Stop to Smell the Dead Flowers

Being a dog, I have some of the best views in the world.  My face, after all, is at flower level.

Summer flowers are beautiful, it is true.  But the flowers of fall have a unique, subtle, and under-appreciated beauty, as well.

Take this Queen Anne's Lace.  In the summertime, it was a wide spread of tiny white flowers, radiating from a central point into a flat lacy disc.  But now, in the autumn, the flower has dried and curled in upon itself.  The pure white of summer has transformed into a silvery beige.  It looks almost like a miniature birds nest, perched precariously atop a delicate reddish stalk.  But this seemingly fragile structure will often last throughout the winter, poking up above the drifts of snow and providing visual interest, as well as a reminder of the summer days to come.

In honor of Halloween, take some time and stop to smell the dead flowers of fall.  Many of them do have interesting fall aromas, often more herbal than floral, but lovely nonetheless.

If you are a gardener, consider letting your flowers remain intact throughout the winter months.  Native prairie plants, in particular, will last throughout the winter, acting as a natural snow fence and providing seeds and perches to hungry birds.  After all, the biological point of the flower is to act as the plant's reproductive system, and to produce seeds.  By removing or overlooking the seedhead of the plant, we are essentially missing the point!

In addition to the interesting dried seedheads of flowers, fall is also a good time to look for colorful berries that have been largely hidden by leaves throughout the growing season.  While most of these berries are not safe for you or me to eat, they do decorate the forests and prairies with bright blazes of color on a dreary winters day.  They also provide an excellent source of food for our overwintering birds.

Get out into our parks during these gorgeous days of fall and appreciate the bounty of seeds and berries that our plants have worked so hard to produce.  Send in your photos of the beautiful dead flowers of fall along with your comments!