There is rarely a golden autumn in Siberia. The beginning of September is almost always still warm, but the expected night frosts bring cold, which many plants cannot withstand. And so you come to the garden and look sadly at the blackened leaves and stems of nasturtiums and marigolds, shriveled hosta lobes and fading laces of astilbe. Every year I hope that maybe this September will be warmer, and at least until the end of the month I will admire autumn perennials. Ornamental grasses (Penisetum, Miscanthus, Calamagrostis), autumn asters, Echinacea and Rudbeckia remain beautiful. Therefore, for our Siberian region I always recommend these autumn perennials, which will make the garden interesting until winter and will remain decorative then already above the snow cover.
The foliage on trees and shrubs changes colour rapidly. And you should catch these days when it turns golden and scarlet. As soon as the first strong wind comes, it takes away almost all the foliage with it. One is left to admire the geometry of the branches against the almost always bright blue autumn sky. For me, these tree skeletons are lovelier than the conifers that remain unchanged all year round. It is interesting to observe the structure of the brunches, their bizarre curves and geometric patterns. Autumn rain drops freeze on twigs and then these icy vectors mirror in the sun and sparkle silver. Later, frost covers the leaves of grass and opened, mysteriously surviving in the autumn frost, buds of roses. These beauties hold out until the last and bloom little by little, overcoming the cold.
And if leaving the garden and walking along the favourite path to the lake, there is one picture more beautiful than another. No, there is no bright scarlet autumn foliage here. Everything is moderately restrained, noble, transparent … Reflections in the water of riverside vegetation and cold sky make you stay and stare.
I can watch it without tearing myself away, thoughts of the eternal nature take hold of me, I am drawn to philosophise on the subject of life and death. It is at this time that I always feel myself a part of Nature, that my body and soul are the same material from which the autumn leaf and this thin reed above the water are woven….
The photos were taken by Tatyana Belkina. Photo of a rose from the garden of my sister Nadezhda made by her a few days ago.