Dwindling down

The cold, which has re-snapped in the last few days (overnight temps near 60), seems to have put the end-of-season period after our mussaenda.

It's been blooming outrageously since May or so -- so much that passers-by would inevitably stop and ask what is it and whether they can grow it.

I've been out there in front of the porch every morning, picking up dropped bracts, snipping out those long, streaming tendrils holding the bloom heads, keeping it as tidy as possible. But now more old leaves are yellowing and falling, and the clumps of foliage are leaving in droves.

I'll miss the color, especially when, as here, the low sun gives it such a lovely backlight.