Before the First Frost

Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy' with witchhazel.

The back yard from the west side.

 

On Halloween day the fall foliage was at its most colorful. We haven't had our first frost yet, though it's announced for tonight, so I took the opportunity to take these photos of my garden just before the plants get cut back by the frost. We've had a few storms with a lot of wind lately--the most recent casualty was the iron hoop arbor that held up the honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler,' which blew down.

 

Fallen arbor with 'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle

The structure had been weakened earlier; I noticed that the vine's expanding trunk had pulled out one of the bolts during the early summer, and the storm that brought down our old oak bent it further. The storm last week was the final straw. It's such a tangle, I'll have to prune back most of the honeysuckle vine to remove the iron armature, and then figure out some way of propping up the vine to let it grow once again. This is one of the hummingbird's favorites, so I hope the drastic pruning won't affect next year's blooms.

Viburnum 'Brandywine'

 

Both of my cultivar Viburnums have showy berries and fall foliage: the berries of 'Brandywine' have changed from the soft pink of early fall to blue-black, as its leaves turn a lovely red-orange. My Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy,' which bloomed for the first time this year, is covered with red berries. I wonder what color the foliage will be when it starts to turn?

White lilac blooming

The unseasonably warm and wet weather has fooled the white lilac into blooming--I purchased this one as a named cultivar 'Primrose' and it has turned out to be a rather odd white-blooming one, rather than the pale yellow I was supposed to get. I wonder if the unseasonable blooms are part of this plant's mixed genetic make-up or just a fluke?

Salvia 'Windwalker Royal Red'

The perennial red Salvia I planted this past spring didn't start blooming until very late in the year, and is only now reaching its peak of bloom. It's a bit floppy, but what a gorgeous flower color! I should prune it back before blooming time next year, to see if the flowers will stay more upright.

 

Back corner of the yard from Herb's bed.

 

The northeast corner of the back yard is looking very colorful right now, with the Amsonia leaves turning my flower bed gold, to match the hickories and oaks in the woods. The Kousa dogwood is showing beautiful colors too.

Kousa dogwood.

The Front garden, west side.

Of course, this posting wouldn't be complete without this year's jack o'lantern: Happy Halloween!

Fall Sketches and Harvest

Crabapple Branch, colored pencil on cream Stonehenge paper, 14" x 11"

 

 Even when staying busy in my garden, I try to devote some time to my artwork. Above is a colored pencil piece I'm working on. It's not finished yet--the colored pencils need to be burnished, and I think that adding a bird to the branch might provide a focal point. Perhaps adding a cedar waxwing, or another small native that likes to snack on crabapples.

Sassafras Leaf, watercolor, 12" x 9"

This sassafras leaf just starting to turn was painted at Lynne Frailing's workshop in Bath County back in September. I drove down to spend the night at the Sycamore Bend Cottage on Amanda's farm so that I could make it to the workshop in Warm Springs the next morning on time. We had a lot of fun with the material Lynne brought in for us to paint, but I didn't have time to finish the leaf during the workshop--I finished it later here at home. It's still a very loose painting, not exactly polished--really just a sketch.

Magnolia Seedpod, pencil with watercolor pencils, 5" x 7"

 

The weather has been so glorious recently, that I've been stopping by Blandy Farm/Virginia State Arboretum frequently to take walks and sketch. On this occasion, I came across a group of magnificent Magnolias, both the M. grandiflora seen above, but some other more exotic varieties, including one called Veitch's Magnolia. This one has some very unusual seedpods, irregularly long and thin, with very pronounced aril bumps. Unfortunately, by the following week when I went back there, this deciduous magnolia was completely bare! I guess I can do a sketch from my photo, or wait until next year!

Veitch's Magnolia

 I started harvesting my Jerusalem artichokes (AKA sunchokes) and fingerling potatoes last week, and enjoying cooking these home-grown veggies. My sunchokes, part of the sunflower family, never had a chance to bloom--the deer kept eating the buds until I finally moved the grow-bag into my fenced enclosure. I'll definitely grow both of these again next season, they are delicious!

Jerusalem artichokes from my garden.

Fingerling potatoes.

As the colder weather approaches, I'll be spending more time in my studio. I've so many new projects to look forward to!

Fall Flowers

Swamp sunflowers (Helianthemum angustifolium) by the house.

 

As my birthday comes around once more, the season is marked by some of my favorite fall flowers. First to bloom are the swamp sunflowers, with their cheerful, airy scapes, then the chrysanthemums and the asters. The smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) blooms earlier--the flower spikes tend to be tall and slender, but this year, mine were eaten back by deer, and thus pruned, they barely peek out from under the Amsonia behind them.

 

Symphyotrichum laeve with yellowing leaves of Amsonia hubrichtii.

Colchicum 'Waterlily'

The Colchicum 'Waterlily' flowers were spectacular, if short-lived--three gorgeous flowers emerged on leafless stalks. The leaves will sprout in the spring, grow, and then disappear. No signs of the saffron I planted in a wire cage in the back bed this year--Herb caught sight of a squirrel digging up the bulbs I had planted in pots and despite covering those with wire cloches, there's yet a flower to appear. Maybe the squirrels have already eaten all the blooming-size bulbs.

