All it takes is for the clouds to part and let the sun shine to set everything on fire. Next to the pond, the snowbell fruits dangle like Christmas tree ornaments. Paint them different colors, and you’d have an outdoors Christmas tree.

Nearby the snowbell tree, the holly trees are waiting for migrating birds to snatch their orange berries. One migrating bird can eat a berry and deposit its seed far, far away. Who knows, by now, this holly tree may have children hundreds of miles away.

In the garden the magenta spreen is growing like crazy. I’m running low on greens to take to the two remaining Alger Sunday Markets. This weekend I’ll have plenty of fresh magenta spreen to offer.

I’ve let a few Swiss chard do their thing. This one is big enough to feed an elephant. The leaves are so large, one leaf could feed a family. The spitzkohl, pointy cabbage, are nearly done. You won’t find a tastier cabbage than spitzkohl. I don’t know why the stores don’t have bins of them. Well, I do know. Their odd shapes make them awkward to pick by machine, hard to pack, and cumbersome to handle. Not being efficient and easy to process is a death knell for any vegetable. Our relentless striving to be ever more efficient will drive us all to extinction.

And once we are all gone, who will pause to enjoy the beauty of autumn maples?