Home & Garden

It only takes a moment, a single lingering glance to pull the beauty of the world back into perspective.

In that moment, when the crisp glory and silent majesty of nature comes into view, everything else just slips away. All the worry and fear about a failing economy, the deafening roar from a nasty presidential election and the endless, drowning tide of bad news is forgotten.

And for that one moment, we can be quiet and still, basking in the inspiration that autumn brings into the chaos of daily life. It allows for an emotional reprieve from the madness and noise that congests and strangles the simple splendor that surrounds us all.

Not bad for a bunch of leaves.

Like a lit torch tossed into the once placid green of the forest, autumn burns brightly, reminding all who pass by just how much beauty exists in the world. When the nights turn cool and the sunlight's retreat causes days to shorten, the trees begin bursting with fall color.

Star Multimedia
Slideshow: Fall colors Photos of fall foliage from around the area.

The fiery red maples, the burnt orange oaks and the rusted yellow birch trees mingle together to create a vibrant patchwork of colors that rolls across calico hills and slows passing traffic.

"The color change is one of nature's greatest spectacles," says Calhoun County Master Gardner Sherry Blanton. "A daily walk around the garden makes me think I am watching a work of art in progress."

The colors are so brilliant Walter Timmons has to take off his sunglasses to absorb it all. It wasn't but a few weeks ago that the 68-year-old retired teacher raced around LaGarde Park with his eyes trained on the loose gravel path, his concentration focused on the classic country songs pouring through his headphones.

"I never paid much attention before," he says, leaning against a dogwood, its leaves slowly emerging into a crimson red. "But now, it's not so much about exercise. It's about appreciation.

"I've watched it all my life, and it never ceases to take my breath away."

What's truly remarkable about the changing of the leaves is that it's not a change at all.

"The colors were always there … hidden and covered," says David Dubose, co-owner of Bloomin' Miracles Nursery in Jacksonville, standing beneath a towering yellow maple tree that's so tall it looks to be leaning against heaven. "But come fall, we get that slow reveal. When the chlorophyll is taken out, the veil is lifted.

"This time of year … it's like living on a different planet."