To be honest, there really is no end of the gardening season. For us it is a year-round labor of love that winds down to a trickle this time of year. However, marking the passage of time grounds me. Halloween, Samhain, traditionally marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the darker half of the calendar year, therefore I think I’ll mark this as my year’s end. Why not? I am in a close relationship with growing food, harvesting it and with plants in general, after all. And it is true the harvest is nearly complete (ripening squash, I’m looking at you). By embracing this time of the year I relax more and am able to take a break from the busy growing half of the year and hopefully indulge in enjoying the final show of autumn color.
I do try and garden for year-round habitat and interest but you cannot deny that spring and summer are peak season for most gardeners. Autumn and winter chores will certainly keep us busy (planting/moving some plants, compost spreading, leaf clean-up, cleaning up/topping of the veggie garden, greenhouse work, etc.) but heading out into the garden in the morning and not returning until the day is done, a solid eight hours of work in the garden, will whittle down to a mere few hours if that in the dark months.
I go a little stir crazy in winter cooped up inside. I wonder how the chickens feel when it’s 21 degrees and miserable. Indeed, cooped up. No wonder they slow their egg laying to a trickle, but the break is as good for me as it is for the hens.
The autumnal foliage show has been pretty good this year, I caught a little of it while the sun was out and also with a bit of morning fog. It is certainly a joy to be out there while I can. Here we go, looking at the garden as it winds down for the year:
An interesting vantage point I had not noticed until recently. I suppose the three Cupressus ‘Donard Gold’ (or ‘Golden Pillar’) have reached a size that makes them more visible from a distance. I never really appreciated golden foliaged conifers before thinking they look burned or diseased, but the softer yellow ones (with more green) are so attractive and brighten up the landscape, especially in winter.
The same vantage point on a foggy morning. The light makes a huge difference. See what I mean about the trees looking bright? Compare the golden cupressus with the dark abies on the left that seems to absorb light.
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’ has a lovely autumn vibe and is a rather upright ornamental grass, not falling over in rain. At its feet are Dorycnium hirsutum (silver) and on the left are Arctostaphylos ‘Saint Helena’ and Acanthus spinosus that often has great autumn color as well.
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’, a smaller oak-leaf hydrangea and its fabulous leaves.
Many flowers are still blooming into November including penstemons, salvias, fuchsias, some California poppies, aster (Symphyotrichum), Epilobium canum (California fuchsia), diascias and abutilons (pictured). Annuals such as marigolds, calendula and cosmos are all still going strong.
Mixed shrub goodness in the western woodland area.
Stewartia pseudocamellia in its fiery red phase. This small tree has three (if not four) solid seasons of interest. The exfoliating bark (more prominent as it ages), spring green and pretty summer white flowers and finally autumn color makes this a lovely specimen tree.
I appreciate hydrangeas that have more than one season of interest such as this paniculata, likely Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pink Diamond’ – the blossoms fade to antique pink and pretty soon the foliage will turn orange before dropping quickly. Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ behind it.
Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’ in a container on our front porch is blooming and I see bees regularly visiting right now.
Chrysanthemum ‘Hillside Sheffield Pink’ is such a joy every autumn. The three patches I have of them get a little larger every year and that’s a good thing. They play well with oranges of autumn as well as with variegated foliage such as that of the Rhamnus alaternus ‘Variegata’ behind it.
This vantage point was photographed a couple of months ago and is still looking pretty good. Phlomis russelliana pom pomps on the right, the blueish grass is Festusca ‘Beyond Blue’ and the shrub background left is Arctostaphylos pumila, groundcover on left is Sedum oreganum.
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cabaret’ at the edge of the labyrinth garden.
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Four more Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cabaret’ as seen from a rarely photographed vantage point up against our house.
Salix elaeagnos ssp. angustifolia takes center stage in the labyrinth garden. Its foliage is beginning to turn yellow for the end of the year often holding on to it well into December, adding color right up until the holidays.
Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is not a perennial that springs to mind when thinking of autumn color but here it is.
Lupinus albifrons foreground left, behind it is Baptisia ‘Wayne’s World’. Teucrium chamaedrys foreground right, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cabaret’ is the large grass in the background.
Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ provides pollen and nectar for many pollinators late in summer/early autumn and now it has a bit of autumn color too. Most of the perennials I leave standing until spring as birds forage through them, I imagine they are eating the seeds. Also, if a plant has hollow stems, insects often overwinter in them so another reason I leave all this for a while.
Here’s Oscar (Agave parryi var. truncata) doing well with Muhlenbergia rigens behind him and Diascia ‘Coral Canyon’ below.
Appropriate for Halloween, this is Arctostaphylos ‘Ghostly’.
Melianthus major with fading Romneya coulteri behind it and Ceanothus gloriosus at its feet. This plant took bad hits the last two winters and I thought it a goner, however it did regrow nicely this year. It’s not as large as it once was but I have hope it will regain its former glory.
Olives in the mist. This is at the southern edge of our property and these were some of the very first plants I put in the ground when we moved here nine years ago.
Franklinia alatamaha beginning to turn color.
A wider view with surrounding plants in the western woodland.
Viburnum opulus var. americanum which also has red berries right now echoing the foliage color.
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Amsonia hubrichtii going out on fire.
The meadow garden continues to morph into golden shades, primarily from Amsonia hubrichtii.
So there’s this area…it bugs me. There is a row of Spiraea betulifolia along the driveway (the reddish shrubs against the asphalt), behind them is a Viburnum opulus ‘Exuberant’. It needed something, it felt like a line of spiraeas with a blob in the middle. It needed to blend in with the surrounding trees a little more, softening and extending the isolated bed. I want to plant up a whole bunch of plants (of course) but FM isn’t so keen for me to take over every square inch, which I can appreciate. I did convince him that some evergreen elements would be a good contrast with the spiraea, so we agreed on vertical accents. Cupressus sempervirens ‘Swane’s Golden’ was the ticket. I bought five and played around with placement for a few days before we were both satisfied it looked good.
Planted up, this is what we will see as we drive up to our home. They are already about 6′ tall so off to a good start.
Reds of Spiraea betulifolia var. lucida (the three on the left, the five down the line towards the right are Spiraea betulifolia ‘Tor’) pop more with a bit of green around them.
And we can see them from inside our home (well, a few of them). I do love how they contrast with the red foliage of the spiraeas and subtly extend the garden bed outward, blending it in. As they grow it will be more obvious and as the deciduous shrubs lose their leaves for the season the evergreen element here will brighten up the area a little. The golden color, like the Cupressus ‘Donard Gold’ in the first two photos of this post shows up more brightly than the straight green species, though I do love both. It’s the perfect time of the year to install (most) new plants as it’s beginning to regularly rain and the soil is still pretty warm.
One of FM’s tripods in the meadow area, adding a bit of structure to an otherwise frothy mix. Anemanthele lessoniana, New Zealand wind grass, is the orange grass pictured.
This is the area where the meadow garden morphs with the labyrinth garden so is more of a mixed border with evergreen sub-shrubs as well as herbaceous perennials. All are sun loving and drought adapted. Additionally, this area is a definite favorite of birds through winter as they forage for insects and seeds and also hide from birds of prey. I really appreciate all the varied foliage textures this time of the year.
Spider’s web in Ceanothus gloriosus. We do love our spiders.
The contrast between Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’ and Azara microphylla is wide. I enjoy mixing up deciduous and evergreen plants, it feels more dynamic and interesting, especially in autumn. This year the acer’s color is decidedly more yellow than in years past when orange has been the predominant hue.
This is fun – Dorycnium hirsutum, hairy canary clover, climbing up through a Callistemon viridiflorus. Dorycnium is normally a low growing mound but it takes this opportunity to reach for more sun, I imagine.
Closing out this post with a final image of the labyrinth garden ahead and those golden cypress in the background, illuminating the garden through the darker months of the year. And while there is no real end to the gardening season for us, the slow down is indeed upon us. I’ll take advantage of this time to catch up on inside tasks such as putting together more blog posts about a variety of topics including native plants, evergreen interest, gardens visited from the Fling this summer and much more. Let me know if there is any topic in particular you would care to see, I’m all ears.
That’s a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love keeping the gardening conversation going! Happy gardening, Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain!