The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Fall color

Premature autumnification

Posted on by Posted in Fall color .

Has anyone else witnessed Fall rearing its ugly head a little too soon? Am I missing some sort of scientific explanation here? The change in foliage color is earlier than ever before (don’t make me pull out my spreadsheet to prove it).

Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’:

Viburnum plicatum:

Is it weather related? It has been a milder summer to date.

Is it moisture related? We’ve had plenty of rain this spring into summer.

Is it exposure related? The Itea are located in both full sun and partial shade and all look exactly the same.

I’m going with “premature autumnification” until proven otherwise. Now we just need to work on a medicinal cure and a Viagra-like advertising campaign:

“Don’t let ‘premature autumnification’ get you down, thousands of gardeners just like you are treating this with …”

A busy holiday week

Posted on by Posted in Fall color, Family, Ornamental grass .
It has been a busy past week or so with the holiday and all, so I thought I would bring you all up to speed on what has been going on. 
Before I get into the details, here is an awesome photo of the autumn sky from this past week:   

Yes, that was completely random and yes, I didn’t know where to fit it into this post and yes, I am looking for some mad props on the quality of the shot. Moving on …

This past week we took the kids into big bad New York City (or “The City”, as it is affectionately known here) to see the Christmas Spectacular:

The show was fantastic as it was the first time each of us had ever seen it. Times Square was, as always, sensory overload with hundreds of dressed up characters stalking people out like zombies. I’ve never seen so many ratty looking Elmos or Mickey Mouses (mice?) in my life and it became a game with the kids to see how well we could ignore their advances. Still, a good time as NYC is never dull.

It was a bittersweet moment on Thanksgiving as we spent our last holiday in the house I was born and raised in and where my parents still reside. My parents will soon be relocating closer to where we live and while we are thrilled to have them within a twenty minute drive, I’ll miss the old house deeply. Even more bittersweet is the fact that I could not get a good photo of the eats from Turkey Day. Food photography is not my strong suit and if I posted the lousy pics, it wouldn’t do my mom’s cooking any justice. The only solid photo I managed to get was of the cupcakes that my mom made for the kids:

            
With the ridiculous amount of off the charts food my wife provides us, I vow to become a capable gastronomical photographer. Especially with my need to write/photograph over the winter when there is very little gardening action. I’m serious y’all, prepare yourself for food posts over the next few months. I may not be able to cook a lick, but I know how to eat.

As is our tradition each year, we went and cut down our Christmas tree at the local tree farm:

  
One of these years I will purchase a tree I can some how manage to plant outdoors after Christmas. How, I am not sure. But I will give it a shot as I am a bit depressed looking at that limp tree I am holding above.

There were other day trips, work done in the house, meals eaten out and in, but I may lose you if I go on any further.

Alas, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I have some garden/landscape photos for you. To say they are mostly brown is an understatement, but remember, brown is a color too. I have come to appreciate the calm and quiet of the winter garden and the subtle pleasure it provides. However, I still haven’t found a way to fulfill that hard digging labor desire. I already miss the dirt under my fingernails.  

Enjoy:
      

Zombies, an evil owl, enjoying poison ivy and fall color

Posted on by Posted in Fall color .

As I start to type this post, it is 12:48 A.M.

I had finished watching the TV show “The Walking Dead” and had faded into my dreams of zombies and how I would survive in the zombie apocalypse (“with flying colors” for those of you interested and I could write a nice little dissertation on it too). A typical Sunday night for me.

But then I awoke to sound of some creature howling in agony right in our front yard. It sounds (and I use the present tense because it is going on live as I write this) like the combination of a wounded owl and a rabid dingo. Or maybe a rabid dingo eating an owl. Or possibly an owl trying to notify us all that there is a rabid dingo on the loose. Whatever it is, it started out as terrifying (especially when zombies are fresh on the mind) and now is beyond irritating. I cannot sleep so I’m writing a post hoping it will help me tune out the hybrid creature.

So with that as a backdrop, here we go.

