Still looking good, here and there

Except for tree leaf color, which hasn't arrived at its peak just yet, the gardens begin to look pretty drab in the fall. Quite a bit of color still can be found lurking around our gardens here and there. In one shady nook best observed from our neighbor's dining room a couple of azure beauty berries are aglow with shiny purple berries on the gracefully arching branchs. This is a terrific low shrub for shady places, and since it flowers and fruits on new wood, it doesn't matter when the bunnies nibble it down. The beauty berry has several clumps of monk's hood/wolfbane growing up behind it, and it regularly produces clusters of blue-purple flowers on its 4-5 foot tall stems in October. Also a good plant for shade although the stems may need some support. The hydrangeas look great, still flowering like fools until they get frosted which could happen within a few days. A new varigated Diervillea sessifolia, dwarf bush honeysuckle, looks great in spite of the drought and is still flowering, much to the bees' delight, and it will also handle some shade.