One day in September, the exact day a matter of the weather, the
wheelbarrow path from wood pile to porch will be strewn with the
golden leaves of yellow birch, one of the first trees to turn
color in our garden. Only shaded leaves on the inside of the
tree canopy will have fallen at this point, the outer leaves
remaining on the trees, dark green, continuing to transform
sunlight into sugar. Their day will come. Deciduous trees and
shrubs begin to shut down in September while the vegetable
garden’s sunflowers, oblivious to the morning’s chilly air, open
new flower heads even as goldfinches peck seeds from the old
heads. A hard freeze will soon put an end to all this, but for
now their bright yellow faces tower over beds of potatoes,
squash, and carrots. Color slowly fades from the September
garden, greens turning yellow and brown, branches thinning
toward bare. Potted hyacinth beans with yellow-brown paper-thin
leaves would have been retired to the compost heap if not for
the dark red pods clinging to their t