Late summer asters

Summer has begun its wind-down. The daylight hours are dwindling, the sun is lower in the sky, the leaves are drying, and some of the birds have already begun their journeys elsewhere. Our colors are starting their change to the deep reds and oranges of fall. So I set out in search of a “last” color of summer and found these Lindley’s asters blooming with their final hurrah, valiantly reaching up to the sun’s warmth. With our lowering night-time temperatures they too will soon be fading into fall’s colors.

Hard at work

Hard at work 50930_StaatsEveryone is busy getting ready for fall, including the bees.  The asters are in full bloom in our backyard, and they seem to be a magnet for the bees.  It’s exciting to see all the activity; I wonder at all the flying and flitting around that they do.  It was fascinating to observe this one bee as he moved from bloom to bloom, stopping for short while and then moving on to another.  Our summer-like weather has yet to turn over to fall temperatures, so he’s like all of us – busily trying to get all those jobs and tasks done that we’ve put off hoping that summer would last longer than September.