Fall to Winter: A Mess of reds and yellows...

Look at the colors out there in the world. Where do you see reds that red and golds that gold!
Pretty cool. Here are a few shot from my as yet untouched fall garden.

It's been a while. I really haven't touched my yard (or this blog) in a while. But the year was a good one for my garden. Established plants taking on the jb of form, function and pop. The abelias, fuchsias and even the Nandinas have performed well.

This weekend I'l rake the leaves from the lawn and sidewalk into the beds. I'll cut back the remaining spent twigs of astilbe, lilies, mum and other perennials that have given up for the year. If there are some seed pods that still look ok, from Iris or other I'll let them stay a little longer. The deciduous grasses (miscanthus etc) will get a bit of tidying, but will stay until late winter. There's enough leaf debris this year that I don't think be needing need a fall composting. A Katsura, Quaking Apen, Serviceberry, the Maples and a Honey Locust have all made some nice leaf debris.

I'm continually amazed by this Fuchsia. It keeps going and going and has even survived several midsummer onslaughts by the three year-old boy pulling the "Dancers" off and trying to make them fly.






Note to self: when using dead/fallen tree snags to encourage the varieties of critters and a more full eco-system in the garden, keep the dead logs away from the kid's sandbox. About midway through the summer, a nest of bees decided to take up residence in this log. THe rest of this tree is still standing very nearby and had a nest of Northern Flickers in it, which is more what I had in mind, but this group of tree parts, with the resident bees, made for difficult sandbox play...

Enjoy the Autumn...