Semper, what a stunning photo! Amazingly, I was studying photos of trout lilies last night, thinking where I might put one. I perceive that you have a sunny side of a shade garden, whereas I have a shady side of a sun garden. Well, actually two shady sides. The north side of my house gets sun only a few hours a day. Hence I can grow ferns and primula japonica, fothergilla gardenii, thalictrum rochebrunianum and other plants that can handle sun but not too much.
Then I created a bed anchored with a large crabapple, a cotinus 'Grace', a viburnum prunifolium and a viburnum trilobum. It is becoming shadier over the years but there are gaps in which plants unexpectedly fry. Athyrium felix femina thrives in the first site and fries by mid-summer in the second. I could not establish virginia bluebells or myosotis at that site. But heuchera thrives.
I particularly like your photo because not only are the plants wonderful, but I love the colors. My basic scheme is pink, purple, blue and white with splashes of red (like the greigi tulip' Pinocchio") but I am also finding that light yellow blends in well. The epimedium was an error. I was seeking ones with white and pink flowers, and they were mislabeled. But the vigor of sulphurum is wonderful, and the light yellow, such as your great selection of the trout lily, would work too. I'm thinking of dividing the epimedium this spring and moving some of it to the bed I created. The trout lily would be gorgeous there.
It is delightful finding someone who has, as you say, a similar sensibility. I am so grateful for your wonderful suggestions and lovely photos. I find it most appropriate that you are a colorist. I was an art history major, and one of my first inspirations was the image of miscanthus sinensis in 12th century Japanese paintings. I love plants that have an almost sculptural quality, and I am fond of contrasts in texture, form and shape. My garden is my canvas (since heaven knows I can't draw or paint) and I express myself through it. That's why it is so wonderful to correspond with someone who could write the word sensibility and relate it to gardening.
Donna
Plants that show good Fall foliage color
Thank you DonnaMack, I've enjoyed your photos and suggestions also.
Ah, that explains it, our intent is the same. We both approach the garden as an art form.
I still produce artwork, as a fine artists now, and it is always a conflict in the spring and summer which art form takes precedence - garden or paper. The garden offers as much inspiration to my art as the art does the garden.
We do seem to have a similar color scheme. I also use red as an accent throughout the garden with lots of purple , a touch of pink, soft yellow and I've also started to use the deep red of heucheras like Palace Purple and Penstemon Husker.
In the shade garden I use a lot of white also since it is still visible in the dark.
I see you have mentioned fothergilla gardenii, one of the truly beautiful shrubs. I have it under planted with wood phlox and have 3 of these shrubs in my small garden
Bluebells don't seem to survive for me either but forget -me -nots have seeded everywhere along with common violets. I pull both of those out of the beds proper and keep them on the outside of the rock edgings. The myosotis I keep for color and filler and the violets because they are a host plant for fritillaries. I wish the purple leaved labrador violet was as prolific.
If you can't grow the common for-get-me nots have you tried Brunnera "Jack Frost"? It forms a big clump with variegated leaves and doesn't seed like the others. It's more an accent plant.
Semper,
Amazing. Brunnera 'Jack Frost' was my choice after myosotis. I plan to seek a supplier in spring. And speaking of heucheras...
I tried a lot of heucheras early on but a lot of my favorites didn't persist, particularly Cherries Jubilee and Monet (which is variegated) and after much experimentation found Heuchera Sanguinea Firefly persisted. You are probably familiar with it, but here is an image:
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/images/imagesH/HeucheraFirefly.jpg
Better yet, I found seed source, J.L. Hudson, and successfully grew half a dozen last year, which are clustered in a little enclave near a cornus alternafolia. A dear friend of mine purchased some seed from them: Heuchera Americana Dale's Strain and what were referred to as Newest O.P Hybrids that are said to be an americana macrantha cross but couldn't get them going. Feeling rather guilty because I had recommended the purchase, I offered give it a try and was successful in obtaining five quite stocky seedlings which I gave to me friend in fall. My friend quite graciously said that I could keep the seeds. I'm going to start a new batch in January. What luxury!
Now to find a seed source with heuchera bearing pronounced white flowers.
Donna
Donna
Noticed you mentioned Huerchera Sanguinea 'Firefly'. Do you know if it is a hybrid? The reason I ask is I saved seed last year and grew seedlings which I planted out in late summer. I'm wondering if flower color will be like the parent. Leaf color looks the same to me. It is a great plant.
Veronica
What a fun thread! I just took some fall color photos. This is a pyracantha, sorry I can't recall the cultivar but I bought it for the red berries.
Raywood Ash tree
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltdiva/3067929065/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltdiva/3067927889/
and a crepe myrtle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltdiva/3067908747/
Hi Veronica,
This is a guess, but I am almost certain it is a hybrid, and would not come true from collected seeds. However, you might get some terrific plants.
Donna
I will report back when it blooms. LOL if I can remember. Nowhere on the tag did it say hybrid that is the reason I am just not sure. If it is not true I may well get some good plants. They sure grew well. I can always divide the original.
Veronica
Hi cactuspatch, welcome to the thread.
