stonecrop – In the Woods

In the Walktober post time frame, fall colors in the Piedmont of North Carolina can mainly be found in the flowers. The leaves don’t begin turning in earnest until November. So, while my sister and her husband have been visiting me for a wonderful ten days, we decided to find a colorful walk at Duke Gardens in Durham. It was a lovely autumn day and I hope I get this post in before the deadline!

‘Ryan’s Pink’ chrysanthemums looked so pretty on the stone wall

this little lizard was climbing the steps ahead of us

and then decided to ditch us by going under a step

an oak leaf for my suspended leaf collection

Osage orange fallen from its tree
(I had never heard of this kind orange before)
AI says that while it is generally not poisonous,
eating it causes an unpleasant taste and can lead to indigestion

birdhouse with tatarian aster landscaping

stonecrop, a dose of more traditional fall color

painted lady butterfly hiding in the chrysanthemums

Mexican sunflower (not a true sunflower)

monarch butterfly feeding on a Mexican sunflower
(I hope it doesn’t think it made it all the way to Mexico already!)

This was my first Walktober without Tim. He died six days after our last one, and three days after I posted it. I wasn’t sure if I could find it in me to participate this year, but after the family had a memorial dinner to mark one year after his death I felt like taking this walk in his memory this year. I know he would want me to carry on and find some pleasure in the activities we used to share.

9.23.24 ~ Sarah P. Duke Gardens
Durham, North Carolina

One warm, humid, and lovely midday, we spent a couple of hours meandering around this botanical garden with our son-in-law’s parents, who were down here for the week of Katherine’s birthday. What an amazing time we all had! The last time I had visited Duke Gardens was in 2014, ten years ago, when Larisa & Dima were living in Durham.

There are 5 miles of pathways through this 55 acre garden so there was no way to see it all. We started with the historic curated terrace gardens. There were all kinds of bees visiting the many flowers still blooming.

Tim spotted the little lizard on a leaf and we all started jockeying to get a good picture of it. We couldn’t figure out what it had in its mouth and it seemed just as curious about what we were doing.

trying to bloom where it found itself planted

There was a large patch of wild petunias with bees going in and out of each blossom, acting as if there was no more pollen to be had. Apparently these are also a favorite of the hummingbirds, too.

the tiny leaves on this tree made it look like lace

looking out over the fish pool to the Italianate-style Terrace Gardens

After enjoying the view from the overlook we followed a path to the 18-acre Asiatic Arboretum.

fiery skipper on stonecrop (sedum mini joy)

This very beautiful Ruddy Shelduck from Asia is not native here and because its wings are clipped it cannot fly, which I find upsetting. I’m not going to count it as a life bird because in essence it is living in captivity.

And soon we found ourselves in the Kathleen Smith Moss Garden, which felt very cool and woodsy.

When we decided to head back to the parking lot we got a little lost but eventually found our way. I hope someday we will go back soon and see the Garden of Native Plants. In the days following our visit we got to go see Finn perform in his Taekwondo class, and the whole family went out for a sushi birthday dinner for Katherine.

This is the first post I’m writing from my new laptop. Whatever version of Windows I had on the old one will no longer be “supported,” whatever that means, so my computer wizard has been setting me up with my new friend here. So far, so good. He had to purchase an updated version of Adobe Photoshop but I have been adjusting to the changes quite well. My old laptop lasted me for over nine years. I hope that’s considered a good run.

Tag: stonecrop

fall flowers for ‘fall colors’

a long garden stroll