 

Red  'Double Knockout' rose

After a very wet September, the roses are re-blooming. The red 'Double knockout' roses in front look particularly lovely with the amber foliage of the dogwood. My Chrysanthemums were mostly a disaster this year--the plants burned so much during the summer drought, that very few buds were left intact, and the foliage all browned out. To console myself I bought a new pink mum at a garden center, and an ornamental kale. The two complement each other perfectly!

Pink mum with ornamental kale.

The aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongiflolium) usually open a couple of weeks after the swamp sunflowers and last until well into November. In the two weeks since I started writing this post, the asters have opened just as the sunflowers begin to fade.

 

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Close-up of the aromatic asters

October dawns on the front garden.

Despite the warm days, in the past two weeks the dogwood tree in front has gone from amber to burnished red, and most of the potted plants that I grow outside are beginning to die back. The cherry tree is turning gold. My pot-grown red Dahlia finally produced a few blooms--well worth the wait!

 

Red Dahlia

 

The weather has been so warm recently, and many of the summer-flowering plants I put in this year didn't start blooming until recently. The Calendula 'Neon', eaten back by the deer until I protected it, didn't produce many blooms until a few weeks ago; the perennial red Salvia planted this year is only now covered with blooming spikes. A shame that these will soon be cut down by the first frost, just as they're looking their best!

 

Calendula 'Neon' grown from seed.

Beautyberry 'Early Amethyst' (Callicarpa dichotoma)

 

Today the air is crisp and much cooler, it feels like the first really autumnal day. The frosts will arrive soon, and usher in the closing chapter of another season in my garden.

A Giant Falls

The remains of a giant oak after the storm.

 

I'm reminded of the old philosophical question,"If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?" The top of one of the four old oaks in our back yard snapped off yesterday during a horrific thunderstorm. I was so busy closing windows and mopping up the water that was coming in, that I never noticed the moment when the tree fell, or if it made any noise! With the sound of the howling storm, neither did Herb. After more than an inch of rain falling horizontally and our aluminum garden bench sliding again from one side of the deck to the other, hail began to fall--pea shooter size and up, pelted everything until the deck was white with hailstones.

It wasn't until after the storm had passed and I went out on the deck to pick up the potted plants that had been knocked and scattered around that I looked up and saw the tree trunk--what a sight!

 

The oak tree last fall

 

This was the tallest of the four oak trees in the strip of woods at the back of our property. The birds loved to perch on it, woodpeckers and perhaps owls nested in the cavities in the trunk. To see the trunk sheared off like that was quite a shock! I had expected the tree to eventually lose its top, but more gradually, big branch by branch. We had several large branches come down from another of the oaks back there last winter, and it was shocking to see that tree lose about fifteen feet of its top branches in one fell swoop. Having this one lose the entire top in one storm was mind-boggling!

 

Top half of the oak tree.

Even more amazing was that fortunately, it fell towards the back slope instead of into my garden. This morning I went out to survey the damage, and found the top half of the oak tree just a few feet from the remaining trunk. You can clearly see how the wind twisted and sheared the trunk where it had been hollowed out. As it fell, it must have struck the dead hickory tree that had been there for several years and brought it down too.

Fallen oak trunk and dead hickory trunk.

Perhaps it was the dead hickory that checked the descent of the oak, helping both massive trunks to stay within this area. I was afraid that the trees might be blocking the drainage ditch at the back, but again fortunately, the trunks seem to have fallen at such an angle that they didn't block the drainage.

Upper part of the oak tree.

The drainage ditch.

I'm so grateful that the damage wasn't worse, and that we won't have to pay someone to cut and clear out a big tree from our yard. Back there, the dead trunks can rot in place undisturbed without causing any problems for us or the neighborhood. As the wood rots, it will feed fungi and other organisms to enrich the soil.

Strangely shaped puff ball fungi.

Speaking of fungi, I came across this strange vase-shaped fungi that I think is a puffball fungus while I was poking about in the woods. There are so many different species of puffball fungi that I can't venture a guess as to which it might be. I also came across some reindeer moss flourishing back there and some lovely wood asters (now Symphyotrichum genus).

Reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina)

Wood asters (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)

With the big oak gone, there will be a lot more sunshine in that part of the woods, and there are several other smaller trees that will eventually fill in the space. Nature is ever-evolving, but it will take me some time to get used to the change of backdrop to my garden.

Fall 2021 Art at the Mill

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), watercolor on paper, 10"h x 14" w.

 

This Fall's Art at the Mill is opening this weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing the entire show. I have five painting on display, and am hoping to sell at least one, perhaps more if I'm lucky. The waterccolor above is one of the paintings I did at the Red House Residency that will be on display at the Burwell-Morgan Mill.

 

Blandy Farm View, watercolor on paper, 9.5"h x 13.5" w.