DonnaMack and Indy,
I've never tried Heucheras from seed but I did rescue seedlings of palace purple crosses that sprouted readily in a mossy pathway. Although a few appeared to have brilliant red foliage when small none are anything special. I use them as filler along the edges of the beds and have even thrown a few into a long narrow path going up the center of the asphalt in the driveway . The one time I tried Heuchera sanguinea it was not a success, but from your experience I will try Firefly in the front with the red colombine. It should look interesting with the long grassy leaves of the grape hyacinth (Muscari).
By the way Indy, Plantfiles said Firefly would not come tue from seed.
In general I have found most heucheras short lived except for Palace Purple and the villosas- the Autumn Bride
has the white blooms on a large maple leaved plant in autumn.
This Spring photo showing the white clump of flowers in front of the the little statue is the native white flowered geranium maculatum. These have the lovely red tinged leaves in Autumn shown earlier in the thread. You can see the line of dark leaved heucheras grown from the seedlings. The wood phlox is also a good substitute for myosotis and have variegated leaves if you purchase the cultivar 'Montrose Tricolor'. But you must be sure to place it in a well drained area.
Cactuspatch,
All I can say is more! The pyracantha photo is beautiful. I think you will find more than one lover of red here.
Semper I have definitely found heucheras, heucherellas and tiarellas difficult. I fell in love with a magnificant tiarella called "lacquerleaf". I purchased four for the north side of my house so that I could look out the window in the dead of winter and admire them. I believe it was a Terra Nova Nurseries introduction that I purchased from Shady Oaks Nursey (which then became wholesale only). Here is a description:
This recent selection features glossy dark-green maple-shaped leaves. Delicate spikes of fragrant, near white flowers appear in late spring. Winter foliage colour is rich bronzy-purple.
They were wonderful, but they slowly faded away. Heucherella Bridget Bloom lasted three or four years. I think that, amongst other things, these plants have difficulty with competition even with care. But I noticed something interesting. My next door neighbor, who is the lovely person I described above, does absolutely nothing for her perennials (no water, fertilizer or compost!) and simply has a yard team come clean up twice a year, has a set of at least ten heuchera with red flowers that bloom like mad and come back year after year!
I put in some Firefly three years ago that have thrived with pretty complete neglect. I am usually a person who, my husband says "caresses every leaf" but all I would do is say, oh yes, let's dead head you. So I popped six plants grown from seed in a bed and they have done very well. They are slowly "bulking up". Given that all of the seed strains I have grown from J.L. Hudson seeds have produced plants, I think that I will watch their offerings.
I just realized that I have a photo from early November that shows the leaves of one of them. Also it shows a little group of primula japonica, which I just love and put in with athyrium felix femina (fading to the right). Japanese primroses are amazingly resilient if you just throw water on them. One was so much so that it was trying to rebloom at the beginning of November. I'm not sure why I found it so charming, but I did.
Donna
Donna, we had a cold wind blow in yesterday and the fall colors are pretty much gone. I do have some red on some strawberry leaves and some petunias that are still blooming in their protected area, but it looks pretty grim out there now! I love deadheading, it makes more growth and blooms. Whack away, LOL!
I have had the problem of losing a tiarella also. It only lasted one year. 'Stoplight'. It was real pretty with lime green leaves and red striping through them. It did not get a chance to grow. Died. The 'Firefly' was very pretty last year and I did get some plants. As I said before we will see what colors and if they are hardy. I have 'Palace Purple' and they do not all look exactly alike. I attributed it to one getting more sun.
Semper: What lovely photos of your fall garden. Gorgeous colors and combinations.
Pagan: Here is a picture of my red-twig dogwood for you to enjoy until yours gets established. They are the most beautiful after they lose their leaves, of course.
Hemophobic
Enjoyed your red-twig pic. I have 3 but yours is much bigger. I try to keep mine trimmed but yours looks so good. Anyway you are right about looking better after losing their leaves. Snow on them is especially gorgeous. We may be getting some soon but alas I have not worked on figuring how to upload pictures. Call me a reluctant student.
Indy: I have a long way to go to master my new digital camera, too. I've not been fortunate enough to have enough snow to amount to anything, but I can imagine that the red twigs would certainly stand out against it. I also would like to incorporate some yellow-twig specimens but haven't yet done so.
Thanks for the compliment.
Love that red twig dogwood. While it looks lovely in your yard, it would be a fun source for craft projects too!
Here is a pix of the red leaves on the strawberries under my roses. We had sleet that day.
Cactuspatch,
What a beautiful image! To see something that fresh looking covered with ice crystals is terrific.
What kind of strawberries. I grow fragaria vesca reugen as an edging plant. It has no runners, but the seed gets distributed, and I pot up the plants for a couple of weeks before placing the plants elsewhere. What kind of plants do you have?
Donna
Cactus: What a nice compliment. Thank you on behalf of my dogwood. It's a nice addition to the fall/winter landscape.
Angie
Thanks, the ice quickly melted as our daytime temps have been warmer than normal, in the 60's this week is the prediction. I think those strawberries may have been Sequoia. I moved the offsets and Mom's from my old yard 9 years ago, so can't always recall what I may have bought back then!
Thank you, Angie - I can hardly wait for them to look anything like yours!