Autumnal signs

I have been away from home for a while teaching and demonstrating and returning home I can see seasonal changes. Walking around the garden and the nursery today, I can see the changes that Mother Nature is making all around me. I love this time of year; if only for the tapestry of colours in the trees in nature and in my bonsai.
This little Cotoneaster (below) was a gift to my wife from my Budo teacher. It looks exquisite with its autumn red leaves and berries.

It is not just the Cotoneaster that is showing off its autumnal hues. Around the fields the Hornbeams are looking nice with their golden leaves.

In the courtyard the leaves on a Prunus sp var. Kojo - no - Mai are as beautiful as the leaves on the maples.

        

Our maples both Mountain and Trident are also changing colour, and we have them growing around the farm as specimen trees in the ground as well as in pots for bonsai. Interestingly the maples that are in the ground, as opposed to in pots, are still retaining more of their green colour still. Where as all the bonsai are showing various colours of red.

                                                                                   

Just outside the living room window I can see nature at work through the plants and the trees.

We have plants in the garden still flowering for us to brighten up these grey days even though it is October.

The big Atlantic Cedar, a daily reminder of my first failed attempts at styling a tree for bonsai, is covered in cones for the first time ever. It has been stood in water for over three months due to the wettest summer on record. The cones are an example of nature making sure the species will continue long after the mother tree has gone.

As the seasons change, nature adapts, and it is wonderful to see. And while I may have potentilla's and other plants flowering around the place, some of the trees hint at the approaching climatic changes ahead. Looking at the Scots and Mugo Pines and the Spruces, you can see the healthy wax coating on the buds which will provide protection from the impending frosts.

Below notice the open flower, the new flowers waiting to open and the flower which has already shone, and now fades away.

And below the waxy coating on the buds of this Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris.
Can you see the droplets of water on the needles, like pearls.

 
Autumn, so much to see as long as you open your mind!