Plant migration of a sort

 It's the 25th of October, and still no frost, which is now over-due by about 2 weeks.  Fall color may be a bit of a bust this year because the first freeze may be a hard one and not the lighter series of frosts that promote leaf color change.  The area is still pretty green.  But TPP got a bit nervous and started the plant migration shortly after mid-October.  This is when all of the tropical plants, or at least non-hardy plants, get taken inside after their nearly 5 month R & R outside for the summer.  The fluffy tailed tree rats decided to simply chew up two epiphyte cacti, so-called Christmas cacti, not actually eating, just chewing up.  Mrs. Phactor thinks they needed replacing anyways.  A number of plants are a bit confused by the weather pattern and some break-through flowering is happening even though the foolishness of this has been explained (stoopid azaleas).  Most of the tropicals flower quite well during their winter inside (just check out past Friday Fabulous Flowers during January and February).  A couple of tough bonsai trees that seem to do well with a taste of cooler weather a are all the remain outside.  Now the sun room porch looks cheerfully vegetative.  

Mother nature is messing with us

The fall has been very late such that no frosts yet and very little night time cold, so leaf color changes have barely begun here in the last week of October.  And now it's snowing and trees still have most of their leaves!  Nothing looks sadder than a big leaf magnolia with all its leaves bending under the weight of snow; nothing is sadder than a tree breaking under the weight of snow.  Now this snow will not last long, but it's messing with the nicest part of the fall season, and that's just not nice.  
Only the truly dedicated trick-or-treaters will be out tonight, and we have very few kids of the appropriate age in our hood anyways.  However it was probably a good thing that the dead oak whose crown reached over our roof was taken down before this snow and wind thing.  And we hope nothing else gets damaged too badly.  A few years ago a big wet heavy snow fell around Thanksgiving and as we walked through the neighborhood, you could hear the snapping of Bradford pear trees. 

More fabulous foliage - sumac

The tree color is just about done, and if we get the predicted snow, the fall color will really be finished.  At this point some shrubs remain colorful, hamamelids: witch hazels, fothergillas, parrotias. Another colorful group are sumacs, largely unruly shrubs, not suitable for most lawns or gardens.   This is a cultivar of Rhus typhina, a staghorn sumac.  It turns a wonderful orange color, but that doesn't compensate for its really problem, which is sending up new shoots along roots.  If left alone it will form large clones, some of which can be seen along interstate highways in our area.  Ours is fighting with bottle brush buckeyes for space and the greater shade tolerance of the latter seems to be the deciding factor.  But hey it is colorful.  

Friday Fabulous Foliage - golden days

Our garden's fall color is quite good this year, although quite late as it is now November.  Our gardens are largely in the shade of a couple of quite large sugar maples, and the morning sun suffuses the area with a golden light.  Other specimens brighten up dark spaces such as this Japanese maple.  While there have been a couple of nights with frosty temperatures, there have still been no hard freezes so far, but the color display will not last for long.  It was warm enough with a light jacket to enjoy a cocktail out on the patio just to enjoy the colors.  A few things are still in flower, the monk's hood, a wayward witch hazel, an anemone. 

Fall, where does it leave us?

2017 was a strange fall here in the upper Midwest of the USA.  September was cool, then hot and dry. A lot of trees showed stress & TPP hopes he watered enough trees and new plants well enough.  It was a $400 watering. It was a late fall staying warm until well into October, and a hard frost waiting until November.  Fall color was late to develop, and even then it was funny with some well colored trees framed against a green backdrop.  When a hard frost did come our sugar maples dropped their leaves literally overnight, covering our patios to at least a foot deep.  And then the leaf netting over the lily pond had to get dragged off for a second time, and it was heavy with leaves, walnut and hackberry mostly, and the pond doesn't want those.  
Nonetheless when some plants colored up they were  wonderful.  Foremost among those were the Japanese maples.  This image shows a pair that grow just beyond the lily pond.  The low-growing one in the foreground (Emerald lace) might develop more color if the chlorophyll fades a bit more, but the 'scolopendrifolium' behind turned a wonderful orangey hue.  So nice and bright.
Of course our lawn is a confluent carpet of leaves and the oaks are still hanging on to their leaves for later.  These will all get semi-shredded and piled on areas destined to become woodland gardens.

