The shapes of fall

All summer, nature works busily away at producing the fruits of the year. In fall, we see the results; usually familiar, but sometimes so unusual that we have to take a second look. Here are some shapes of the fall that have caught my attention lately:

These remind me a little of the coronavirus images that are all over the media these days. In reality, they're the marble-sized fruit of the Korean dogwood tree in our front yard. Colourful and edible to some birds, they weigh down the branches and often end up in a trampled-upon red jelly underfoot. Photo by John Denniston. 

There's a tree on a pathway in Pacific Spirit Park that produces a whack of often-blighted apples that are usually just shoved off the path in a heap. On my walk one day, I discovered that someone had carefully assembled them in a long, snake-like row all along one side of the path. A striking new shape indeed. 

Here's that long line of apples from the other end. The next time I walked the path, the assemblage was gone, and the apples were rotting in heaps in the underbrush.

On our walk one day, John and I noticed some unusual shapes emerging from a tangle of vines edging a garden and wondered what they were. Weeks later, I passed again and saw they had grown huge and assumed much more definite shapes. A little googling tells me they are gourds.

Objects like this were peeking out of another tangle of vines just a little further along; it seems this hairy fig-like shape is another kind of gourd. 

This is the garden of the gourds. Clearly, true gardeners work here. Vines above, and you can see some of the flourishing vegetables -- still going strong in October -- below at the base of the fence.

Tiny perfect round pumpkins on a bed of leaves have replaced the sweet alyssum that in the summer decorated this "bathing" boulevard mannequin. I notice she's lost her flowing blond wig and gained a mask since I saw her last, but the wine glass in her hand remains. 

During our last visit to Saltspring in September, I found a few roses for a bouquet, but mostly depended on the berries, colourful leaves and dried grasses growing around the garden. The different shapes created a mantel display almost as pretty as a summer one full of flowers.

One perfectly shaped, unblemished apple from the ancient apple tree in our back garden. You can see the tree's branches through the kitchen window, and maybe even catch a glimpse of red apples still up there.

And finally, another look at those strange coronavirus/dogwood fruits. Is it a coincidence that they're especially prolific this year? Photo by John Denniston.