 

The other four paintings I have in this show are botanicals, and have been featured on this blog previously, except this one above. I painted this one as a demo during one of my plein aire watercolor classes in 2019, and it turned out so nice that I decided to frame it for this show. This landscape was rather complicated, but I managed to simplify it enough to compose well, and the clarity and range of colors gives the feeling of that pleasant afternoon. It was painted in late September, right about the same time of the year as at present--one of those lovely early fall days when the weather is perfect and the sunshine delineates the shadows to highlight the forms.

I hope my readers will stop by and take in the show, which will take place for the next three weekends ending on Oct. 17. There's always something for everyone's taste at Art at the Mill. go see it!

Turning of the Season

The front yard in mid-September.

 

Despite the recent unseasonable heat, now that the days are becoming shorter, the quality of the light begins to change. In the evenings, during "the golden hour," the light becomes like liquid gold that washes over my garden, drawing me in to admire the turning of the season.

 

Hardy Begonias

 

The hardy begonias in the front garden are putting forth their blooms, while the red and white impatiens around my potted Camellia have grown out to cover the bed where the Narcissus bloomed last spring. The roses  are starting to re-bloom now that the temperatures have turned down somewhat. The dogwood's leaves are starting to turn bronze, setting off their charming red seeds.

Unlike our usual Septembers, rain has been plentiful: the month kicked off with over three inches from the remains of hurricane Ida, and several other big thunderstorms have brought a total of more then seven inches thus far. It's raining again today, so I wonder how much more we'll get.

Zinnias in the rose bed.

My zinnias are still looking good--I'm hoping they will re-seed themselves next year, but if they don't, I can always buy more. A walk around to the west side of the house reveals that my shrubs and trees are making progress, despite the damage from the seventeen-year locusts this past spring. These locusts lay their eggs in the young twigs of trees and shrubs by piercing long slits in the bark, and once weakened, the branches break off easily, setting back the growth of several years. Thank heaven they only surface once every seventeen years!

The back yard from the west.

The aisle between Herb's bed and the Little Indians.

Herb's bed is looking great with the 'Autumn Joy' Sedum flowers coloring pink, echoed by the sedums in the Little Indians bed. The feathery seed heads of the Muhly grass are just starting to emerge-- the yellow and orange Chrysanthemums add splashes of color as the Amsonia hubrichtii's feathery foliage begins to turn yellow.

 

Autumn asters (Symphyotrichum laevis) and Amsonia hubrichtii

My veggie patch

 

My veggie patch is currently producing a nice crop of wax beans. When these die back I'll plant some garlic cloves from this season's crop. As soon as the asparagus roots I ordered arrive, they'll go in where the dying flowering peas are now. The flowering peas were a disappointment--I must to face the fact that our hot and dry Virginia summers are not a suitable climate for these old-fashioned, scented climbers.

I'll be expanding the enclosure to include the asparagus. Deer generally don't eat asparagus, at least that was the case in my previous garden, but here, who knows? Better not take any chances. I love the way the wild goldenrod and woodland asters left to grow around the enclosure decorate it--they may be weeds, but much more interesting than plain grass.

 

The Badlands

The rear bed which we call "The Badlands" continues to improve despite the depredations of the deer. The Purple de Oro daylilies managed to display a few flowers despite being frequently devoured, but the Shasta daisies don't appear to have many flower buds this year--the hot and dry summer was not to their liking. I was hoping that the aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum  oblongiflolium) behind them would grow tall enough to be seen behind the Shastas, but for some inexplicable reason, this one plant stays short in this bed, whereas the one I have next to the house is at least 36-40" high with a similar spread. These will soon begin to flower along with the swamp sumflowers.

 

Black cotton (Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigrum')

I grew several black cotton plants from last year's seeds but only two of them have grown to blooming size. The deer invaded my front yard several times earlier in the summer, and ate some of these back as well as other potted plants. After moving the pots onto the deck, late in the season this one plant decided to unfurl several flowers at the same time.

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleja Lindleyana) with red-hot poker flower (Kniphofia)

Buddleja lindleyana

The new Buddleja planted last fall is growing well despite being attacked by deer--it's classified as deer resistant, but only a garlic oil clip on it kept the deer from chewing it down to stubs. It finally started to bloom in late August, and hopefully as it gets taller the deer will do less damage. The hummingbirds loved the flowers!

 

Colchicum 'Waterlily'  bud

Close-up of Colchicum bud

I was surprised to spot this lovely pink bud coming up out of the bare earth, until I remembered that I'd planted an autumn crocus, Colchicum 'Waterlily,' there. A little earlier than expected--the autumn equinox is taking place today. I hope the Colchicum will produce a few more flowers than last year, and begin to multiply.

Herb was looking out from the deck while I was out take these photos, and I couldn't resist including him in the last photo. We finally had the stairs sealed this past summer and the deck got another coat of sealant.

Herb overlooking the back yard.

Soon I'll be going into my fall planting frenzy once again. Fall is a wonderful time to plant in our area!