If you visit Anna (Flutter and Hum), (and I highly recommend that you do) you will find a thoughtful treatise on light as a design element. That’s why I chose the above photo, featuring a very different, but no less effective, light as my vignette. A visit to Joy Creek Nursery inevitably yields more special little scenarios than you could shake a stick at. So this is more of a pick-your-own vignette post.

A long, hot summer has taken its toll on many gardens, but here there is always plenty to admire. My intent was to zero in on the things that were keeping this garden looking fresh.

Dahlias, of course. Because they put on such a dramatic late-season display, they are often overused (a gaudy mash-up competing for attention). Worked into a border and surrounded with plenty of interesting foliage, they shine.

Monkshood (Aconitum) catches the slanting rays of filtered sunlight: so blue, so beautiful, so deadly.

Asters take autumn by storm. There are tall ones, small ones, sprawlers and uprights.

I’m inclined to like the lacy white ones and the deep blues. Whatever your taste, there’s probably one for you.

The way they spill over the path is almost enough to excuse their pinkness (I’ll bet there’s a white one that would do that).

Fading seedheads (I’m guessing of Fillipendula rubra) can be as decorative as any flower. How about that view of the distant hills through the trees?

Hydrangeas have a long bloom time. To my mind, they gain in beauty as they fade to shades that seem to come from some antique tintype.

Joy Creek has a huge test garden for Hydrangeas, where you can see flowers in all their stages as the mounding shrubs blend into the hills in the distance.

Mustn’t forget grasses when looking for Autumnal interest. Whole undulating landscapes can be made up of grasses alone.

Zebra grass makes a nice backdrop for Penstemons, another Joy Creek specialty.

The zebra grass bears closer inspection. A dwarf form, ‘Gold Bar’, was a Joy Creek introduction.

I visited last Sunday, when Alex LaVilla was giving a talk on Great Plant Picks. Sunday seminars are a gift from Joy Creek to the gardeners among us. Next Sunday, Sept 27, 1pm, will be your last chance to get in on one of these in 2015. Susan Latourette will talk about conifers and their use in the landscape.

So let’s wind this up with a last grassy vignette, shall we?