Transitions in the Seasons

As the fall wraps up its process of shuttling down plants for the cold winter months ahead, there are also last glimpses of the color and beauty of last summer. 

This is one of the remaining coleus on the front porch. While there has not been a hard frost yet, which would have been immediately seen in blackened foliage on the various false indigo plants, the annuals have shut down.  These coleus have done better since they are in a protected spot near the warmth of the house.  We probably won't take cuttings this year, since it is hard to carry them through until the next spring.

The berries on the Ilex verticillata Winter Red have fully developed their color for the winter, while holding onto the leaves.  Once the leaves drop, the red of these berries will provide a great splash of color through February if the birds don't eat them first. A few will be cut to use for house decorations, but the bushes are still too small to do much of that yet. They can be added into any arrangement of greens or shown to dramatic effect by themselves on the bare stems.

It has taken several years to find a place for Winterberry, a deciduous holly grown particularly for these large berries on bare stems.    The ones planted down on the side of the ravine always struggled during dry spells, never getting enough water.  Once stressed, they would drop their berries.  Even one summer when watered through soaking hoses, they never got enough.  Two different varieties were tried in two different places with no success.

These two female bushes, with a pollinating male only a few feet away, are at the back edge of the labyrinth, up where they will get attention and water.  Actually, since this is the spot where the rain water from the other side of the street streams through on its way to the drain, they get lots of water without being constantly wet. While the site would be a bit crowded if they ever grew to their full size of 8 feet by 8 feet, they will be kept in place by pruning for decorations every year.

Just about fifteen feet away, along that same back edge with the neighbors property but close to the road is a Redbud .  It is Cercis canandensis 'Don Egolf,' named for the breeder at the National Arboretum who developed it.  It is a dwarf variety that will only reach ten or twelve feet tall. That was an important consideration since it sits right in front of the view from another neighbor's house to the Bay.  Their house sits high enough that when the tree is full height, they will be able to easily see over it.

These are the many buds that will explode with a brilliant magenta color early in the spring.  Redbuds bloom earlier than most other spring flowers, so the color is particularly satisfying against the grayness of their surroundings.  Since this is more of a bush in shape, it will provide lots of eye candy when there is little other.

This was planted in the year before my mother died, and only after telling my sister about it did I learn that Redbuds were one of Mom's favorite trees.  I think about her when I see it blooming, along with Lemon Lily (a yellow day lily), peonies, iris, hardy hibiscus, and a paper bark maple planted in her memory.  She is still a part of this garden. Once there are pictures of everything, I will put together a page of all of them.