Some fall colors are showing in this part of western Montana as it quickly turns toward winter. It is surprising that any flowers still remain and that so many leaves are still green after many frosts and freezes. Perhaps it is because of the many rainy days in the past several weeks. The fires here are finally out: I will post some photos of the fire area when I get a chance to visit the burned areas.
Montana Outdoors 
The fall colors are beautiful, and so are the flowers. I’m glad you have some left!
I like the lichens. The larger one on the right looks like the hammered shield lichen.
Glad the fires are out too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by New Hampshire Garden Solutions — October 13, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
Most of the trees haven’t shown much color yet. I’m afraid that there will be snow damage soon if they don’t shed their leaves.
The fires are all out now with cold weather, rain, and a little snow. The mountain tops that were in the fire are all white now.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 7:58 pm
Wow! That’s a whole lot of beauty…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Mother Hen — October 13, 2017 @ 3:49 pm
I’m hoping that there will be more and better colors yet to come, but it will probably be brief.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:00 pm
I hope so, for you too.. I saw some stunning color today.. but not easy access too stop and capture..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Mother Hen — October 15, 2017 @ 5:24 pm
A beautiful time of year. Good to hear that the fires are out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by wordsfromanneli — October 13, 2017 @ 4:10 pm
Yes the fires are out, and it looks like the forests are celebrating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:01 pm
So glad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by wordsfromanneli — October 15, 2017 @ 10:27 am
The end of the fire season fills me with joy. I know how bad its been and can well imagine how anxious home & land owners it would have made them (having been through a bush fire some 55 years ago myself).
The Fall colours are looking beautiful, especially around the house. No doubt they’ll end soon enough with the first snow fall, but I hope you’ll show some more landscapes like the last image at Fall progresses.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Vicki — October 13, 2017 @ 5:18 pm
It’s a relief to have the fire danger over (at least for a year)! I hope I will be able to get out more in the coming weeks and see more of the colors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:02 pm
The traditional fall colors are so pretty. I like the layers of color in the last photo, but those little asters are a nice addition, and the leaves in the first photo are special. What are those? I don’t recognize them. We’re starting to see a variety of asters now, but it’s going to be a while before any real color shows up.
I am glad to hear your fires are out. Today’s weekly bulletin from the Texas Forest Service noted that wildfire activity in Texas for the past seven days included 43 wildfires for a total of 241 acres. I guess our floods were good for something!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by shoreacres — October 13, 2017 @ 6:11 pm
The leaves in the first photo are Rocky Mountain Maple just turning color. I have not seen it that distinct before and it’s really pretty.
Our fires are gone, but for the last couple weeks I have been very concerned for my daughter and her family who live in Santa Rosa. The fire area in north Santa Rosa stopped only a mile short of her home. They are all safe and I think they will remain safe now, but I have been glued to the internet keeping track of the areas affected and all of the new concerns as they came up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:07 pm
I’m so sorry that you all have had that anxiety. I hope they weren’t part of the new evacuations that were ordered yesterday. I have a friend who lives entirely too close to the Nuns fire, and although she hasn’t needed to evacuate at this point, it’s still an iffy situation. I hope that you’ve been able to maintain communication, too. I know there have been some issues because of downed cell towers. Any fire is a concern, but these fires have been nearly indescribable.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by shoreacres — October 15, 2017 @ 8:09 pm
We were fortunate to have fairly good communications throughout the whole thing. It appears today that Santa Rosa is safe and there is 40% containment on the Nuns fire. With a little rain in the forecast and all of the resources they now have on hand, things are finally looking positive for those who have escaped the fires.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — October 16, 2017 @ 8:05 am
Lovely. What a nice canopy for your deck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by teresaevangeline — October 14, 2017 @ 6:21 am
That big Box Elder is perfect for the house. It shades over half of it in summer and drops its leaves to let in the sun in the winter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:08 pm
Beautiful photos .. autumn is such so photogenic. Hard to believe that there have been frosts and freezes .. I’m so pleased that the fires are out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Julie@frogpondfarm — October 14, 2017 @ 1:24 pm
We have been having a small sample of winter lately. I think there will still be a little warmer weather coming up before winter really hits, but that will be pretty too.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:09 pm
Lovely colors your way. Is your area recovering from fires?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by heartandsoul974 — October 14, 2017 @ 3:36 pm
We were lucky here. The north edge of the closest fire was about two miles from my house and we have a veritable rain of ash and coals from it but fortunately no homes burned. It covered 75 square miles of forest though and came very close to entering the nearest town.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 14, 2017 @ 8:13 pm
That’s much too close. You and your family were blessed. 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by heartandsoul974 — October 15, 2017 @ 6:16 am
Yes we were and thankful for it, but it was nothing compared to the terrible fires in northern California.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 15, 2017 @ 7:50 am
Wow, it looks beautiful and will probably be even more so soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Candace — October 15, 2017 @ 9:59 pm
I hope the colors will last for a while longer. We have a few nice days coming up that might help the progress and the snow is still at the higher elevations, not down in the valleys.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 16, 2017 @ 8:08 am
Beautiful burnished colours! I love the last photo especially – what a gorgeous landscape. Good to see that you’re getting some calm weather and sunshine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Jo Woolf — October 17, 2017 @ 3:27 am
Yes, we’re getting some good weather before the onset of winter. The snow is getting closer now in the higher country. A friend who is on a logging crew is working in a higher elevation about 30 miles from here and was unable to get to the work site the other day because of deep snow drifts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by montucky — October 17, 2017 @ 8:26 am
Those maple leaves in the first picture are something: don’t know I’ve ever seen maple leaves exhibiting patterns like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Steve Schwartzman — October 19, 2017 @ 7:01 am
I haven’t either. My best guess is that it’s a brief phase that they sometimes go through.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — October 19, 2017 @ 8:11 am
Ah, you mean like some children.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Steve Schwartzman — October 19, 2017 @ 8:47 am
Your last photo is stunning in my eyes. I had to look at it many times and study details. Thank You.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comment by Sartenada — October 25, 2017 @ 12:17 am
That is a landscape nursery that sits below the high, rocky ridge about 10 miles from the nearest town.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — October 25, 2017 @ 10:33 am