Leaf Change in the Garden

It has been such a nice dry autumn that we are having such an amazing leaf change in the city. Normally so many dying leaves would have been lost from the trees from pelting rains. Instead, all over town, we are seeing beautiful and amazing colored trees: bright reds, intense almost neon yellows. It is very enjoyable. And even here in our garden we are finally getting an indication of future leaf changes. When we planted the native hedgerow a few years ago we planted three vine maple and one western crabapple. Today I noticed that one of the vine maple is showing some vibrant red; how exciting when all three mature enough to get plenty of sunshine to yield all that crimson for us!


I modified the landscaping plan that we had because the designer had specified a few trees too close to the house for my preference(as a result of what happened when we did the exterior restoration had scaffolding erected.) Also she specified some non-native trees which, while undeniably pretty, were not what what I had in mind for naturescaping. Near our newly designed terrace I decided a cascara tree would be a better choice than the proposed ornamental. Cascara have pretty grey bark with a lobed leaf and yield a berry that birds can eat. Eventually this tree should provide much needed shade for the terrace so I won't have to manuever umbrellas around. Once we went on an outing to Portland Nursery and I was telling Mr. W about the cascara's qualities and he suggested we buy one then and there. I was pleasantly surprised because I was talking future, but he was feeling quite generous. We've had it for maybe 3 years now and it is thriving, thankfully, because I have definitely not been babying it like one should. Today I noticed that it also is beginning change color with reddish yellow leaves.

And I'll toss in this shot of my beauty bush and chrysanthemum in the beds beneath the cascara. It was even prettier when the two Michaelmas daisies were in bloom. My poor lopsided beauty bush though, we really need to remove that out of control laurel hedge. That is the last step I need to qualify for platinum certification for the Backyard Bird Habitat. One day...