Colorful Fall

My back yard in mid-October.

 

It's looking like we'll have a very colorful fall this year--the night temperatures began to drop in September, and have stayed cool, creating the perfect conditions for the emergence of fall colors. The 'Autumn Blaze' maple tree has turned to its characteristic red, as the swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolium) display their bright yellows. This year a seedling of one of the swamp sunflowers managed to establish itself in my rose bed--it's not the best color combination with my roses, but I've been reluctant to dig it up and move it while it's in bloom. I'll do so as soon as it has finished its display.

 

West yard rose bed.

Front yard, mid-October.

The asters have started their annual show--this genus was recently renamed after genetic studies revealed significant differences so that botanists have subdivided these into several genera--Symphyotrichum is one of them. Symphyotrichum laeve opens earlier, and S. oblongifolium a bit later in the season, just as the sunflowers are starting to fade.

Symphyotrichum laeve with Amsonia hubrichtii behind.

Swamp sunflowers (Heliantus angustifolium) and asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Purple asters and swamp sunflowers

The Chrysanthemum is another familiar plant genus that has undergone many changes recently--our garden Chrysanthemums had been reclassified as Dendrathryma indicum, but resistance to this change was so great, that the old florist's name, Chrysanthemum indicum has prevailed. By any name, the Chrysanthemum is a garden staple that adds touches of bright color to any flower bed. Mums don't like to stay in one spot for too long, so after a few years, I usually dig mine up and transplant portions to other beds. This way, as the plants multiply, my garden gets populated by a variety of colors.

 

Purple Chrysanthemums

Pink Muhly grasses and mums

Shasta daisies (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)

 

This year my Shasta daisies finally produced decent blooms--they hadn't bloomed much in the past couple of years. I reworked the entire "Badlands" bed some two years ago to improve the soil, and moved the Shastas forward, adding the native purple aster behind. The six Purple de Oro daylilies in front were added recently. Watering during the July drought helped, but I think it was the copious rains in August that got the daisies to bloom. 

Bearss limes

My Bearss lime tree has been very productive this summer; the fruits that had set during the winter survived their summer migration to the porch and grew enormous. These are two that I harvested last week. The plant set more fruit during the summer, so a new set of limes is now developing for the winter season. I'll be bringing it indoors soon, before the first frost--carefully, so as not to damage the fruit.

My Australian red lime bloomed profusely in June but nary a fruit has appeared. I wish it would set some fruit so we could see and taste them. I'm very curious to learn what they are like.

Cotton boll opens

 

The first of the black cotton bolls cracked open last week, hopefully with many more to come. Other late summer flowers such as the hardy Begonias and Angel Trumpets are still hanging in there, but they will soon be finished for the year. It's time to do more fall planting.

Hardy Begonias

Angel trumpets

I started the fall bulb planting season by digging up some of the poet's narcissus and 'February Gold' bulbs that I had planted during our first fall here. After eight years in the ground, the bulbs had become so overcrowded that they weren't blooming well. I dug them up to discover that they had formed giant clumps of bulbs which had to be broken up and separated. After working in a lot of clay-breaking material into the soil, I replanted the largest of those, and will still have plenty to give away as well as add to the back yard beds.

September Rains

From the front porch.

 

September has been a very rainy month this year. Historically, my birthday month in this area is quite dry, with an average of 3.8 inches of rainfall, but this year my home weather station recorded 7.45 inches! Most of it came down over two very stormy days and nights, several weeks apart. We had over three inches in one night earlier in the month, and yesterday's rainfall was over two inches! It's great for the garden--all vegetation, but specially trees, really benefit from a wet fall season.

 

The back yard on Sept 30.

The front yard, Sept 30.

The cooler night temperatures have started to bring out the fall colors: the sumac in my back yard has turned deep red, the dogwoods a lovely scarlet, and even some branches of the oaks beyond are starting to change color. I'm hoping we'll have a colorful fall season this year--last year was such disappointment for "leafers" who love the fall colors, myself included.

My veggie patch with wax bean plants.

The harvest.

After harvesting the garlic in late June, I planted some wax beans in one row of the raised bed (the English peas were still occupying the rest of the space). I nursed the plants through the July heat and drought and started harvesting the wax beans in late August. These are continuing to produce--above is this morning's harvest, enough for several meals--I had no idea wax beans would be so productive! I'll definitely grow these again next year.

Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte'

 

My recently-planted Parma violet 'Queen Charlotte' loved the rain--I bought it for its fragrance, but I've yet to get a scent from it. It hasn't produced many flowers so far, perhaps a certain number of blossoms are needed to produce the classic scent? I'm hoping it will eventually spread to make a dainty ground cover with clouds of lovely fragrance.

 

Herb's bed and the Little Indians

 

During this season, the yellow Chrysanthemums in Herb's bed and the purple asters (Symphyotrichum laeve) in the far side of the Little Indians bed predominate, while the swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius) and the leaves of the bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) turning gold add to the display. Last fall I transplanted some of the swamp sunflower plants from the west side of the house to these beds and they have grown well in their new sites, though not as tall as the ones growing near the house.

 

Swamp sunflowers by the house.

 

Painting demo at Art at the Mill.

 

This past Sunday was my assigned day for a painting demonstration and sale for Art at the Mill, at the Burwell-Morgan Mill in nearby Millwood. This year, the Art at the Mill spring show was cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation. For the fall, in order to avoid large crowds, the show organizers decided to try a new format, booking one artist per day (afternoon) to do a demonstration and bring some of their art to sell. 

 The day dawned very foggy and overcast, and I was afraid that my watercolors wouldn't dry well under such conditions, but fortunately as the afternoon wore on, it cleared up and I was able to do my demo just fine. Just enough people stopped by for me to sell two works, and I had a great challenge painting my beautiful red Dahlias! 

Cathy Kuehner, a photographer who works with the Clarke County Historical Association (the show sponsors), came by and took this photo, and kindly allowed me to use it for my blog. You can visit the CCHA Facebook page here.