Red Chrysanthemums

Most of the summer flowers have bloomed themselves into a state of exhaustion. Now the chrysanthemums take over. I’ve learned to appreciate them in all their autumn-tinged variety. They show up as carefully spaced mounds edging sidewalks or as new tenants on porches, inhabiting pots where the summer inhabitants have been evicted. My favorites are the taller, rangier ones that return each autumn to the same corners of neighborhood gardens. These red ones greet me on my walks, poking their heads through the fence---irregular circles contrasting with the orderliness of the white pickets. They will offer color and cheer until the weather gets to them too. But I can always count on them showing up again next autumn.