Friday Fabulous foliage - Everyone needs a Nyssa

The Phytophactor lives having survived the flu-like substance, but the congestion hangs on.  Thanks for asking.  The constant sniffling, coughing, hacking, etc. has gotten very old.  When the head doesn't feel well, no blogs get written. 
In the view from our kitchen, the back drop is basically Mrs. Phactor's perennial garden with a wooded backdrop. The whole area slopes upward ever so slightly, so at the "back" or "top" of the garden are several ornamental trees, and as the fall progresses the most attractive tree is a smallish Nyssa, a tupelo, a dwarfish variety of some sort.  The flowers do not amount to  much, but the leaf display is vivid and long-lasting.  Everyone has room for one of these trees somewhere.

Friday Fabulous Flower - late fall color

Yesterday Nov. 17th probably set a high temperature record for the date - the mid 70s (F). After doing leaves in garden beds, some lawn cleanup, anti-rabbit cages around trees & shrubs, and other odds ends, the Phactors treated ourselves to a margarita on the patio. A walk around the estate let us check on undone jobs and see what late fall color was left. The smoke trees, a Kousa dogwood, a couple of Japanese maples, a European Euonymus, fothergilla, and witch hazels were looking rather nice. One of the witch hazels was also in flower, a not uncommon happening, so it's sort of like early spring and late fall all together.

Fall color to relax by

TPP can feel the tension in the air this election day especially after the previous post. You wonder if the woman in the red sweater is making a political statement or just wearing school colors?  OK that's the sort of thing that can really bring people down, my bad.  So vote, then take a deep breath and relax; plenty of time to get nervous later. To help you here's the leaning back, upward view from our patio (image from yesterday); now just sip your mint julep (mint variety is Kentucky Colonel).  Better? You get ugly when stressed. 

Friday fabulous flower - Fall color

Flowering has just about ended in our gardens, but the fall color has just started, so here's a view of the tiptop of our 100'+ sugar maple as it just begins to color up. This is pretty much normal except about two weeks later than usual.  The weather has flirted with frost, a couple of overnight lows in the 36-37F range, but now the weather has warmed and the lows are expected to be 10 degrees warmer through the end of October. It's very rare to end October without a frost. Thank you global warming.  Word of warning: water, water, water, especially any new plantings, i.e., any added this season. Our fall drought is upon us, and plants should enter the winter well watered because winter is not so much a season of cold as it is a season of drought.

Friday Fabulous Flower - fall color edition

Here's another nice little garden tree used for fall color, a tupelo or black gum (Nyssa sylvatica)(but can't remember the variety), and in this case a dwarf variety.  It stands about 6 feet tall and it's very tough, undemanding. Here the foliage is just beginning to turn and it will continue to change until its a very scarlet red color. It's located behind Mrs. Phactor's perennial garden and positioned for a nice view from a patio.  

Disappointing fall color - Persian ironwood

A Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) was installed in our gardens about 14-15 months ago. It was decent sized, nicely shaped, and a reasonable price, so it seemed like a good idea. The tree has established itself in the medium back border of our lily pond, and looks handsome enough. Well, the fall color was pretty good this year, now most of the trees are pretty bare. Now some very cold weather is bearing down on us, so the fall color season will officially be over tonight. The Persian ironwood is still mostly green; only a few leaves are showing any sign of changing. In the same family as witch hazel and Fothergilla, Hamamelidaceae, the Persian ironwood is mostly planted for its fall color, and it's still green! What's up with that? Hard to say. The tree has plenty of flower buds, so it will flower in late winter/very early spring, right along with the witch hazels, but let's just say that in comparison the witch hazels put on quite a flowering display. The flowers are similar, but Persian ironwood lacks a corolla/petals although the anthers are red and a bit conspicuous, but not so much as Fothergilla. The fall has been so mild, perhaps a good hard frost was needed earlier to get things going. The genus is a nice example of an honorific name honoring Johann Jacob Friedrich Wilhelm Parrot, a German naturalist.

