Early Fall in my Garden

Salvia 'Amistad'

It's been such a busy week for me with my Botanical Art Intensive class at Blandy this past weekend, that I had barely any time to even look at my garden. Today I finally get to catch up and take a look at what's blooming. The strange effect of a breeze blowing across the Salvia 'Amistad' created this unusual iridescent effect in my photograph--weird, but beautiful!

The dogwood is losing its colorful leaves, a few other leaves are turning and dropping, but our nighttime temperatures haven't been low enough to cause much change in the leaves yet. We're told that we won't be having a very colorful fall this year in our region due to the warmth. A few of the hickories in the back woods are turning gold, others brown.

 

Front garden

 

And yet my collection of potted plants are still blooming, if not as profusely. My two Mandevillas haven't bloomed at all this summer--I can't figure out why, other that they've been in those pots for a few years, and may be too pot-bound.

 

Potted plants along the front walk.

Pink Petunia

A nice surprise was to see the Sternbergias I planted among the strawberries pop up-- their golden blossoms only last a few days--so short-lived! I want them to multiply, but I also bought ten more bulbs to plant nearby, as well as some Crocus speciosus (autumn-blooming crocus). My Colchicums are done flowering, they came up very early this year, and with the recent hot weather, didn't last long. My 'Waterlily' Colchicum hasn't come up at all. Wonder what happened to it--is it the drought? 

 

Sternbergia lutea

Sternbergia

My small plant of Japanese Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' opened its first bud today, but it was caught in the nylon mesh that keeps the deer from devouring them--sadly, I cut it off when I tried to detach it to photograph--here it is fallen on the ground, surrounded by plantains. I'll move the barrier forward after the next rain to prevent this from happening and give the plant more room. I so envy the giant clumps of this flower in Blandy's courtyard, I wonder how many years it will take for mine to make a decent show?

 

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'

 

Among the late bloomers are Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) that I grew from seed collected at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) last summer. The deer ate these earlier, so it took the plants longer to bloom, but they finally have. Like all hibiscus, the flowers only open for one day. I hope some will set seeds so I can grow this again next year. The two plants I have were the only ones that sprouted from those seeds.

 

Roselle flower (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

Roselle plant.

The Shasta Daisies have some blooms this year--behind the net enclosure, the deer didn't get them! There should be more soon, these tend to bloom very late.

 

Shasta daisies.

 

The Muhly and other grasses are one of the highlights at this time of the year, along with the swamp sunflowers.

 

Herb's bed with Agastaches and grasses (Little Bluestem, Calamagrostis)

Muhly grass 'Flamingo'

Swamp sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolium)

 

I love those airy wild asters blooming next to the Muhly grass! The beautyberries  (Callicarpa dichotoma 'Early Amethyst') have acquired a gorgeous color that complements the yellowing foliage.

  

Beautyberries

The deer have been munching the aromatic aster buds, I don't know if I'll have any flowers. They've been munching on the Chrysanthemums too, so mine don't look like much. The Abelia Panoramic Color' is still blooming.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color'

 

The seedpods of the Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles' are as interesting as the flowers. Unfortunately, I seldom get to see them, as the deer eat the flowers back a lot. These are some they left me.

 

Flowers and seedpods of Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles'

There's still some Indian summer weather left before out first frost cuts everything down. I wonder what else may be in store for my garden?

Another Growing Season Ends

Saffron crocus among strawberries.

Our first frost came last weekend, signalling the end of the growing season. On subsequent warmer days I was able to harvest a few more strawberries from the front bed and while I was poking about, found that the saffron crocuses I had given up on were starting to bloom! So far I've been able to gather about six flowers, and hope there will be a few more to season one or two dishes this winter. It seems hiding among the strawberries didn't hurt them at all.

Pencil drawing of saffron crocus.

