Colorful Gardens Go Dark For The Winter
By Phran Novelli
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - What a difference a day makes - or rather, one freezing night.
I was out for a walk a couple of weeks ago and marveling at how many things were still blooming - asters and mums, roses galore, and a particularly prolific patch of zinnias. I stopped to snap some photos because they were a beehive of activity - and a butterfly hive too, you could say - with a lot of flying guys stopping by for a little nectar. Since there are so few flowers in the fall, insects have to rely on whatever might be blooming to give them some energy, and so the entire patch of zinnias was shaking with movement as they landed, loaded and took-off again.
Then that night, the temperature hit the 20's, and by the time I saw that zinnia patch next, they were dead brown.
Looking at the photos side by side here, it almost seems like a digital trick - as if someone sapped the pink out of the petals and substituted sepia brown. But it's simply Nature, drawing the curtain to a close; show's over until next summer!
