It's really fall!

OK, you inspired me, because I've been looking out the window at Roger's Red and enjoying it so much.

More of Roger.

Our Toyons are really in their glory now - we have one with golden berries, too.

We made a wreath from our Toyons last year.

St Catherine's Lace is pretty far gone, but for a while she was rust red and really pretty. I love her in all her stages.

KC,
I loved your photos. Save me a Toyons would you? I love using natural materials in our wreaths. I have a stinky job of going out and cutting some rosemary to include in the wreaths. Stinky stuff. I have one holly plant but don't want to trim it yet. Maybe it'll be big enough next year. I also have my incense Cedar which I love making wreaths out of. Although there may be enough for my wreath this year, I won't be harvesting very much because again, it's not big enough. Oh well, I've waited years and I can wait a few more. I have used my strawberry bush/tree trimmings in wreaths. It's nice but the birds tend to eat the berries or they get mushy. Going to harvest berries just for Rob this year.
Thanks for telling me I'm an inspiration for you to get out there and find some fall colors.
I found this one yesterday, and it is a fall color.
Enjoy!
WIB!
SW

Someone who evidently doesn't have enough color in their life cut this Iris bud before it had a chance to bloom.

DP, that's awful, but at least they left you the plant. My friend told me they had a "plantnapping" crew come through their neighborhood last spring and actually dig stuff out of the ground!! She lost a lovely red-leafed heuchera and a Myer's fern.

SW, that's why there are more flavors than chocolate. I LOVE the smell of rosemary, and have a bush between the house and my studio---I run my hands over it almost every time I walk by so I have the "fragrance" (as opposed to "stink") on my hands most of the time. OTOH, I have paperwhites growing in the same bed that I plan to dig up and give to a friend who likes them this year. Whenever they're in bloom, I think I have an electrical problem because they smell like burning plastic to me....YUK!

Funny isn't it, ima. Usually I like the smell of Rosemary, but this last week it just has started to really bug me. Maybe, because I finally caught the flu from YS, or maybe from the Hotel where we stayed. They used the Rosemary as a topping on one dish. I had to leave the table, it upset my stomach so.
Burning plastic? I didn't think that paperwhites smelled like that to me. But they aren't blooming right now, so I can't test my theory. Rats!
I know I've shared this pomegranite with you before, but I took this one yesterday, and I think it's about ready to harvest, although I love the way it looks suspended from the arch at the gate. Another symbol of fall.
Going to gargle with salt water and hope I feel better soon.
WIB!
SW

Paperwhites are stinky to me, too - horrible! I like rosemary best when it's cooking on a leg of lamb!

SW, I can collect the berries when they dry, but I understand Toyons aren't that easy to propagate. I keep looking for seedlings underneath them, but have yet to find one. My neighbor could use some, too - they had oleander all over their place that they cut down because of the horses browsing.

Beautiful pom, SW; mine are getting ripe, too---along with a treeful of Hachiya persimmons.

One of my much loved Liquidambers:

Liquidamber....Light and Shadow....

Liquidamber....Glory! :

My wildland:

Fall means crows feasting in the pecan trees....:

Tagetes lemmonii:

Tagetes lemmonii and salvia Anthony Parker:

Salvia pulchella (renamed, but I'd have to take the time to look it up and don't have time....)

Salvia mexicana 'Colima' form:

My fuyu has not one persimmon this year...my hachiya got left on the wrong side of the line when we divided the property...but I get persimmons every year from a neighboring stand...time to go get more. I get all that they put out each day and this year I'm going to make sure to make enough persimmon pudding to freeze for the entire year...lol...we ran short last year.

Very nice photos Sherry.

Thanks, Randy....I wanted everyone to feel just a little bit of what I felt this morning......

Sherry, do you freeze the persimmons, or do you make the pudding and freeze that? I've frozen whole persimmons when I get too many, but they're a mess to thaw & take up too much space. I'm seriously thinking of putting some on Freecycle. I have a great recipe for persimmon cookies, but I'm looking for more good persimmon recipes! Do you make the steamed persimmon pudding?

Loved your photo tour. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who loves my liquidambars---in spite of all their "issues"!

I've frozen whole persimmons. My elderly neighbor started me doing that, pulling one out of the freezer in the middle of a hot summer day and scraping off the pulp to eat while still frozen. Usually though, I'd freeze the pulp of about 3 persimmons (makes about 1 cupful which is what I use in my recipes.) to which a teaspoon of lemon juice is added then thaw to make cookies or whatever. But now I like to just go ahead and make the persimmon 'pudding' and freeze those. This recipe is called Persimmon Pudding even those it's not steamed, but baked in loaf pans as you you would for persimmon bread. It comes out moist and dense like a steamed pudding without the steaming hassle. Also make a lot of persimmon cookies and we dry hachiyas also...sliced, not whole. I've not tried the drying them whole method.
Persimmon Puding:
1 c sugar
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c milk
1 T butter, melted
1 c persimmon pulp
1 c flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 egg
1 c raisins
1 c nuts, chopped
Add baking soda to persimmon pulp, let sit while mixing other ingredients.
Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves) then add egg, milk, persimmon pulp, vanilla, butter, then stir in raisins and nuts.
Bake in well-buttered, and lined with waxed paper, and buttered again loaf pans (makes two) at 350 degrees one hour. These will not rise much as they are meant to be dense and moist, heavy. I serve with whipped cream....yum...I froze these last year and even after being in the freezer for about a year, still good.
I know someone who bought a house...the only thing I could see that it had going for it was a beautiful, mature liquidamber in the front yard...and she had it cut down because of those "messy, spiky seedpods"....sigh...

