Fall is Here

The euonymus is starting to announce fall even though our oaks and maples are still green.

The cone flower carcasses in the foreground are there for the remaining goldfinches.

Roger

This message was edited Oct 4, 2008 10:15 AM

Linuxogre, That's a beauty for sure. I just came back from Honeybrook and Bird-In-Hand and so enjoyed the beginnings of some changing leaves. So many of the locals seem to have beautiful gardens and DH and I were fortunate to get a couple of hours at Longwood, so I have some wonderful memories and ideas. I used to live in Chadds Ford, but was not interested as much in gardens. If I were still there, I'd be visiting Longwood or Winterthur regularly.

Nice! I'm so glad to hear you leave the "carcasses" of the Coneflowers. I'm always tempted to cut them back because they look so ugly this time of the year but the goldfinches do always enjoy them, so they remain :) We received our first near frost temps this week and the tips of the Maples are just starting to show color. Unfortunately with the drought this summer I don't think our fall colors are going to be as nice this year :(

Longwood and Winterthur are spectacular. even though we live only an hour away, we don't visit them anywhere as often as we ought to. We moved to Lancaster from New Mexico a couple of years ago and I am still suffering from green shock.

linuxogre, I have a 'similar' problem! I moved from the northeast and I am still "suffering" from lack of the outstanding New England fall foliage :(

RCN, Gee I thought Lextington had some lovely foliage, maybe not as colorful as NH or Vermont, but still pretty with the mountains and valleys. I came down route 81 from PA and the Shenandoah Valley around Waynesboro was so pretty with the big blue sky and brilliant green farms. I was in Lexington around the end of October two years ago and thought it was a very pretty sight.

Pam, don't get me wrong it really is lovely here - Lexington is a quaint little town with some incredible views of the mountains. BUT, the fall colors here will never come close to the glorious foliage I was so accustomed to in Maine :( However, in the spring the area makes up for the lack of color in the fall - the Dogwoods and Redbuds we could never grow in Maine are unbelievable!

I would certainly agree with the comments about the fall color in Maine and Vermont.

The first time we moved to PA it was in the spring and I still remember how beautiful it was going through Valley Forge with the dogwoods and redbuds. Simply spectacular.

VA certainly doesn't have to take a backseat to anyone for physical beauty, it's just a bit different. New Mexico, where we lived for many years, has a desert grandeur that is breath taking but very different.

All in all, I have lived in most of the US over my 72 years and all of it has something that is worth experiencing if one just gives it a chance.

I agree :) I still remember the drive from Maine when I moved here in the fall of '99. Left the gorgeous reds in Maine, traveled through the brilliant golds in Pennsylvania and then encountered the beautiful lush green Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains! Linuxogre, I haven't traveled as much as you but have had several opportunities to visit my son in Phoenix and the desert IS outstanding, I just wouldn't want to live there! I'm much happier with green rolling valleys and mountains even though the reds of the desert are fun to visit :)

We're seeing some leaf color here. The red maples started turning a couple of weeks ago and of course the Virginia creeper. My favorites, the sassafras, are starting to turn this week and some of the not so glamorous like the wild cherries. I'm definitely seeing some patches of color on the mountains.

There's not much of anything prettier or more magical than a cloud of redbuds blooming alongside the road in spring.

We visited Grand Canyon a couple years ago. Loved driving thru the desert from Phoenix up to it, hours of 'just desert' is very intersting when you've never seen it. I'd like to see more of it.
Got touches of color here . Should have tupelo/Nyssa sylvatica (?) turn red soon.

Same bush, a week later. Maples are starting to purple-up as well.

Now that's a neat contrast, showing the same leaf color a week apart.

I noticed a real change in color within a couple of days this week. Cool nights and sunny days are the key.

Another 5 days, a little redder...

This is a shot down the street.

Oh I do so love the fall color change.
Sunday as we were driving home from N.C. it was so wonderful to see the first colorful trees.
This is the hedgerow that runs alongside my yard. Just starting to turn but will really put on a beautiful show for me over the next month.

