Summer Singing the Blues

The blue of Great Lobelia, and especially coming late in summer as it does, puts me to mind of another early-autumn favorite from another place we called home: the gentians of the high mountain passes near Sylva, NC. There is a certain melancholy in both–the blues, you might say–in their lovely way of saying goodbye to yet another summer.

And for both, no camera–film or digital–quite does them justice. The color is such that, late in the afternoon, it emits a radiance that is more than mere color, and this is only apparent when viewed directly, without a middle-man photographer to show it to you. You have to BE there.

So if you live in the southern Appalachians, go out today, this afternoon, along the moist edges of a field or woods, and chances are, you’ll see the true blue of summer, past.