October Color?

The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere-
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year. . . .

—Edgar Allan Poe (Ulalume)

It wasn't night when I took the above picture; it was this morning. By late October, the field across the road should be outlined in colorful trees. It isn't. Because of the drought and the high temperatures, the leaves are indeed "crisped and sere" on this October morning.

A couple counties away, Anita in her post today on Blue Country Magic also mourns the lack of color. So, it's not just me.

Here are few pictures of color that I found in my yard:


The clouds behind my redbud tree promise much-needed rain. Will we get it?


Not much color on the oak; the silver maple at least has a golden hue.


The burning bush at the end of the bottom driveway is at least starting to burn with fall color.



These chrysanthemums I bought at Wal-Mart last week have plenty of fall color.



But these yellow roses bloomed last spring. do they think it's spring again? The pink roses must think so, too.


I brought a small slip of this rose from my mother's backyard when I moved here in 1999. Her pink roses had bloomed every spring that I can remember. She'd brought a slip from her mother's rosebush when we moved to our Roanoke house in 1947.

Drought or not, some things endure. Even if they bloom at the wrong time.

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