Here is a view from my back yard, as you can see there are a few trees on the mountain that have changed but most are still green.

A few remaining flowers in my corner bed, the yellow, orange and red of the flowers reflecting the colors of the leaves as they change. I find it funny that they are mostly my tropicals Canna's and Brug's against the fall foliage. I'm playing chicken with my Brug, it is so heavily laden with flowers that I am hesitant to disturb it by digging it up. Should have put it in a pot.

Holly,

You can plant Brugs in a big pot and then dig the pot 1/2 way into your bed. This will not only keep it steady, but it will provide the soil access and cooler temps. Then you can dig up the pot to bring it inside.

OR---You can plant the Brug in about a 5 gal. black nursery pot--with 1" holes cut out allaround--and then bury this pot in a larger pot almost up to the rim . This pot-in-a-pot planting makes it easy to just dig out the smaller pot, trim off all the roots that have grown through the holes, and put it in a plastic bag to keep the exposed roots from drying out and store it dormant that way.
Even if you do the pot-in-pot way of planting--you can still bury the big pot into a bed and let it grow that way. Then proceed as above....

I have always had problems with my potted Brugs blowing over in strong winds, if I just keep them on a patio or some such-- as their leaves are like wind-sails!

I learned all this when I first started growing Brugs. from a then Brug expert on GW. I have seen him now posting on DG. His name was ..TNgreenthumb.......
I was "pumping" everyone for information on Brugs back then....One HAS TO learn about something new they are about to grow....

Here is my Peaches and Cream Brug (the HUGE one) I dug out of the bed yesterday (in it's pot) and, with great trepidation, cut it way back so I could bring it into my basement.
Next year--I will surely have to root-prune it--it is getting "massive".....
Have a zillion cuttings in water--but I am not really going to keep too many of them. Will "play around" with a few.....

As you can see--the roots have grown out of the bottom of the pot. These will be cut off flush. The plant will lose all leaves in the dormant state except for the growing tips.

Will post this in the Fall Clean-up Post as well.....

Here is a picture of what it looked like after the "carnage".....

Hope I did this semi-right....has worked OK in other years...
The main thing is NOT to cut anything off below the "Y"--or the plant will have to re-"Y" next year before blooming.

However--in this case--ALL the cuttings will already be from ABOVE the "Y", even if they don't show it, and will bloom earlier next year.

edited to say: The property behind all this is my neighbor's.



This message was edited Oct 17, 2008 10:19 AM

Here's the bed it grew in. I am sure you saw my picture of it with the yardstick laying across.

What hurt the most in doing this was--that on EVERY branch I cut off there were zillions of new flower buds. It would have been a flush from Heaven had these all been allowed to bloom out.
Can't take the chance......any night now it could have been frost.....or--we might have Indian Summer for another month. It's all a gamble!

Gita

Thank you so much Gita, I have planted a couple of brugs over the years and not had much success with them. I like your double pot method I will try that next year.
This year I was given several starters I put 3 of them in small pots and they didn't really grow much probably too shady where I set them but I have brought them inside for the winter The big one in the picture was planted at the beginning of summer also given to me. I actually forgot that I planted it in with the white Daturas and was thinking it might be one of the double yellow Daturas since it looked similar but different to the white Daturas that were growing there. Then I started thinking that it was probably just a weed and was just about ready to pull it when I saw the flower pods. It wasn't until it finally grew taller than the Dats that I remembered what I had planted.

Great instructions, Gita! I'm sitting at work, looking at the weather report thinking...UGH...I've got to bring those brugs in soon... I think just about all of mine have Y'd....so gonna trim above that and hope they'll fit with the other tropicals

ALSO--When you do trim--or take cuttings--remove almost all the leaves up to the growing tips. They will fall off anyway and make a mess.....