Front yard in September

Front yard after the frost

These before and after photos of my front yard show how quickly everything goes from lush to drab after just one frost. It's been a good growing season--the wet early summer helped tremendously--all my trees and flowerbeds made progress, some more then others. The red maple on the west side gained several feet in height and about an inch in girth--I wish I'd taken photos a week or two earlier, when its foliage was fiery, and the narrow-leaf sunflowers by the house glorious.

West side garden

The Zelkova tree in behind suffered a great deal last winter with several major branches dying back. Let's hope this winter is not so severe and the tree can regain lost ground next year. This spring I planted a native witch hazel between the two, the small bush you see here. In time this will become a lovely under-story tree.

The Little Indians

The Little Indians bed (now eleven) continues to develop--the Amsonia in the rear is just beginning to turn gold and the Stella D'Oro daylilies in front are a bit larger. I'd hoped to widen the bed by another couple of feet this fall, but that can wait until next year.

New back yard bed

During the summer I planted a new Kousa dogwood near the miniature lilac Silvia had given me. I eventually joined the two mulched areas to form a new bed. Using the lazy method of newspaper mulch, I killed off the scrubby grass and have been putting in new plants here: a yellow lilac bush in the middle, a deep red hibiscus my neighbor gave me, a Clematis and lavender Bea gave me, an iris and a mum. It doesn't look like much right now, but hopefully, next year the plants will be fuller.

View of the back yard

Shady bed under the deck

The ferns under the deck are still struggling to get a foothold--the alkaline soil doesn't help. Lots of iron sulfate to acidify the soil hasn't made much difference so far. A Heartleaf Brunnera (B. macrophylla) was added this year; I'll keep working on it but it's a long ways from looking like much.

Backyard with ornamental trees

The back yard is still a fairly empty large space-- this year I added a native bottle-brush tree to the other small trees planted at the perimeter (tiny tree visible at left front). It will take a number of years before it attains its classic silhouette and lovely scented flowers. Behind it the Sevens Sons Flower Tree has sprung up to about five foot height and it bloomed lightly this summer. I've yet to see any showy red seed heads on it though--this is supposed to give the shrub two-season interest. The deer kept eating my trees back so I finally fenced in the dogwood and the crab apple--not very scenic but necessary until the trees grow tall enough to be out of the reach of the pesky critters.

I planted couple of new arbor vitae at the edge of our property, just behind where this photo was taken--one fast-growing Thuja 'Green Giant' and a Thuja 'Goldstrike,' with golden-tipped leaves. I'm hoping as these evergreens gain height, they will screen out the worst of the winter winds on this exposed hillside.

Front of the house.

There's still some time left for fall planting--I hope to dig in a few more trees and shrubs, and perhaps some spring-blooming bulbs in the coming weekends.

Asters and Mums

Asters and chrysanthemums.

The morning was noticeably chillier, a presage of the coming equinox next week. The days have been getting shorter--dusk around seven-thirty, pitch dark by eight PM, and that means less gardening time in the evenings. And with so much planting to do! The three new roses I had ordered back in August arrived yesterday, the other shrubs and trees are bound to ship in the next week or two. I have a lot of work to do to prepare the new sites.

Marigolds and chrysanthemums.

This year the magenta aster that was so spectacular last year has not bloomed well. The buds formed way too early, probably because of the cool weather, and I pinched them back, but the new buds formed thinly and dried out quickly in the heat. The mums also budded out early and were pinched back with better results. Part of what I love about gardening are the unplanned color combinations that sometimes just happen, like this orange-red marigold with the dusky pink mum, or the lovely pink and lavender asters above with the yellow mums. It inspires the artist to be bolder experimenting with color.

The star of my garden this year has been the red coleus I took as a cutting from the landscaping at my old office two years ago. I planted the rooted cutting in a sunny bed and took cuttings from that to keep it alive through the winter. This spring I took cuttings again and set them out under the shade of the cherry tree where they make a stunning display.

The hardy begonias introduced from my old garden seem to have finally colonized under the tree, they came back stronger this spring than the previous year. With luck, they will continue to spread and form a large clump.

Hardy Begonia (Begonia grandis subspecies evansiana).