nancy ondra

When I heard about the Fall Color Project 2011 on the Growing the Home Garden blog, I couldn't wait to post some of the fall color pics I recently took in the farmer's field at the end of our Rochester, NY suburban subdivision. I know these posts are usually about leaf color changes on trees (which I've included), but I've found even more fall color every year in this field ….

Like this field of zinnias in every color imaginable …

Year 'round, you see, I take my golden retriever, Buddy, for frequent jaunts through this field. Buddy, who otherwise spends his days with his head sadly hanging over the edge of the couch, lives for these times.

So do I.

After hours of digital immersion - iPad, iPhone, laptop and TV - it makes me feel alive again to touch, see, hear, smell (and sometimes even taste) the changing of the seasons and the cycles of nature …

And of course, fall is my absolute favorite time to do this - what with all the leaves (like these sumacs, above and Virginia creeper, below) turning their fiery, brilliant autumn colors …

Then there are the harvest-hued fall vegetables waiting for harvest , like these pumpkins …

And the  rainbow-colored rows of cut-flower crops, like these celosia (also called cockscomb) …

See, I grew up in the country, surrounded by farmers' fields. So at an early age, I started appreciating the beauty of these mass plantings - like these zinnias (left), blue ageratum (middle) and yellow rudbeckia (right) …

Or tidy blocks of bluish-green green crops, like this broccoli, contrasting with yellow-green grass.

But I have to say - even though I always favor hot, bright dramatic colors - what really wowed me this year were the subtle purples, pinks, blue-greens and whites of the farmer's ornamental kale …

Holy moly! Of course I'd seen - and loved - the few ornamental kale I'd seen planted in isolation in fall landscapes every year. But I'd never seen them planted en masse like this before. And man, how do I describe it? It was like visitng a rose garden on a different planet, with multi-bloomed clusters looking like other-worldly bouquets …

Well, that's it for now. I've got plenty more pictures, but my dog's hanging his head off the couch and looking at me, as if to say, "Well, stop writing about it, already! Let's go back out there and live it!"

OK, Pup … I'll go get my sneakers …