Autumn gave us a parting gift after another inch or two of rain and temperatures that plummeted into the frigid range. Wearing my warmest coat, I walked outside and then stopped in my tracks when I saw a blanket of colorful Japanese maple leaves on the path in the front garden.
I would have noticed a few lovely fallen leaves, but this EXUBERANCE took my breath away.
Forget for a moment that someone is going to have to rake not only the paths but also the shrubs. (That would be Lou. I think raking has become his favorite pastime, and I praise the great job he is doing.)
The sheer mass of red leaves makes me remember another path - one covered in cherry blossoms. I think of great swaths of daffodils, a desert carpeted in wildflowers, a trail edged with clouds of blue woodland phlox, an orchard of row upon row of olive trees: all sights that stay with me because of the magnitude of their elements.
Nature reminds me that beautiful gardens are not timid. They don't have to be big, but they must have commitment. OK, a hundred garish gnomes are not for me, but surely they would make a child smile! And that is more than some gardens accomplish.