It had been a few days since I paid attention to anything out in the garden, so I took some time out on Sunday afternoon to catch up. My football team, the Oakland Raiders, were embarrassing themselves yet again so it was time to put the NFL to bed for the day. There were plants to review, analyze and coddle so off I went.

The first stop was a pleasant one as I looked upon my Clethra ‘Hummingbird’ lovingly as it is showing the best fall color in its history:  

The yellow colors have never shined brighter and it actually stands out right now like it never had in previous years. Sweet.

The colors on the Barberry shrubs are also fantastic right now and may make me rethink the option of chucking these next year:  

I am not the biggest Barberry fan but the deer do leave them alone. We’ll see if I change my mind come next spring. For now, I’ll enjoy the fleeting unique hues.

The fall color on the various geraniums has been tremendous this year and has held up longer than it has in previous years. The color on ‘Espresso’ has been phenomenal in year two and I’m leaning towards adding some more next year:   

My Viburnum ‘Aurora’ finally came into its own this year as I managed to successfully hide it from the deer. That includes its wonderful autumn color which is at its peak right now:

Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ continues to provide bloom color into November thanks to my decision to pinch them back severely back in June:   

More solid fall color with the Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’:

While it pains me to say it, the Poison Ivy color is fantastic. I have plans to eradicate this very soon (rash be damned) but I can still enjoy it while I hate it:  

It was a super windy day, so the ornamental grasses were dancing away:

And the Butterfly Weed was spreading its seed to parts unknown:

Well that was a nice distraction. The creature is still carrying on but I am going to attempt to go back to sleep and ignore its whimpers.

Wish me luck.

John 

Wordless Wednesday – No more flowers, and it is going to be OK

Even more Fall color

Posted on by Posted in Fall color .
We are just about at peak Autumn color here in zone 6B New Jersey and a cold front is making its way in over the next day or so. We are anticipating having our initial frost and with that, you can feel what has been perfect weather since Fall began, starting to slip away. Not to mention the barely holding on annuals.  
Having said that, I need to now make sure I can check off every item on my Fall to-do list. Here goes:
Pumpkin picking in the mud with a painfully rough ride in the back of a soon to be broken down tractor – check
Apple picking eating of every variety known to man (personal favorite is Solebury Orchards) – check
Make Eat pumpkin pasta, butternut squash pasta, pumpkin pancakes, chili with pumpkin (yeah, you heard me right) and pumpkin muffins – check 
Drink copious amounts of pumpkin beer (Dogfish Head Punkin is by far the winner) – check
Shovel candy corns into my mouth on an hourly basis – check
Visit The Garden at Federal Twist at its autumn peak – check
Clean out the garage, specifically, rid it of the thousands of deadly spiders – check  
Yes I know, technically we aren’t even half way through the Fall, but let’s not kid ourselves. Winter starts on November 1st (at least in my neck of the woods) and runs through March 1st. End of story.
So as we mourn the passing of the season, here is another look at some wonderfully delicious autumn color:
The aptly named Red Maple ‘October Glory’ is putting on her show with new colors emerging daily:

Viburnum ‘Shoshoni’ is like all purpley and whatever:

Viburnum ‘Aurora’ is a little behind some of the other viburnums but that’s OK:

Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’, while still in its infant stages in my yard, is still displaying that frickin kick buttocks orange color:

As if we needed another reason to praise Panicum ‘Northwind’. The Fall color is a sweet yellow/gold as we transition to Winter:      

Even the brownish/wheatish/beigeish color of Panicum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’ ain’t so bad:

Ciao y’all.

I’m off to fill my growler at Triumph Brewing Company with their stellar Pumpkin Ale. 

