In the Fall Garden

My fall garden is much less impressive than the trees that surround us. In fact if you were to take away the trees little else would be remaining with any significant color. There are a few things that defeat my previous statement in our garden but I see a definite need for improvement in the fall color area. When I do some more planning that will be a target to tackle.

Here's a quick look at a few things in the garden.


The Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in the corner shade garden has grown over the season. The leaves are still a solid green despite several days of freezing temperatures. It rests in shelter location which I'm sure helps. Next year should be a good year for it since it will be in its second year in our garden.


The 'Appalachian Spring' dogwood (Cornus florida) still has a nice color. The colored leaves on the dogwoods seem to last the longest. The dogwoods in our area turned red well over ten days ago and are still hanging on to their foliage in the tapestry of trees on our back tree line.



It hasn't started turning yet but our Euonymous fortunei is definitely spreading. This does down in the don't believe everything you read category, for while it was supposed to be a 3x3 foot shrub it is beginning to vine out. Much more like 'Purple Wintercreeper' than the 'Emerald Gaiety' it is supposed to be. It's under control at the moment since it is hemmed in between our sidewalk and the house. It's an attractive plant but I wouldn't recommend planting it since it does have an invasive nature.



There is a little color change in the coreopsis but not much. The purple shades make things interesting but by and large it remains the same as it has all summer, just a little bit larger!



Brown is the order of the day for the zinnias. Since this picture was taken these zinnias have been removed and added to the compost bin.




The rudbeckias have browned too. At least the flower stems have, the bases still have a little greenery around them. I'll leave the seed heads of these alone for birds to nibble on until spring. First come first serve!




Here's a little Heuchera I picked up the other day. It's called 'Dale's Strain'. All I can say is that I hope Dale didn't strain too hard to make this Heuchera, but his effort was worth it! The purple-red foliage will hang around all season to add color interest in our deck garden. I bought two of these and divided one into two to make a total of three. Isn't it funny how division makes more?

Our Nandina domestica is displaying its favorite trait of mine, it's bright red berries. They will last into the winter or as long as the birds will let them, which won't be long! Our nandina gives us new plants every year, which is why it's listed on various invasive lists. Nandina is not one of my favorite plants, in fact I think it is way overplanted but it does have some nice attributes.



Here's one of the four different varieties of viburnum we have in the garden. This one is a 'Shasta' Viburnum or Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum. I'm looking forward to seeing its doublefile flowers in the spring.