Sweet olive.
Up and down sunny fields and meadows, sheets of goldenrod frame the roads. Scattered among the yellows and golds are the tall blue and white Eupatoriums. In low places purple Ironweed and pink Joe-Pye weed wave rainbow colors. Asters are everywhere, blooming until frost, a gentle mixture of white, lavender, and blue. Near the edges of woods, complementing the fields, are the glossy purple clusters of French Mulberries.
If there has been some early October rain, and you are willing to leave your car and creep on feet or knees along tall banks of creek branches, you might find the wild pink and white Indian Pipes. They live saprophytically with old beech roots, rising like small spectres above the damp beech and magnolia leaves, a very worthy reward for your efforts.
As you return to civilization and gardens of homes and churchyards, the air is pleasant with the scent of sweet olive and eleagnus. Camellia sasanquas are opening and dropping carpets of beautiful petals. Almost certainly, Camellia japonica varieties, such as Pink Perfection, Alba Plena, and Woodville Red, are opening the perfect blooms they show before frosts brown the tips of their petals. These varieties may be blooming naturally, but since the advent of the use of gibberellic acid on bloom buds, a host of other beautiful camellia varieties are brought into flower before Thanksgiving Day.
Orange and red pyracantha berries are in full color, brighter than the pumpkins along the roadside. Add yellow foliage of hickory, oak, and gingko to the red of dogwood, sweet gum and sumac, and the glow along the road will warm your hearts and lead you irresistibly toward the adventure that is autumn.
We think our Great Aunt Edna is an authority on flowers and plants, and we asked her to contribute an article on what to watch for while driving along country roads. —Dorcas Woods Brown, Country Roads founder and president
