"Ten years ago," she says, "I thought I'd like to live in the tropics, but I changed my mind. Being in Florida one time when it was, like, 98 degrees and humidity was 120 and seeing all the bugs and slow drivers, I thought, you know what? My husband always said he likes the four seasons.
"Now I agree with him," says Cooper, an insatiable gardener. "This is a very pretty time of year."
Traci Miller isn't so sure - at least, in her Cherry Hill garden, a work in progress for eight years.
Miller, who works part-time for a foundation, hasn't yet found enough fall-blooming perennials to keep the show going. "A lot of summer things are dying and all of my perennials are fading," she says with a sigh.
Not all. Just when you think the cause is lost, the 'Purple Dome' asters begin to pop. Like stars in the night sky, they brighten life on Earth.
Till winter, at least.
Read gardening writer Virginia A. Smith's blog at
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Contact garden writer Virginia A. Smith at 215-854-5720 or vsmith@phillynews.com.
