Category Archives: fall foliage

colorful foliage, Deer Resistant Plants, drought tolerant plants, fall foliage, grasses

Fall Blooming Perennials

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Every garden changes over time.  Gardening is a process, a constant experiment so don't get discouraged when things don't go exactly as planned. For example, a cool spring may cause some things to bloom later while a warm, dry winter speeds up plant and flower development. Maybe that pink flowering tree now conflicts with the red blooms nearby. Whether it's caused by climate change or just the weather, take comfort that your garden can grow more beautiful each year with a little tinkering now and then.

At this time of year look to the following plants combined with ornamental grasses coming into bloom to carry your garden until autumn color from trees and shrubs kicks in. Go for dramatic extravagance with color combinations than inspire.

Russian sage.  Tall, airy, spike-like clusters , create a lavender-blue cloud of color above the finely textured gray leaves. This perennial has a long blooming season and the cool color of the flowers is stunning in the fall garden. There are several varieties available with different shades of soft blue to violet blue flowers. Most grow 3-4 ft tall. Little Spire Russian sage is a shorter, upright selection that doesn't flop over in the landscape. It adds a sense of lightness to the garden. You'll love the cool color on a hot day.

Aster x frikartii 'Moench'.  The lavender-blue flowers on this perennial can get 3" across and cover the plant with blooms from early summer to fall, even longer in mild winter areas if spent flowers are removed. They attract butterflies and make a good cut flower. This reliable, drought tolerant plant thrives in full sun, grows 2- 3 ft tall and is mildew resistant.

Agastache which is also called hyssop attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and bees to your garden It's also deer resistant. Aromatic foliage on Blue Fortune smells like peppermint-lemon when brushed or crushed. The flowers on Electra are vivid orange. Then there's licorice mint hyssop, orange hummingbird mint hyssop, anise hyssop and a whole slew of hybrids of every color in the rainbow- lavender, pink, apricot, orange, purplish, coral, powder blue, tangerine, red – you name it. Agastache is easy to grow in full sun or partial shade and is drought tolerant. Just be sure to provide excellent drainage.

Salvia-  the workhorses of the garden. Their long blooming season makes them right at home in the fall garden. There are some 900 species of salvias.  They are the largest genus in the mint family. Choose from many new cultivars like Dancing Dolls with rose and cream colored flowers. Another good choice is a Ca. native hybrid called Starlight that blooms with long white flower wands that really stand out at twilight.
There are lots of Salvia greggii varieties available such as Pink Frills, Golden Girl and Neon Dancer which has vivid rose and red flowers.  Salvias are drought tolerant and deer resistant (really). Although they tolerate some shade they looks best when planted in full sun. To encourage repeat bloom trim off spent flowers stalks when they start to look rangy. They will rebloom for months.

Another common plant from this huge family is the Mexican bush sage.  So showy that people mistake them for huge lavender plants. They are vigorous and upright growing to 3-4 feet tall and as wide.  Velvety purple and white flowers cloak foot-long stems. Salvia Santa Barbara is a compact selection that grows 2-3 ft high and spreads 5 ft wide. They stop blooming only when frost hits them.  To limit plant size and renew flowering stems, cut back close to the ground before spring growth begins.  You can't go wrong with these plants if you have a large space to fill.  Hummingbirds love them, too.

Perennials should be planted in multiples, not only for beauty's sake but also for lower maintenance. Let your trees and shrubs lend structure and year round interest with an explosion of perennial color that gets all the attention. Just don't hesitate to change what needs adjustment or transplanting if needed to a better location.

colorful foliage, fall foliage

Fall Color- Foliage and Flowers

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"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end…down into a desert of red rock…where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you_"
_Edward Abbey

A friend and fellow columnist, Carol Carson, ends her emails with this quote and it never fails to get me to thinking and appreciating this place, this planet  we call home. I hope you enjoy it, too. And then I hope you’ll enjoy some time in the garden. Here are some tips for this month.

Now that we’ve had a bit of rain it’s time to get serious about fall planting. One could almost hear the landscape sigh with relief and drink up when the first drops started to fall. Everything looks brighter and more vivid now. I can even get a shovel in the earth to turn over the soil in those dry spots where I’d love to plant a new tree or shrub. The soil is still warm and will nurture new root growth. It’s a good time to plant a new fruit tree, edible shrub like a blueberry or maybe even something with beautiful fall color.

I’ve got my eye on a new Sango Kaku Japanese maple. Their upright growth is perfect for the smaller garden or that nook near the entry that needs an accent. They are one of the earliest maples to start coloring in fall and make quite a statement in the garden when combined with warm-toned foliage plants like heuchera Creme Brulee and fall blooming plants like liriope. Other early fall color I’m seeing these days comes from Chinese pistache and liquidambar trees. Deciduous viburnums, like my favorite Doublefile viburnum, have beautiful bright red foliage now.

color in the garden, colorful foliage, compact shrubs, Deer Resistant Plants, drought tolerant plants, fall foliage

Better Choices for Old Favorites

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Thinking about planting a new area or redoing a part of your garden that has gotten out of control? If many of your old favorites just get too big, insects and diseases plague them or they  take too much time to prune you need some new favorites.  What’s a gardener to do these days when we want our yards to be sustainable?   Here are some substitutions for good plants gone wrong. This time it’s gonna be the right plant in the right spot.