Golden rain and fall color

Fall color this year is varied and very good this year, but as always fleeting. The area immediately behind our house is under the canopy of two sugar maple trees, one large and one huge, and the light especially in the late afternoon is just perfused with a completely lovely golden glow. And as a bonus, the weather was warm enough to sit on the patio and enjoy the light with a glass of wine.  But then it started to rain, not water, not cats and dogs, not frogs, but leaves, and it

rained for 3 days burying the entire area with inches of golden orange maple leaves.  Several other species have contributed to the fall color too: yellow - bottle brush buckeyes, orange - sumac, red - dogwoods, pinky orange - black haw, red-orange - black gum, and variously peachy yellow, orange, and red - Japanese maples making bright dabs of color here and there in the gardens.  This one (Acer japonicum 'aconitifolium') is fairly new, but what a beauty, what color.

Fall color finally arrives

Fall has been rather slow developing this year probably because of the ample rain and mild temperatures. Today really felt like fall, a bit cold with a possible frost tonight, and finally fall color is beginning to develop in our gardens. This is a favorite Japanese maple positioned at the north end of the lily pond in a clear line of sight from our breakfast nook. Not only does this tree develop some great fall color, but then it gets reflected in the lily pond when the light is just right. The sumacs, bottlebrush buckeyes, black gum, sassafras, and dogwoods are all turning color and by next week things should be quite colorful. 

Friday Fabulous Fall Color

It's a late fall this year and a lot of plants are slow in developing fall color.  Here's witch hazel showing you why you should plant it.  It grows in the shade, it's a pretty tough plant, it flowers very, very early in the spring, and it has great fall color.  In general it's an under planted, under appreciated shrub that is a bit too subtle for your average suburbanite.   

Finally fall color

Finally the first of our plants with good fall color have changed.  It wasn't that long ago that it still looked, felt, and sounded like summer.  However, it's October 31st!  And there are quite a few things still to turn color, but it will be a short color season because the leaves are falling fast and it won't last.  This Japanese maple really lights up an area near our garden pavilion and the peachy-pink color contrasts so nicely with it's very dark bark.  In general it seems as though spring started about 2 weeks early and fall is running 2 weeks late.  The good news is that almost 3" of rain has fallen in the past 24 hrs and it was really needed to recharge the soil moisture and get the trees well hydrated going into winter.  TPP is no fan of red maples; they don't do well in this region because it's too hot and too dry for them in the summer.  However this year they are striking with deep red foliage and all too many people will fall for them.  Have to run, some more Jedi knights have come to the door seeking treats, but their mind tricks won't work on TPP.

Garden challenge of terrible difficulty

Not much fall color is left by the time you get to early November, and actually, it's quite surprising that any is left at all.  This is the northwest margin of the Phactors' estate.  Can you find the Japanese maple?  Wonder if my old Texan friend and collaborator can see it?  Of course, he's red green color blind and red against green is a difficult task for him.  Hopefully this is not too difficult for the rest of you and helps build your self esteem.  You're welcome. 

Fall color to plant - Black Tupelo

One new addition to our gardens, a weeping black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica - "Autumn Cascade") not only survived the hot, dry summer in good condition, but its fall color is quite spectacular although its still pretty small.  This tree is not as weepy as some weepers, and it will produce upright leaders so you can control the upward growth with judicious pruning.  Our specimen sits at the back of a perennial bed where we want it to be a small specimen tree.  So far its been trouble free and fast to establish itself.  The  semi-weeping habit will help keep its size in check.  In this location our tupelo gets 5-6 hrs of sun which seems sufficient. And then there's the color.  Tupleo's have great fall color and this variety does not disappoint.  TPP highly recommends this tree as a way to enhance your garden.

