Scenes from the Garden: Leaves

Another beautiful autumn day here in Dubrovnik, warm and sunny as if it was spring. Today I decided to take photos of some of the different leaves you can find in my Garden (I follow Google+ trending topics, you know). Since it is autumn whether it seems like it or not, a lot of plants are in the process of loosing their leaves, so I bring you only five photos I deemed most worthy.

The first plant is Mimosa pudica, one of the prettiest trees we've ever had in our Garden. It used to be a huge tree, but when the roots started to do damage to the walls, we had to cut it down. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few young offshoots growing more than five years after we've cut the original tree down. It's a very interesting plant, with bipinnately compound leaves which can rapidly close under certain stimuli, like touching, warming etc.

Mimosa pudica

Next comes a well known plant, Rosa rosa, or, if you don't speak Latin, a rose.

Rosa rosa

For the next one I chose a beautiful (when in bloom) Lilac vulgaris, or Common Lilac. This one has also grown in the Garden since the dawn of ages, and I remember looking for a five-petal flowers to drop down my shirt, which supposedly brings you good luck, if you believe in that sort of nonsense (as many kids do, I guess).

Lilac vulgaris

Last one is so abundant in the Garden that I decided to take two photos of it. It is also one of my favorite plants, an invasive and poisonous species which serves as a great background for numerous spooky, haunted old houses. It is, of course, Hedera helix, also known as Common Ivy. If you don't mind having such a nuisance of a plant in your garden, it is great for attracting all kinds of bugs and birds which you can watch for hours when you're bored.

Hedera helix and Tricyclus antiquus

Hedera helix

So, anyway, these are only some of the plants in the Garden. Which plant is your favorite? :)