Goodbye to Summer

This time of year the garden starts to look pretty shabby, most of the flowers have bloomed and went to seed. The colors of summer have faded. The recent windstorm didn't help matters much either. All the remaining flowers that haven't died already were blown down, flattened like pancakes all over the yard. The only color left in my flower beds are my cosmos. Their stalks are all flattened and going every which way but I don't have the heart to cut them down just yet because even though they are laying on the ground they are still full of buds just waiting to burst open with color and beauty. So I left them (much to the dismay of my OCD yard tending neighbor I'm sure) but I'm so glad I did. They have been providing me with lots of lovely cut flowers, filling the house with color... a final hurrah to summer.