Thanks for the recipe! The steaming hassle keeps me from making the recipe I have, but this one has all the same yummy ingredients. I'll definitely make this SOON! In fact, it may end up being my Christmas presents for the neighbors....

Little finches appreciate my liquidamber seed pods all winter, and I love burning the fallen pods in the fireplace---the geometry of the glowing internal structure is just incredible!

That's a good idea for the pods....I rake them out of the path so my cat doesn't step on them and they're already there for me to scoop up...good tinder.

The Persimmon Pudding is 'sticky', so you want to really butter the pans and paper well and after turning out onto plate, carefully, slowly peel off waxed paper while still warm.

Our liquidambar tree can have all the issues it wants - it's on the very edge of the 'back 40' but we can see it from the house. :-)

I got a different view of mine when I turned the corner yesterday---and was reminded why I wanted to plant them in the first place. GORGEOUS red, visible from 3 blocks away! My 2 trees have very different coloration every fall. Add that to my crape myrtles and our city street trees (Chinese Pistache.) For a few weeks during my favorite time of year, it's pretty spectacular around here!

My crape myrtles are still very small and my pistache still just as green as can be! All planted for that same reason...really need those Fall colors. I would like to have poplars, but they've died twice when planted here. I'd try another spot if I could find another spot...lol...I like the pear trees for their color also. Anything with the color is great....I just have problems with finding space to plant it all.......the persimmons are good color also. So many wonderful plants, I have to stop trying to grow them all....really...

I really enjoyed seeing your liquid ambers, wcgypsy. They are beautiful. What do their seedpods look like? I think I know, but am not sure.
I didn't get as many walnuts this year as usual, which what the crows up here go after. We still need rain.
I think my only salvia died, Sherry. After looking at all the beauties you have, I am going to have to get together with you.
You know KC, about those Toyons, I've been waiting for years for those Eucalyptus trees to put forth seedlings, (at least 20 + years), still haven't found any. The poms readily reseed given enough water. I've never gotten a strawberry bush seedling either. Hoping for Rob that I can find one this year for her.
The poplars I have are invasive, and I am planning on taking them out eventually. Just waiting for the Honey locusts (which also reseed readily), and the Oak to grow a bit bigger. So be wary! ES and I planted pears last year in the orchard, but I haven't had the energy to go look at them. Sigh!
Thanks for the peek in your yard.
I thank you for the recipe too.
WIB,
SW

In many years here, I've only found maybe 10 toyon seedlings. I get plenty of eucalyptus citriodora seedlings, they even pop up in the nursery pots filled with other plants. I love that...love things that just pop up on their own and say "Here I am!". I get lots of Brazilian Pepper seedlings also and use them much...drought tolerant, free seedlings..works for me. I have a long border down at the back fenceline that was screened with a myoporum hedge and they've been decimated by the thrips or whatever has been hitting them the last couple of years so I'm filling in with the Brazilians and toyons, trouble-free. I also get dodonea seedlings and though they are not necessarily long-lived (at least, here they aren't), they grow super fast and are drought tolerant, so I pop those in here and there also while slower growing plants are growing. I planted two pear trees..'Moonglow' since a friend had one doing really well and has great fruit...and 'another' as a pollinator. Well, the Moonglow is about two feet tall and just hanging on, but the pollinator is about 8 feet tall and thriving. The Fall color is wonderful, so I think I'd plant more pears even if they don't fruit well here.
The liquidamber pods are round, spiky balls that you do not want to step on barefooted.....

Thanks, wc. I thought that they might be those spiky round seed pods. Good for fire? I don't have any but I love watching the way fire burns through wood and the occasional pine cone.
I love my volunteers, but am worried about the one Pom growing up against the Bower Vine. I guess it can stay. Weird companion plant though.
I was really happy when a CA Live Oak volunteered to grow in my yard. Right next to the fence line. The Fence in coming out! At least a portion of it.
I don't remember what kind of pears we planted. I'll have to go look it up. I know I took photos of the labels because I forget everything. Unfortunately I can't remember when we bought them and they would be filed by date. Hmm. Early this year.
WIB!
SW

I am noticing those bright red berries of the Toyons everywhere.

We get oak seedlings also and Canary Pine. The oaks I don't bother with or pay much attention to because I will probably be dead by the time they're large...the pines I pot and grow on and then plant out. My original Canary Pines came from seedlings that we were allowed to dig from the hospital grounds here..planted many years ago they now produce our own seedlings here. I love the progression. I also love tree seedlings that pop up here and there. Quite often it's not in a spot where I would have thought to plant that particular tree, but after taking a look I decide that it is a good spot for it and let it grow there. It's happy, I'm happy..win/win....

When we lived in Martinez we had a toyon hedge that the robins frequented, got drunk and crashed into our large windows, had to screen the windows to save the birds. We have toyons here and I've just noticed robins have returned here in the last week but I don't think the robins eat the toyon berries here as much as they did in northern Ca.

Those Toyon Berries are gorgeous.
The Strawberry Bush is starting to bloom again. Little yellow fairy bells. The bushes are covered with them!
Close up to follow.
WIB,
SW

Close up of the flowers. Fruit to follow soon.
WIB~
SW

I have a small tree of those SW but the blooms are a soft pink. Will have to get a shot of them. They sure are sweet.