John

Perennials have fall color too

Posted on by Posted in Fall color, Perennials .
In my part of the gardening universe, the Maple trees get all the pub when it comes to Fall color (rightfully so in many cases). But there are numerous perennials that are the offensive lineman to the Maple tree quarterback when it comes to sweet autumnal hues.
Quick aside – I’ve been trying to come up with a Football/Gardening analogy for a while now and I think I finally found one. Did that prior paragraph make an ounce of sense? I hope so, because it is money and maybe the best I’ve ever written. Aside over.
While they may not be as in your face as their tree or even shrub brethren, “dying perennials” can still pack a punch this time of year, especially if planted in mass. Here are some that are putting on their Fall show in my garden right now.
The chocolate foliage of Geranium ‘Espresso’ looks even better with doses of red thrown in:         
Speaking of geraniums, even the previously maligned Geranium ‘Brookside’ ain’t looking so bad:
The Sedum ‘Matrona’ has an interesting mix of orange and gold hues that looks pretty solid to me:

While not as striking as ‘Matrona’, this Sedum has a nice dose of yellow foliage that looks great in conjunction with the mix of colors on the spent blooms:

From a distance (can I get a Bette Midler shout out?), Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) ‘Gateway’ takes on a new look as the golden foliage takes over for the long standing blooms that dominated all Summer:

Maybe it is a stretch, but I dig the Astilbe foliage even if the color is fleeting:

Just the slightest bit of yellowing on the blades of the Siberian irises floats my boat:

Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’ has interesting orangey foliage:

I know I’ve talked about the next plant incessantly over the past few weeks, but can you beat the fall foliage color of Amsonia?

The next three photos are all from the same plant. Check out the difference in color:

Frickin awesome, huh?

Even Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ has great color right now:

And finally, the beauty of a dying Lady’s Mantle as it … OK, fine, it’s kind of ugly:

But is it really? The cycle of a perennial is always fascinating, even as it dies back in Fall. A time to kick back and accept the impending weather, knowing it will all start over again in a few short months.

John

Wordless Wednesday – The leaves of autumn

Autumn kicks some major booty

Posted on by Posted in Fall color .
I have intended to get out in the garden and get my paws dirty within the last week or so but I can’t bring myself to do it right now. The onset of Fall and the fantastic coloring that goes along with it have me just staring in awe. All of the reds/oranges and golds contrast so well against the greens that are still holding true. It is such a fleeting moment in time and I want to soak it all in before it disappears in the blink of an eye. So please excuse the excess of fall foliage photos that I’ll be putting out there over the next few days.
My front bed has a great mix of all colors right now. I even enjoy the spent coneflower blooms and the few Catmint blooms that have held on for weeks now:

My entire property is blanketed by wild Goldenrod (just ask my allergy-filled wife) and they look fantastic along with the yellowing leaves on the trees:

At the back of the property, the coloring looks like rainbow sherbet and I have to admit I have no idea what is decaying perennials are providing such phenomenal color:

I love Amsonia and its phases of Fall color that start in late Summer and continue into October:

Incredible leaf color on the Hypericum ‘Albury Purple’ right now:

The Panicum (Switch grasses) are fading now but still look so damn good:

Sick of me displaying pics of Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame grass) yet?

The fading blooms of Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’ are almost better now than when they are in their “prime”:

Let’s slow Fall down a bit

Posted on by Posted in Fall color .

Autumn has progressed quite nicely since I returned from Atlanta and I would be cool with freezing time for a stretch so we could chill out and enjoy the more subtle changes in foliage color. As seen with …

Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’:

viburnum fall

Viburnum plicatum ‘Shoshoni’:

viburnum

Geranium maculatum ‘Espresso’:   

geranium fall

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Lady in Red’:

hydrangea lady in red fall

Have a fantastic weekend all y’all.

John

Enjoying the foliage colors

Posted on by Posted in Fall color, Foliage .

While we have yet to technically venture into Autumn, you could really feel it in the air today. A nice chill outdoors, a blazing bright sun and even some signs of leaf drop.

But best of all, were the colors.

Not the colors of the blooms as much as the foliage colors. Greens, reds, yellows, golds, browns and everything in between. Throw in a clear blue sky and you had all colors on the color wheel represented.

With that in mind, please enjoy enjoying the following “just-before-but-not-quite-there-pre-autumnal” photos: