Life In The Face of Death

Fall signals the end of green, living things. Or does it? Even now as autumn leaves turn yellow, orange and purple, plants are putting energy into their next incarnation.

Look at any perennial plant. There, at its base, grows a little package of life, the nascent plant of next growing season. Trees and shrubs, too, work to perpetuate their productive lives. As chlorophyll production dwindles and finally ceases, new buds form. These will brave winter cold and dessicating winds. And sometime next spring, the little buds we see now will unfold, making good, reassuring us regarding the eternal promise of continuity and continuance.