The hedge is returning to its roots. The pink hues of bud and stem — the colors I notice every spring — are present now in the roses and russets of autumn. In the months between, of course, there’s a lot of green. But the green is fading now and those first colors are reappearing.

Which makes me wonder: What are the hedge’s true colors? The green it wears most of the summer or the pink it dons in spring and fall?

I’m no botanist, but I’m fond of the hedge. I notice its growth and cycles. And if I had to name its true color I would say the one it was born with. Apples, hedges — and people, too — none of us fall too far from the tree.