A Walk in the Garden

This morning's walk started with a frenzy of barking as Cooper spied squirrels at the bird feeders. He really despises squirrels. I fully expect to see him climbing a tree before this winter is over. He is quite fast and bounds over any obstruction with ease. So far, he has been unsuccessful at catching any squirrels and they really do seem to taunt him. There has been little in the way of fall color here but this geranium is wearing bright colors and the 'Cornell Pink', deciduous rhododendron is one of the last plants to drop its bright leaves. Bright even for this year. The season progresses and the stinking hellebores have their green flower spikes already. This is a wonderful plant. Deer resistant, trouble free and it re-seeds quite readily. It has the added advantage of growing in dry shade. The flowers on the native witchhazel are hanging on as the leaves fall to reveal more of those flowers. This plant was a grafted 'Arnold's Promise' witchhazel but the top died back leaving the native plant to flourish.  One last plant of interest observed on this morning's walk was the Enkianthus campanulatus. The seed heads look very similar to the flowers in shape although the flowers hang down while the seed heads point to the sky. The seed heads even have a distinctive stripe along the small cup.  There is no improving on Nature, is there?