Heroes Not Zombies

I want to share three photos with you today.

There is a large stone wall along one side of the garden where I live. It is covered with a plant called “Boston ivy”. In the winter it is bare…just a web of brown creepers clinging tightly to the stonework. In the summer it is a dense, deep green. Towards the end of summer millions of seedpods hidden behind the leaves, pop open in the last sun of the day, cascading down through the vine creating a sound that is for all the world like a waterfall.

But at this time of year, the change are at their most striking. The leaves turn golden, yellow, and a whole spectrum of reds –

Then as the leaves fall, they reveal a forest of yellow stalks to which they were attached –

I’ve never seen anything like that in any other plant. After a while, all the stalks will fall to the ground too. But as the leaves fall away, they reveal the dark purple berries which hundreds of birds seem to desire – at least it seems that way to me as I see how busy they are every day just now.

I think the red colour of the stalks which hold the berries is astonishing.

Such variety! Such variation! Such daily change! Something new to see and to enjoy every single day…….