One bright spot is our Confederate Rose bushes though. I believe they're actually hibiscus and are supposed to be a little more tropical in nature than our climate allows but every few years we actually have flowers before the frost gets the buds. This is one of those years.
The Confederate Rose flower is an oddity as it starts off as a deep pink bud, opens to a pure white flower, then gradually gets more and more of that deep pink color as the flower ages.
I've tried to take progressive photos of one of the blooms but our weather has been less than cooperative!
First, the bud -
This one was already beginning to open so isn't as deep in color as it can be. After the bud opens it becomes a white flower - again, I didn't catch this one in the pure white stage and you can see a trace of pink along the edges of the petals.
I ran out during a bit of lull in the rain and photographed the bloom in the pink stage -
Right before the bloom falls off, it turns a deep, almost burgundy red. Unfortunately with all the rain, I missed that stage also.
I just find these flowers fascinating and when they are in top form, they're very beautiful right up until the time they fall off the bush. Not only that, but because they bloom so late in the season, they offer a cheery pop of color at a very dreary time.
