Shape, Color, Texture

I thought in this post I’d show how beautiful some of the more common plants can be in the fall. They appear, they flourish, and then they return to where they came from, often in a blaze of color. I like pickerel weeds with their beautiful blue flowers, but I also like how the leaves appear as if they have had color painted on them when they begin to change. I can’t think of another plant’s leaves that do this. They’re very beautiful for just a short time. Poison ivy can go from green to yellow or green to red, and this patch of it wanted to be red. This plant can be very beautiful, enough so it begs to be touched, but if you do you’ll likely itch for a week or two. Even in winter the naked stems can cause a rash. I’m not sure what was going on here but I believe these are flying ants, which I’ve read are mature, reproductive ants with wings (called alates) that leave their nests in large groups to mate and start new colonies. Down under the poison ivy leaves no human will bother…