Creepy Fall Color

Here's some fall color TPP spotted on his walk home today.  Fall color around here is just about at its peak and the weather is doing its best to make the display short-lived.  This display caught my eye and then came the recognition.  In general sumacs do have great fall color displays, but you seldom think about this species has having great color, but here you are, Rhus toxicodendron has great fall color even if it gives you the creepy crawlies.  OK kids, go on out and collect some nicely colored leaves.  Now if you really know your stuff about plant interactions, you'll tell me what tree this vine is growing on.  For some reason these two species always have gotten along. 

Weekend Fun!

Here were the main activities of the weekend for our household.

1. A virus, how annoying.  Not TPP, his trusty PC.  It has been a good long time since it has contracted an infection, and you get rather complacent, but fortunately most software has automatic updates although no anti-viral or anti-malware installed saw this one coming.  And from where?  It was the usual scanning for science news and recipes type of morning.  Should you be ever suspicious of squash soup recipes?  And for all my years on the internet, and it is many, what is the creator of such malicious software gets out of it.  It’s like breaking windows.  Other than a delight in sheer destruction of something not so difficult to break, a feeble victory at best, and annoying people you don’t even know, where is the payoff? 

2. Leaves.  Just as the fall color really begins to appear a 24-hr windy front moves through the area and reduces tree crowns by 50%.  On the good news side, a newly planted tupelo is showing real potential for outstanding fall color.  On the other hand, drought damage has greatly reduced the fall color of the witchhazels.  And of course, all the leaves in the world seem to end up in the lily pond.

3. Rain.  After a brief effort, maybe about 150 bulbs got planted.  Probably 1.5-2 inches in total. So the default activity was house cleaning, an activity largely ignored during gardening season.  Why clean a house if you’re only going to be in it to sleep?  Somehow quite a layer of dust and cat fuzzies had managed to accumulate, and we do expect a foreign house guest later this week.

4. Garden cleanup.  Time to ditch the summer garden plants; nothing more to come from tomatoes (3 cherry tomatoes eaten on the spot), peppers, beans, eggplant, okra.  At least when your garden is close to a total flop you don’t have much to clean up.  Only the cold frame greens remain.  Made a totally dynamite spicy pork and bok choi stir fry, and it was fairly easy and delivered a Thai flavor.  Definitely a keeper recipe, one of those sleeper recipes that you turn past in a cookbook because it never quite captures your imagination until you have a bunch of bok choi and some frozen coconut milk to use and  your pragmatism turns to discovery. 

5. Bonsai trees.  Several of TPP’s bonsai trees are pretty tough and seem to do better is given some fall cool weather, but there is a limit so the indoor migration began.  The Pittosporum needed repotting, and that was completed just before the next big squall came through and TPP had to help the neighbors secure their garden shed (plastic on tubular framework) that had gotten blown over by a sudden gust.  The limb cleanup will result in a substantial pile for composting as it always does.

Crispy, a close call

It was a bit crispy last night with a low of 33 F, 1 degree above freezing and a frost for all the literate people out there who the C scale.  This is a little bit early for a frost, but not much.  The close call was that TPP forgot that he needed basil for a salmon marinade this morning, and there are very few plants that are more sensitive to frost than basil.  So our dinner party dodged a culinary bullet.  A bit of bok choi and lettuce are all that remain in the garden with any potential, and they are comfy in their cold frame.  The sugar maples are beginning to show some color and the sassafras in the far back corner of the estate is already a nice orange-yellow.  A newly planted tupelo is beginning to show promise for being a colorful fall plant.  Six foot tall elephant ear and cannas still stand tall and will until we get a real hard frost, or until the Phactors get impatient and just decide to dig them anyways.  TPP is not real keen on more digging.  Our field work has already involved way too much digging to suit my aching hip.  So now it's time to swing through a farmer's market, pick up a couple of new shrubs, and finish up preparations for the dinner party which includes a chocolate cranberry tart.