Fiery Hillside

The wild cherries are putting on a show at present. Sadly the tall Lombardy poplar is not. It has lost most of its leaves, but to disease, not to the season. All the different types of poplar have it now. My own large-leafed poplars used to turn a bright yellow that lit up the garden, but they too have succumbed. Most of the leaves died in summer and they still hang there, an ugly brownish grey. Everywhere I look in the countryside the gold has been replaced by grey.