The summer sun casts its final warm shadows over my garden blooms. Gentle rays walk across fading shades of pink, purple, yellow, and green. Where just weeks before hummingbirds and bees abundantly visited and darted in and through these flowers and wispy branches, now only a solitary bee remains in search of summer’s last nectar.

I welcome the arrival of weightless warmth, a departure from the thick, wet southern heat of July and August. Everything stands a bit taller with this slight change in weather. The last of the hydrangea blooms stretch for their final appearance before cooler October nights put them to bed for winter.

The sedum still contemplates her mauve transformation…perhaps a bit shy in this new location without the suns full attention?

The rose’s sweet fragrance is almost gone. The petals falling to the ground take what vintage scent remains and scatters it low upon the ground where a barely there fragrance will regenerate once more with tomorrow morning’s dew. Only a few blooms left…

And where will this butterfly go when the first frost burns the leaves and shrinks the flowers of this verbena upon which he feeds? In early summer when the plant was fully established, I noticed him take up residence amongst these micro-blooms that live just below my office window.

Although there is more fading than blooming, more stillness than activity, I have found the hidden beauty in the final days of my summer garden.

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.”- Claude Monet