Evening Light, Late Summer

The sunlight becomes noticeably different by mid-August, as the sun travels lower in the sky. And now, in early September, the raking light in evening is especially beautiful; it illuminates the late blooming flowers....

...and the crops of late summer. Onions, just pulled, glow as though lit from within.

The leaves of carrots and beets become more than their ordinary selves...

...while red cabbage leaves look like stained glass windows.

September is the month for ripening tomatoes, which hang in the evening light like lanterns. After the summer's heavy rains, the plants aren't healthy, but nevertheless I've had a decent crop for canning.

Cool greens become golden in early evening.

Dill flowers are bursts of light against the dark woods.

Pumpkins are glowing orange and green, not yet ripe. Winter squash crops were also badly affected by the wet weather, so I'm hoping that they will ripen before a hard frost.

I love the colors of sunflowers amid the vegetables during summer; now the heads are mostly hanging dark and heavy with seeds, for the birds to enjoy and for next year's flowers.