“The Devil’s Walking Stick”, Aralia spinosa, earns its name because its trunk and branches are covered in large sharp thorns. It’s huge heads of flowers seem to crop up in the strangest places, including this one reaching over the fence to bloom in my back garden.
Just as in the springtime we watch the landscape erupt into Forsythia and daffodils; then Magnolias, fruit trees, Dogwoods, Azaleas, and tulips; so the autumn also has its own progression of color and bloom.
The last of the Hibiscus bloom in this marsh filling up with the seed heads of grasses.
Goldenrod beside the road on Jamestown Island.
We have passed the midpoint of August, and goldenrod paints the roadsides and empty places golden. 
Staghorn Sumac has grown its flower heads, like gigantic cream colored tassels.
Staghorn Sumac
In a few more weeks the seed heads will turn rich burgundy, and the leaves will go scarlet.
Sweet Autumn Clematis
Sweet Autumn Clematis, extending its reach all summer, finally opens its white flowers.
Sweet Autumn Clematis “frosting” the crown of this shrub.
It is like frosting, or a light sprinkling of snow on the still green landscape.
Trumpet vine climbs this pine.
Orange trumpet vine cloaks tree trunks, fences, and telephone wires, calling to every hummingbird in the neighborhood to stop in for a sip of nectar.
A last pink Hibiscus
The last few Hardy Hibiscus flowers of the season open amid the already ripening seed pods of their earlier blooming sisters.
“The Devil’s Walking Stick”
Tall shrubs of “The Devil’s Walking Stick”, Aralia spinosa, poke out from odd places with their huge crowns of flowers.
Stems covered with sharp thorns, this North American Native shines in the autumn as its flowers grow into tiny berries, loved by the birds.
Hydrangeas are fading to purple and brown.
Dogwoods are beginning to show red in their leaves, but their berries won’t turn red for several more weeks.
The Kingspoint Club dock, on College Creek
August teases us with the first cool nights, the first chilly mornings, inviting us to bring our steaming coffee mug outside to watch the mist lift off the yard.
Bank of the James River, near Jamestown.
Bold strokes of gold, mahogany, and white appear to relieve the solid green of summer.
Rudbeckia, Black Eyed Susans, finally open. Here they are planted with Zinnia, coneflower, and daisy in my garden.
Rudbeckia blossoms finally open.
Joe Pye Weed on the bank of College Creek.
Pink Joe Pye Weed beckons the butterflies for feasting.
Lycoris, Spider Lilies, bloom in late summer. Their leaves come and go earlier in the season. The flower stalks appear very quickly, always a happy surprise.
Lycoris flowers appear, as if by magic,
This perennial “weed” is related to Ageratum, and blooms in beautiful periwinkle blue late into Autumn.
Weeds bloom and are called wildflowers,
And this tiny vine unfurls its flowers along the marshy bank of College Creek.
I don’t know its name, and so far haven’t been able to identify it. So delicate and lovely, it reminds us that summer days are almost passed.
Fawn grazing on the Colonial Parkway.
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The leaves on the trees are still green. We do not have any leaves change colors until middle of September.
We believe it will be an early autumn. As of today, some dogwood leaves are entirely scarlet, and we have some pure yellow leaves on the tulip poplars. They aren’t waiting for frost. Interesting that they are turning so early here, but not up by the Lakes.
It is so much fun to watch the changes in nature.
Thank you, Annie. Are you a few weeks ahead of us in the autumn color?