"In misfortune, which friend remains a friend?" - Euripides

Strong winds and high surf today - wiping out the twin islands? The wind tossed the trees blowing off many of the leaves on most of the trees. The basswood in the second photo had most of its leaves a few days ago. Birch bark trees and the choke cherries seem to retain them longer.seem.

There is a pine tree growing on one of the islands. I don't think it's going to survive much longer - which is sad.

There are several species of Colchicums in my garden. The largest ones flower early, this year it was late August - early September. Next came the double ones, then small white ones, now there in mid to late October are small pinkish ones. If you look closely you can see them in this shot. Remember, the leaves come in the early spring. They die back before midsummer and the flowers emerge alone, amaryllis-like, in late summer - early autumn.

I also managed to bring up from my Royal Oak garden a naturally occurring interspecific hybrid fall blooming aster (Michaelmas daisy). I spotted it a few years ago and fell in love with it. The flower buds never open but I find their deep color, shape, and perfect size very nice. You can see it in the first photo below; the Colchicum is below to the left of the hybrid

My dogs love to eat Pulmonaria leaves (the spotted leaves on the right). They are rough, itchy. Pulmonaria or lungwort are old fashioned flowers that flower in the spring. Mine came from my Grandfather's garden decades ago. They regularly seed themselves. In the upper right of the photo you can see the base of my cobalt blue bird bath.

I know these small flowers are not spectacular but they are much appreciated at this time of the year.