Fall Colors Peak in the Garden

I am listening to the steady drum of rain. It has been constant for hours. I am not complaining, because we need the rain; but the garden today was a sodden mess, cold and inhospitable. Autumn the cat was meowing to go outside and ran past my son when he came in for a visit. She halted at the edge of the carport, tested an icy puddle with her paw and then promptly turned around and came back inside.

The rain should stop by tomorrow, but temperatures will fall to frigid levels tomorrow night. This will be the third hard freeze within a few days. Sometimes autumn will linger into December here, but winter's grip is early this year. A few days ago I caught the garden's fall colors on camera at their peak, but the brilliant leaves you see in the following images will soon be fallen shells.

So here is my farewell to fall. It was glorious!

A view of the Jasmine arch with a Japanese maple in the background:

A blazing dogwood tree with the golden leaves of Chinese Pistache on the lower right:

A view from the patio:

A view of the garden in front of the parking court:

A young hickory tree with brilliant leaves:

Views of a Japanese maple with golden fall foliage - this was one of the unnamed seedlings I planted in 1990:

More colorful Japanese maple leaves:Clockwise from top left: 'Vitifolium'; 'Orangeola'; 'Aconitifolium'; "Seiryu.'

The bronze foliage of a White Oak:

We are blessed with many different oak trees. This is the bark and fall foliage of a Burr Oak (Quercus macrocarpa):

Here are a couple of views from the front lawn:

This is the birdhouse between the drive and the side of the house:

More fall colors; note the arbor that we recently painted. It took a lot of courage for me to do this!

'Waterfall' Japanese maple in the woodland garden:

It was a great autumnal celebration, but the party is coming to an end as grim winter arrives to put all to bed. Sleep well, and we will have another party come spring!

Fall Through the Lens

One reason I enjoy photography is its ability to encapsulate a picture. Photography forces me to see what I am looking at and to put boundaries on the view. Otherwise the periphery runs on forever, often taking away from the immediate outlook. It is fun to focus on an image through the lens. Japanese maples are a reliable source of color from October through November.Here are some recent shorts taken late in the afternoon when low autumn light ignited the foliage. A lot of color comes from Japanese maples, dogwoods, hickory and oak trees, as well as various shrubs. Evergreens set off the explosion of color. Enjoy!Autumn creates a tapestry of colors in my garden.

The colors across the front garden in November are wonderful.

Sango kaku, also called Coral Bark maple is particularly lovely in fall when the orange-red leaves become flushed with pink and the coral stems become prominent. The colorful stems are also beautiful in the winter landscape. The name "Sango kaku" means coral tower.

I recently moved the concrete bench to a new location in the woodland garden. The shrub next to it is a Carolina allspice.The yellow leaves in these two shots belong to a hickory tree.

Juniper 'Saybrook Gold' frames the view toward the woodlands from our drive.This is a view of dogwoods edging the lower front lawn.A fallen oak leaf on left and Chinese Pistache leaves on the right.

Oakleaf hydrangeas are noted for their fall colors.

A section of a glass wind chime glimmers against fall foliage.

A hosta is lovely even as it goes into dormancy.

This old brown birdhouse awaits its new tenants next spring.

The dried seed heads of a Limelight hydrangea will remain through most of the winter.

This colorful Japanese maple is in front of our dining room window.

The strong limbs of an oak tree rise behind a Japanese maple.

By the time I had wandered around and taken all of the above photos, plus many more I am not showing you, it was late in the day and I was quite chilly! One last image caught my attention. I looked up to see smoke coming from the chimney.

Time to go inside and enjoy the warm fire!