Winterthur, Delaware is the legacy of Henry Francis du Pont, 1880-1969, American

Mt. Cuba, Hockessin, Delaware is the legacy of the Lammot du Pont Copelands, American

 

 

Autumn has moved in slowly. 

 

 

It is more that we have stumbled on patches of Autumn here and there.

 

Winter camellia is in full flower

 

 

The golden larch is transitioning to gold

 

 

Seeds of the saucer magnolia

 

 

The stand of Sargent crabapple is in leaf and not yet in seed

 

Fall daffodil is in bloom

 

Late goldenrod is still in bloom

 

Native, carniverous pitcher plants (Saracenia) 

 

Pinnacle hydrangea is in its final flower

 

 

The holly is both in flower and in seed which has yet to turn red

 

 

The edible fruit of the common persimmon are still falling

 

Lilac has made a second late showing

 

 

Chadds Ford Atlantic Ladies’ tresses (Spirolantes cernua Chadds Ford), classified as a native orchid

(photo from the site of Mt. Cuba Center)

 

 

TBD, Mt. Cuba. (Age has robbed me of the name of this plant)

 

Native blue wood aster, drying

 

 

Two varieties of the native grass, hair-awn muhly

 

 

Native sourwood, one of the earliest trees to turn

 

 

Native obedient plants are in flower

 

 

 

Bitter orange.  Fragrant rind used in minuscule quantities. The fruit is  unpalatable.

 

 

Elephant leaf

 

 

Toad lily in flower

 

 

Seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides) tree is in blossom

 

 

The red oak in the meadow garden at Mt. Cuba is only now turning red. 

On the other side of the meadow, its companion dogwoods have already turned. 

The grasses are shorter and less colourful than in other years: they are paying for the drought in Spring.

 

 

The coniferous ones dance in a halo of their deciduous companions

 

 

 

These flora, these grounds tended with such care,

 

Clearing underbrush around the lake at Mt. Cuba in very late October

 

have kept us grounded through this year’s hard October.

 

We have given thanks. We give thanks.