Your cuttings need not be big---even a 6" cutting can make it. I am trying to preserve a few extra (with a Spring Plant Swap in mind) and just potted up 6 more from all the cuttings I took. These I put in 5" sterile pots in potting mix/sphagnum moss mix--dipped in Rooting Hormone. They were short and stubby, but when I originally bought my Peaches and Cream Brug at a Street Fair--it was in a 4" pot and tiny. It was grown by a Nursery in PA. They called it "Peach Parfait". Had called it that for 6 years.

I posted pictures of it on the Brug Forum and soon it was ID'd as "Maya". Then, after it bloomed, and I posted pictures again, it was, more correctly, ID'd as "Peaches and Cream".
My "GURU" for advice, back then, was Shirley in Iowa. She is a most gracious, knowlegable lady and has, over the years, guided many a newbie to successful Brug growing. She is a friend and co-hort of Monica--the Goddess of ALL Brug-growing and hybridizing-- in Germany. She is SOOOO well known! There is a separate web-site run by her.

Not gonna get into this whole Brug-Thing too much---but it sure has a life of it's own in web-sites you may have never heard of. There is a lot to know and learn---if you, seriously, want to start growing Brugmansias.

I am sure, if you are in this category, you would be on the Brugmansia Forum by now. NOT on the Mid-Atlantic.

Gita

Already over there Gita...already over there...LOL

My sister in Florida --we went to her nursery together several years ago--they recommended this plant we had never heard of but now I know it must have been a Brug...that was my before DG life. I've learned so much!

A bit more color. The Red Oaks are turning nicely but the maple in the center seems a bit behind. The maple next to the house is a very red-purple but this one is slow. Must be different microclimate. Sun is wrong to get a shot of it.

The nectarine in the foreground has lost its leaves and the apple trees haven't shown much fall change.

This message was edited Nov 1, 2008 2:59 PM

Sally - meant to tell you, I have cuttings if you're interested.
Beautiful pic, linuxogre!!!

I was out collecting MG seeds and tearing out the old vines when I looked up and saw how beautiful the mountain looked. The setting sun just set it aglow. I'm afraid that by the time I got my camera most of the glow was gone and my picture isn't very good either.

This one was taken a couple of days ago it's the red maple in my front yard.

Holly--

More and more color is showing up around here as well. Of course--we keep having 60* and 70+* temps every other day--or so it seems--so the trees are not really bursting out with color. It is there--but slowly....BUT--it usually takes a serious cold snap to really turn them bright colors.

The most brilliant reds right now are on the Burning Bushes (Euononymous). They are just everywhere! They are just SO bright red!
I need to have my camera on me as I drive around as I saw some amazing ones today!
The more sun they get---the brighter red they get.

Other than that--my garden is now pretty Ho-Hum......Still waiting for my purple Daturas to mature as many seed pods as I can get.....There is one or two splitting every 3 days or so.
I feel as if i can start "chilling out"....always a great feeling!

Gita

This view makes my dishwashing a little more tolerable--yes the colors AND the guy mowing instead of me! AND mulching in the leaves on the grass.

This message was edited Nov 5, 2008 8:43 PM

Such gorgeous colors...was just thinking today while driving 95 to work...I believe we're at our peak. Too bad I can't snap pics while going 80 mph....ummm, I mean 65. I'll try to take a shot out my office window...soooo pretty believe it or not.

I been so focused on the fall leaves that I was almost missing the fall show still going on in my garden beds. Not that I have a lot of fall color now that the Asters and Mums are done but there still are a few showing off. Here is my last Mum blooming it's in a protected spot. Never got trimmed back last summer so it is laying over in the grass and still looking pretty.

With the cold temps we have had I'm surprised that some of these are still blooming. I'd tell you that this is my last Clematis but there are 2 more buds that could open yet.

These Assylum have been blooming since spring, do they ever stop?

Another all season bloomer,this Osteospermum, has been blooming since day one. Well worth the almost $5 per plant price. Talk about your premium annual. I'm going to try and propagate a few cuttings from this one.

This is the last rose and I'm not sure it will make it to full bloom.

But even after they are gone the Roses leave us something to remember. Rose hips.

a REd Wings viburnum I got to cross pollinate another Vib. This color is a nice extra.