Renewal

New growth on the tropical milkweed.

The tropical milkweed that had been stripped bare by Monarch butterfly larvae have put on new growth.

The larvae have transformed into butterflies and flown to Mexico.

Nature never ceases to amaze me with its ability to renew and transform.

Even among the newly sprouted shoots and the amazing transformations, this is the season of decline. Summer flowers spend their last sparks of energy on blossoming and forming seed. Seed drops to the ground or blows on the wind, carried by fine silken parachutes.

Green fades from leaves the brown, droop and decay, sending the vital energy into roots for winter's sleep.

Summer's ending. And in that ending sleeps a beginning. Seeds mean new plants in spring. Strong roots mean new shoots in spring.

Sleepy trees drop their leaves and microorganisms begin their feast of decay, turning the detritus into rich, life-bearing soil.

No death. Only change. No end without a beginning, no beginning without an ending.

Always awesome, magical, mysterious, magical.