Phormiums have been popular for many years now. This plant from New Zealand looks great in low water landscapes providing architectural interest but usually grows much wider and taller than anticipated and next thing you know it’s taken over. One of the cultivars that behaves itself is called Jester. This phormium has beautiful 2-3 ft long pinkish leaves that have an orange midrib and lime green bands near the leaf margins. Combine it with teucrium  chamaedrys germander for an awesome combination.

If you want a similar fountain-like plant in your landscape that never reverts to plain green, try a cordyline Festival Grass. Vivid burgundy red leaves to 2-3 ft tall arching over so the tips reach the ground. Tiny pale lilac flowers appear in the summer, with a jasmine-like fragrance.  Plant in full sun to part shade and water regularly. Plants in shade have a darker more purple color while sun grown plants have more red.

What’s deer resistant with fragrant, gold foliage, uses little water once established and stays compact? Danny’s Sport Breath of Heaven is a bushy, finely textured shrub of the citrus family. They have slender stems and tiny narrow leaves which give off a spicy, sweet scent when crushed. Bright yellow new growth is upright, growing to 3- 5 ft tall. They thrive in sun or light shade and are hardy to around 18 degrees or less. Use it as a foundation plant, informal hedge or specimen plant. They are very showy in the landscape.

Ornamental oregano is a great perennial to use in a border or to tuck between other plants. Most oregano varieties are wonderful while in bloom but offer little interest after the main show is over. Oregano Santa Cruz is a better choice. Antique-toned, dusty rose-colored hop-like flowers, are offset by bright green calyxes and remain all summer on branched red stems. This plants grows 18" – 24" high and 3 ft wide. For a pleasing fusion of color, combine it with penstemon Blackbird or another rich burgundy penstemon. Add a grass such as muhlenbergia capillaris to complete the vignette.

Everybody loves clematis. They come in so many styles but how do you prune them for best flower production? Plant a Sweet Autumn Clematis ( clematis terniflora ) and your worries are over. They are a gorgeous sight now covered in pure white, lightly fragrant flowers. Later in the fall the vine will become a silvery mass of fluffy seed heads. This small-flowered species looks impressive covering an upscale arbor or even embellishing a plain fence of garden shed. It blooms on new growth so you can easily keep it in check by cutting stems back to 12" in the spring. It will bloom well in partial shade, too.

A smaller cultivar of the old favorite oak-leaf hydrangea is Sikes Dwarf. This lovely plant provides year-round seasonal interest.  At this time of year their huge, whitish-pink conical flowers turn a papery soft tan color. In later autumn, the leaves will take on striking shades of crimson and bronze-purple, and through winter the dry flowers persist above the branches lined with exfoliating copper-brown, cinnamon and tan bark. Oakleaf hydrangeas are fast growing and accept full sun or partial shade in rich evenly moist soil. They’re real lookers in the garden.
 

color in the garden, fall foliage, houseplants, wildlife

Fall Tips for Gardeners

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Halloween is just around the corner and besides deciding what your or the kids are going to be this year, it’s time to bring in any plants that you plan to overwinter in the house. Whether they’re the houseplants that you put out on the patio for the summer or frost tender plants that you want to save, this is the .

 Although our nights are still well above freezing,  plants need to acclimate to the indoor environment before you start turning on the heater regularly. Be sure to wash them thoroughly and inspect them for any insects that may have taken up residence while they were vacationing outside. Usually you can dislodge any hitchhikers with a strong spray of water but if that doesn’t do the trick, spray them with a mild insecticidal soap or one of the other mild organic herbal sprays like oil of thyme.

If you want to decorate for Halloween there is a lot of plant material you can harvest from your own garden or nearby woods. Manzanita branches can often be found on the ground and make great arrangements combined with nandina or other berries. Some of the trees have started to turn color and their leaves can also be used for wreaths.  The leaves of New Zealand flax last a long time and add fall color in bouquets.

Mums are the classic fall flower.  They come in nearly every color except blue and the flowers have many shapes from daisy to spider mums.  They are perennials and make good additions to the garden. Best of all they make excellent cut flowers.

This October has had the perfect weather  allowing fall color to develop in our trees, shrubs and perennials.  Warm days, cool nights, not a lot of wind or heavy rain all help plants to attain and keep those bright reds, oranges and yellow colors we love. Here’s a short list of small plants that you can easily find space for even in the smaller garden.

