Nature Notes: Small changes towards a new season

I wish I could say that the weather is beginning to cool off but that's not the case. However, there are beginning to be some indicators that fall will eventually come.

I didn't save the labels to help me remember the name of the bush above when I planted it 15 years ago but it is always one of the first to get some color at the end of the summer.

My dogwood trees, shot above and below, are always the first trees to change from green to orange and red.

The berries will start turning red before too long on the dogwood trees. By late September the dogwood trees have their full fall color but most of the other trees around here are still changing colors in October and November.

At Grace Garden in Durham there are still plenty of flowers but there are also areas where the plants are going to seed like the shot above. Same at Shelley Lake in Raleigh where I shot the rudbeckia and echinacea below. There are still some flowers mixed in but mostly they are going to seed.

The rudbeckia below is one from my garden that still has its flower petals but the center where the seeds form is getting more elongated.

As I said, in spite of early signs that we are moving towards fall, the heat isn't letting up. I recently noticed these little houses the ants had built so they could escape the heat.

I like the way critters create artwork on mushrooms as they eat.

I almost missed the opportunity to photograph the dragonfly who was perched on top of this broken branch that fell from a tree into the bushes.

My hand stopped just shy of the grabbing the branch to pull it out of the bushes.

The dragonfly must have liked posing because he stayed put while I grabbed my camera and clicked shot after shot.

Rambling Woods is the host for Nature Notes. New link goes up for this theme by Thursday morning.