flowers.
And there are more roses yet to come.
These popped out a couple of weeks ago . . . right before I was going to pull them out, thinking they were weeds! Close call.
Autumn weather can be wet and wild in Scotland . . . and occasionally throws up amazing rainbows. I watched this one go through many phases . . .
This rainbow ended in this striking streaked image.
Fast moving clouds full of rain cross the landscape continuously.
Rain and shafts of light. Beautiful.
Occasionally there is a window in the storms and a glimpse of the sky appears. Sometimes there is magical light that pours through the holes in the sky . . .
And when the sun pours through . . . .
These back-lit 'silver dollar' leaves . . .
So beautiful.
And when the garden stops flowering . . . I have house plants.
Dr. Jeff Harper
