What details about the flowers, weeds, and oriole nest symbolize death in "The Scarlet Ibis"?

The Scarlet Ibis opens with a description of a garden sometime at the end of summer. Gardens are typically a symbol of life, abundance, and prosperity. Summer is also usually considered symbolic of life, but the author writes that summer is over. He then describes the flowers in the garden as being rotten and smelly, which reiterates the irony of something that should be full of life is now dead. There are also weeds in the garden, which can sometimes kill off flowers that can symbolize life. He also notices that the oriole nest is empty, instead of containing eggs which would symbolize new life. 

The scene is a metaphor for the main character, Doodle, who dies at an early age in his life. In his youth, he should be living the best time of his life, full of possibilities and abundance, but he tragically dies in the summer of his life.