When time flows slowly...

Well, believe it or not, fall is here. At the end of September, we finally have some cooler nights and mornings and... unbelievable... more and more dried leaves cover the ground and crunch under your feet...

 

It was one of those mornings when you definitely want an extra layer of clothes to keep you warm. And when I entered the Denver Botanic Garden, the first thing I noticed was all those dried leaves. They instantly switched me into fall mode... I already expected to photograph wilting nature, but the moment I stood up after capturing the photo above, my eyes caught some movement and, to my surprise, I saw a butterfly fluttering above these bright dahlias! Well... it turned out that fall wasn't quite ready to take over yet, and we still had plenty of flowers in full bloom. Summer was still hanging on, quietly colliding with the darker and wetter mood of fall...

We had some really heavy rain the day before, and I guess some rain overnight as well. Everything (okay, almost everything) was covered with dew and sparkled under the rising sun.

So... it was an easy morning in the gardens. All I needed to do was stop and point my camera at different flowers or plants. No rushing, no searching too hard... just stop, look and click. Easy peasy...

And this dew! Sometimes you wish for a drop or two on a flower or leaf, but this time there was plenty left after the rain the night before (yep, that's right, no cheating with a spray bottle was needed at all ;) ).

I would call it "a hug" :) To my surprise, there were not only blooming flowers but also plenty of buds still waiting for the right moment to open up. A little reminder that the garden wasn't finished with summer just yet.

This patch of grass always catches my attention. Hundreds of stems stand like hair, creating an intricate web... but on a morning like this, covered with a myriad of water drops, the web comes alive. It sparkles in the sunlight and turns into a beautiful, intricate surface...

And... one more thing that makes this even more interesting... You change your focus, and suddenly you see a completely different picture. Right, these two photos were taken from exactly the same spot... and the only difference is what I wanted to see - the outer layer of grass or something a bit deeper. I could spend an hour there, looking at the grass and finding more and more new shapes, patterns and reflections...

Well, the cooler morning means not only a more pleasant temperature... It has some other effects too... It feels like time slowed down. And maybe it really did... I walked slower than usual and had no desire to rush forward. But the flowers were behind schedule too :) These water lilies would normally be wide open by this time, but when it is chillier... they open much more slowly, and the Monet Pond looks different because of it.

Well... slow or fast... I made a circle and was heading back to the exit when I stopped at the cosmos garden. There were far fewer blooming flowers than usual, but I couldn't pass without admiring these white cosmos. Lit by the sun, they had a truly cosmic look!

Back to the sparkling grass before leaving. Well... I wish I knew when we'd have another morning like this, with every blade covered in dew... I want to see it again!

Small pond with tropical lilies. Covered with dew and changing color depending on how old they are... a beautiful little stop before leaving.

 Photos taken on September 26, 2026.