Early Fall at Brookside Gardens

I spent a few hours over at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland recently. I never quite know what to expect to find in early October – some years – there are still some flowers in great shape to photograph. This year – the flowers were OK – nothing special – but I did find some wonderful early fall colors to photograph.

The first plant to catch my eye was a very small Japanese Maple tree. Some the leaves were turning red – and with the rain we’ve had recently – there was lots of water still on the leaves.

In the Fragrance Garden I found all sorts of wonderful leaves on some sweet potato vines to photograph. Not only so the leaves have incredible shapes but they also are found in all shades of greens, red, and purples.

And then I found some wonderful red sparkleberries to photograph! A member of the holly family, Sparkleberries have bright red berries that last all winter – or at least until the birds eat them.

Fall is a wonderful time to photograph at Brookside Gardens – lots of leaves that change colors at different times. I’m looking forward to heading back there in the next few days to see what else I can find.