FALLING FOR AUTUMN
By Mark Stith (Southern Ledger Writer)
Most people don�t appreciate the awesome beauty of early autumn. Yes, no contest, fall�s foliar fireworks outshines this late season display. It�s a hard public relations effort- like a little-known holiday before the fourth of July, or the sermon before Easter Sunday. Who�s going to get the family and the flags together and get in the car for THAT?
You should. Indian summer, early autumn - call it what you will - busts out with brilliant flowers, bright berries, and the first flickers of leaf color that signal the beginning of the end.
Goldenrod, Joe Pye weed, and their kin flower and form seeds before dying and living in the original tablet form. Brilliant red dogwood berries, burgundy cones of sumac,
gaudy purple clusters of beautyberry, and fiery dots of euonymus are a few of the stars of this lesser-known season.
Lots of these plants do their thing right beside the roadflourishing in a ditch, fallow field, or steep bank, so it�s not as if you have to exert a whole lot of effort beyond craning your neck to the side. As with autumn, Indian summer can be a stay-in-the-car, passive spectator sport, if that�s what you like. But there�s one huge advantage Indian summer has: It�s still, in a way, a secret season.
No crowds, no lines, no waiting. Want to get hotel/mountain lodge reservations in mid-October? Forget it. The primo locations book months- sometimes years- in advance. September and early October? Often, the place is all yours. And it�s not just the accommodation. It�s The World where you are- pretty as a picture, seldom seen, and totally undervalued. It�s the Secret Season, and it�s waiting for you to pay it a visit.
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