Although Pam at
Digging no longer hosts her foliage follow-up meme, I'm still conditioned to think about foliage after collecting a glut of photos in preparation for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. There isn't much in the way of fall color in my region of the country, especially as temperatures seem to be growing higher with each passing year, but our nighttime temperatures have markedly declined* recently so I took my camera outside and mounted a search.
The deciduous trees still aren't showing much color but I found two exceptions.
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| The coral bark Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'), grown in a protected spot alongside our garage, is the only reliable provider of fall color I have |
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| The noID persimmon at the edge of my cutting garden didn't produce any fruit this year but it has a touch of fall color, which isn't always the case. A second persimmon tree on the other side of the fence has a little fruit but ugly brown leaves. |
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| This year Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' is obscuring the persimmon's best side |
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| The persimmon doesn't look as impressive from this side, at least not yet |
In the absence of real fall color, we look to plants that can mimic it. Here's an example:
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| Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' has colored up nicely in the succulent garden on the south side of the house |
My neighbor's maples are just showing the first signs of changing color but I expect it could be Christmas before they're flashy enough to show off. I hope those of you in colder climates had a chance to enjoy the colors of fall before freezes hit or snow arrived. Best wishes to all of you in the US in the sights of the Nor-easter.
*A "marked decline" here means temperatures occasionally dipped into the 40s.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
