Final Fall Planting

We recently removed what we fondly called the cancer tree, resulting in a large clearing. A void can't last long in my garden, so yesterday I planted the new space. Where there once was one massive plant, spreading into a foreboding thicket, there is now a Full Moon Japanese maple, a prostrate blue cedar, three coralberries, three deciduous hollies, and a mock orange. I will take photos and show the new area in a future post.

It was a lot of work, but I hardly broke a sweat, as I had both my husband and my oldest son helping me. I pointed, and they dug the holes. They transplanted shrubs from their previous locations to new ones. They carried new plants and lifted them from their pots and placed them in the holes. They shoveled dirt and hauled water. I rather liked my supervisory position, which I shared with Autumn the cat. Autumn kept a close eye on things. But supervision is demanding work, and eventually, like all good supervisors, she had to take a nap.We got all the work done in a few hours. It would have taken me much longer by myself.

The weather was warm and sunny, and it felt like a day in May, rather than November. Nights are chilly, though, and we have had a few days with a pre-winter feel to them. Walking through the garden I still see summer flowers, as well as fall foliage and other signs of the season.

Here are some of the flowers blooming this week:Top: Penelope rose. 2nd row: More Penelope blooms; Camellia 'Leslie Ann' was the first to bloom. 3rd row: a stray daylily bloom; Rosa mutabilis. Bottom row: This camellia was here when we moved here in 1985; fall mums.

Zinnias and other flowers are blooming in the wildflower garden, but here one also sees dried seed heads. The red leafed vine is Virginia Creeper, a native that is often mistaken for poison oak but is easily distinguished by its five leaves, rather than poison oak's three:

There may be flowers and butterflies still around, but the colors of fall definitely are dominant in the garden now. We have been raking a lot of leaves!Top photo is Chinese Pistache tree. Below that are shots showing colorful dogwoods in the garden.

Top photo is Beauty Berry. 2nd row: This photo was taken a few weeks ago. Since then raccoons have eaten all the decorative dried corn; These are magnolia seed pods Lou gathered into a bucket. 3rd row: Canadian Hemlock cones; Decorative cabbage.

Top row: Both shots are of changing colors on a forsythia bush. Middle row: a fallen redbud leaf; dogwood foliage. Third row: Variegated artemesia 'Oriental Limelight' is semi-evergreen; Variegated Pittisporum is evergreen. Both are colorful counterparts to all the red and golden shades of fall.

I think this was my final fall planting job. No more work for me till spring! Haha! Who will believe that joke? After all, I am sure Autumn and I will have some more supervising to do!

Falling!

I was outside today, and I needed a hard hat. Acorns were falling all around me. Overnight thousands have carpeted the front lawn. They crunch under my feet as I walk, and I have never seen so many. My yard man (husband) certainly has a lot of clean-up to do!

Leaf fall has barely begun, but I know that is coming, as autumn colors are beginning to show. I have enjoyed the golden glow in the afternoons. Often I don't try to identify specific plants, but rather I visualize the molten washes of color flowing together to created an impressionistic landscape.

We haven't reached the peak of fall colors yet, but here are some recent photos to show what we have.

Around the front garden:

In the woodland:

The deep green leaves of Southern Magnolia contrast nicely with the golden fall foliage of a redbud.

Those are mushrooms in the next to last row. The one on the left is a geastrum, also known as an earthstar.

A few scenes from the Lady Garden:

A lot of flowers are blooming madly, even as leaves are turning. Some are leftovers from summer and some are specific to fall; they all love the cool nights and warm days we are having. Toad Lily, Tricyrtis hirta, in the woodland garden

Butterfly rose, Rosa mutabilis, has been blooming off and on since spring.

Fall mums, zinnias, and a salmon colored carpet rose blend with fall foliage.

Finally, here is an old wrought iron table, recently refurbished. The top had rusted out, so I hunted for a new one. I found a piece of scrap Italian travertine at a local marble works. They cut it into a circle and polished it for me. I put it on the newly painted base, and voila! New table! The cobblestone birdhouse is a project I completed a few years ago.

Have a great week, and please watch out for acorns or other objects falling from above.  Deborah