Autumn Colors in Northern Illinois

If you've stopped in looking for a card...you'll need to look at my next post.  I wandered outside with my camera, late yesterday afternoon.  I love taking nature photos, especially this time of the year.  I love the rich colors of autumn.  The contrast of the crisp, clear blue sky against the yellow and red leaves.  And even the brown leaves!
Although, we still have a number of maple trees that still have their "summery" green leaves.  So there are many colors to choose from!
You'll also see that we still have a few blooms in the flower gardens.  In fact, the red roses look much better now than they did this summer.  During the summer, they were covered with Japanese beetles.  And many of the leaves were destroyed.  Once the beetles finally left...the roses thrived!

Enough talking.  Here are the pics.

I love the angle of the late afternoon light on this maple leaf.

I found this leaf, all alone, on our front porch.

Ahhh...a red rose bloom in late October.  What a wonderful gift from God!

Sedum...I really like the deep color of the blooms this year.

The leaves on this maple tree are just beginning to change color.

A few leaves on the same tree as above.

Yellow conflowers.

I don't know what coneflower variety this is, but I love all of the layers in these blooms.

Thanks for taking a look at my photos.  I hope you enjoyed them :o)