October 2023 in the Garden: Nothing Gold Can Stay

When I checked first thing this morning, the temperature was 31 (30 degrees lower than when I woke up yesterday). I looked out on my garden when I got up, expecting to see a blackened wasteland or at least frost-tinged plants, but it looked nearly the same as it does in these photos (taken throughout the week).

a surprise bloom from The Poet’s Wife rose

Robert Frost’s assertion that “nothing gold can stay” describes spring, but those words always make me think of autumn.

Honeymoon dahlias standing tall

Autumn is an ephemeral season of gold.

all of my dahlias are still filled with a profusion of blooms

This year in my part of Wisconsin, the colors have been more intense than I can remember and the season less ephemeral. Week after week the colors have changed and shifted and awed me with their beauty.

As I wrote in my mid-month Joy Letter, before I left for vacation I said goodbye to my garden, expecting frost to end the season, but when we returned I was surprised by explosions of dahlias and ripe tomatoes.

a handful of late tomatoes — Cherokee Carbon and Green Zebra

The garden is shaggy and overgrown and some plants have already finished for the year.

the garden beds are still (and again) overflowing

But others keep going with their beauty.

Benary’s Giant Salmon Rose zinnias

Keep nourishing me body and soul.

a row of French Breakfast radishes popping out of the garden

The weather was warm this week and one rainy day I opened the sliding doors in my studio to listen to the rain.

so much is still growing and blooming

Multiple times during the week I sat on the rug by the doors to watch my garden. Quiet and grateful.

the black and blue salvia is again filled with flowers

With the warm spell I was glad the flowers in my garden bloomed for the reawakened bees.

this sweet, delicate Japanese anemone was nearly hidden behind other plants

And for a hummingbird straggler.

dahlias from the other direction

I cut flowers to bring inside, but I also left some for the garden visitors.

a profusion of Eveline dahlias

And so I could sit and look out at my garden, enjoying the colors while they remain.

glowing purple Bishop’s Children dahlias grown from seed

But nothing gold can stay, and I know that although my garden doesn’t yet look ravaged by frost, it soon will.

these Potomac Early Sunrise snapdragons haven’t stopped blooming

I’m making a point to notice every last bloom. To savor these ephemeral beauties. To thank my garden for all the joy it’s brought me throughout the season.

I hope you are making a point to notice and savor, too.