Redbud tree seedpods
.
Taupe: Tan, brownish grey or greyish brown;
Khaki?
.
.
Not my favorite color, but sadly, much of our garden fades to taupe in winter.
.
.
This is the dried out husky color of dead grasses.
.
.
The bleached left-over color of fallen leaves and dried seed pods.
.
.
It is the background, the default; Nature’s neutral.
.
.
It cloaks the marshes and carpets the forest floor.
.
.
We distract ourselves in December with pine green, berry red, cone brown.
.
.
We gild it all with frost and snow.
.
.
But Taupe is patiently waiting.
It’s death-mask tranquility will still greet us
in January, February, March.
.
.
Beaten by rain, blown by wind, bleached by sun, rotted by time;
Taupe will not surrender
Until it is overpowered with fresh spring green growth.
.
.
Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014
.
Forest Garden 