Japanese barberry turn yellow, orange or red. They get red berries and are deer resistant.
Blueberries not only are good for you and their foliage turns beautiful yellow-orange in the fall.
Oakleaf hydrangea leaves take on burgundy hues.
Crape myrtle shrubs explode with brilliant red and orange color.
Pomegranate bushes turn bright yellow
Spirea foliage varies from red, orange to yellow.

Squirrel wars
If you are at odds like me with squirrels that dig up everything while burying acorns for the winter, delay planting your bulbs until Thanksgiving when they’ve finished stocking the pantry.  Store you bulbs in the frig or a cool place until then.  If you just have to plant some on a beautiful autumn day, cover the area with flat stones or chicken wire.

Don’t prune now
One last thing and you’ll be happy to hear this.   Fall is not a good time to prune.  Wounds heal slowly, leaving them more susceptible to disease.  As a general rule, don’t prune when leaves are falling or forming.  Wait to prune most trees until late in the dormant season or  late spring after leaves and needles form.  To avoid sap flow on birches and maples, prune after leaves mature. 

fall foliage, Flowering trees, garden design

Make that View outside a window interesting

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This is the time of year when all things seem possible. You might be planning improvements to  the vegetable garden. Maybe you’re also thinking of adding a focal point like a small accent tree or garden art to one of the perennial beds. And you really need to do something about that view outside the picture window. It needs more year round appeal. After all, you spend a lot of time looking out there. The solution may be simpler than you think.

Creating interest outside a window depends not only on plant choices but also. Keep the garden simple and restful. Editing some of the plants will make the garden lower maintenance, too. Plants that have overgrown the space need constant pruning. Move them to a better spot.

Limit the number of elements in the garden. Rather than trying to include everything in the garden try for a unified look with the fewest number of things. Make each one count.  Place objects to define a space. This doesn’t mean creating separate garden rooms necessarily but more like a set of boulders to signify distinct parts of the garden.

Another tip that makes an area more restful visually is to limit your plant palette. Plants that you can see through make a space seem larger. Some plants like Japanese maple, nandina and dogwood are naturally airy while other plants like camellia can be pruned for openness. Low growing, mounding groundcovers help unify the garden. Plant soothing greenery for year round appeal with seasonal color from perennials and shrubs.

Simple gardens can be beautiful year round and low-maintenance, too.

 

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Persimmons

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With the holidays upon us, there’s probably no other tree that typifies the season more than the Bright orange fruits peak out between the leafy branches now but soon they’ll hang alone like Christmas ornaments.

Persimmons are one of the best fruit trees for ornamental use. Their handsome branches spread wide to 30 feet and they can grow almost as tall making them a beautiful shade tree in the garden. Striking, dark green leaves turn stunning shades of yellow, orange or red in fall even in the mildest of climates. After the leaves drop and especially after we’ve had frost the fruit colors brilliant orange-scarlet and brightens the tree for several months, unless harvested.

Persimmons are easy to grow, too. They are one of the few fruit trees that are deer resistant ( the foliage anyway ).
They accept almost any soil, acidic or alkaline, as long as it is well drained. Reaching bearing age at 5 you can expect your tree to live 50 to 75 years. That’s a lot of persimmons for eating fresh,or for baking into cookies, bread and pudding. Or you can try your hand at persimmon wine or beer as the early settlers did or dry the fruit. They are loaded with vitamin A and C.

Fruit drop is one of the only problems you may encounter when your tree is young. Persimmons have a natural tendency to drop their fruit prematurely. Large quantities may drop if the tree is under stress from over or under watering or given too much nitrogen fertilizer.

How much water and food does a persimmon need? Apply enough water to wet the soil 3-4 feet deep when the soil 6" below the surface is just barely moist. Fertilize once in late winter with organic fruit tree food. Persimmons do not respond or need fertilizers other than nitrogen. They are not troubled by excesses or deficiencies of other elements. Persimmons are remarkable free from disease and pests.

The most common types of persimmons grown are the Japanese varieties, Hachiya and Fuyu. Hachiya is the most popular commonly available in markets. Fruit is astringent until soft when it becomes very sweet and pudding-like. They make be picked when firm-ripe to protect them from the birds and allowed to ripen off the tree. They keep a month or more in the refrigerator.

The smaller Fuyu persimmon is a non-astringent variety. These are picked hard and have a mildly sweet flavor. When they soften off the tree they become sweeter and can be kept for several months in the refrigerator. You can also freeze whole persimmons or pulp.

Be sure to harvest either type using a pruning shears.  Cut 1/2 to 1 inch above the fruit so the greenish crown remains intact. Don’t try to remove fruit without also taking the calyx cap and a short bit of fruit stem or they can rot. Whether you plant your own tree or buy the fruit at the market, take advantage of persimmon season and the beauty they bring.

Persimmon are among the best fruit trees to grow for the gardener who has little time to spare.