When we think of autumn, we often think of fall colors, specifically the onset of the kaleidoscope of colors created by the changing hues of tree leaves. But there are many other fall colors to enjoy that require looking down, not up. Here is a sampling from the past week or two here in the woods.
Swamp Sunflower exhibits one of the dominant flower colors of autumn – bright yellow (click photos to enlarge; all photos taken with iPhone)Obedient Plant shows the other fall color so common in our late wildflowers – purple. The combination of purple and yellow must be attractive to the late season bees.MistflowerThe rich brown of Painted Buckeye seeds on the forest floorJewelweed has had a very good fall in our garden and the hummingbirds loved it. The swollen seed pods shoot the seeds when touched giving the plant another common name, Touch-me-not.A very late season Monarch caterpillar on Common MilkweedThe beautiful orange, white, and black of a freshly emerged Monarch ButterflyOrange and black again, from?…these have been very active the past week or so.Mushrooms, like this Russula sp., have been popping up all over our woods and yard the past few daysMy favorite mushroom find was a few of these Carolina blue, Lactarius sp. milk cap mushrooms down in our woods
Roads End Naturalist 
Tis the season…a friend and i came across an abundance of the lactarius indigo milk cap mushrooms this week. Beautiful!
Thanks, Tricia. I found 3 of them on that particular walk.