Autumn Wings

We had quite a hectic day today with our elderly dog (see my husband's blip), so I didn't have much time to spend on my blip.

I strolled through the back yard to see what I could find, and thought these rosy-gold wings were worth photographing. They are the seed pods of the vine maple, one of several Northwest native plants in our yard. You can read more about vine maples here.

The article notes that vine maple is a nice alternative to Japanese maples. Why not have both, I say? We have two Japanese maples in the front yard and a particularly lovely Japanese maple in the back. Its winged seed pods are much showier than the vine maple -- see for yourself here.