We are in peak fall garden time right now:
As if we needed another reason to love on Panicum ‘Northwind’, look at that golden fall color. Phenomenal.
Grasses. Yeah.
Hydrangea and Panicum.
Andropogon (Big Bluestem) ‘Red October’
Schizachyrium (Little Bluestem) ‘Blue Heaven’
Pennisetum ‘Hameln’
Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’, I think. Missed this one on the spreadsheet a few years back.
Amsonia hubrichtii. Not quite in peak fall form yet.
Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’ emerging between an endless collection of you guessed it, ornamental grasses.
Ninebark ‘Diablo’ showing its first signs of decay. Albeit a good decay.
The fall color on Geranium ‘Brookside’ is underrated.
Red Maple ‘October Glory’ in all its … October … glory.
Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’ making the turn towards leaf drop time.
And finally, Phlox subulata (Moss Phlox) with a subtle yet impactful foliage change that reminds me we are in the home stretch every time I walk out of my front door.
QOTD: What is the most underrated fall foliage star in your garden?
it’s been such a nice lonnnnng growing season this year, and a pleasant warm rain last night really perked up my amsonia. mine, too, is not at peak color yet. best bloomers i have left now are two varieties of purple-y agastache and the best. year. ever. for my monkshood. this is also the first year in the dozen or 15 years i’ve had it in the ground that it has gotten to bloom – profusely – WITHOUT my having to cover it at least half a dozen nights to keep it from frost. it’s also the prettiest leaf-peeping year we’ve had in a long time – the red maples are just stunning. but alas, a chilly, rainy weekend is on the way, so a lot of leaves will fall, and this might be the last warm day until … oh, april or so? –suz in farmy northeast ohio
Suz – I’ve attempted to grow Monkshood three times and it has always failed. Any tips?
not really, except a dose of cow manure maybe. my monkshood clump is in a somewhat neglected bed of perennials along the edge of where my parents had their veg garden for years and years on our farm. because it’s farmland and also got good doses of cow manure every spring when they planted the garden, this is very fertile dirt, and it drains well but doesn’t dry out, so those are probably the main reasons any of my plants do well there. the monkshood is in full sun by late morning and through late afternoon, then shade, and it gets a little winter protection from a small tree to its south and a slope and trees about 30 feet to the east. the monkshood has always grown tall and looked good, but i have to baby it through the early fronts because it’s such a late bloomer and is in a more open area of the yard. i have franz schubert tall phlox on one side of it and a white meadowsweet on the other side, and they’re both indestructible, so maybe that helps? i planted the monkshood between 1997 and 2000, and it hasn’t spread that much, only a little bit behind the picket fence that the perennials are all in front of.
oops – that should have said “baby it through the early frosts.” –suz
Awesome info Suz! Thank you!
i’m going to add one more to the underrated list: my toad lilies – especially blue wonder – are still going gangbusters and are bigger and more full of blooms than any other year. they’ve been gorgeous for weeks now. i think the long growing season we’ve had and the mild fall so far must be why. our weather/change of seasons usually force-bloom them, it seems to me. this year, with the more “tropical” weather we had for northern ohio, they got to develop more and become more robust plants before blooming. i love seeing them first thing every morning out my kitchen window, across from the fab amsonia. may never get another summer like that again in my lifetime. i’m over 65 now, and i don’t remember a long, hot but very pleasant summer (for us) like that since i was a kid. –suz in ohio
I am pretty jazzed up about the yellow-bronze of my Bur Oak right now and also the fiery red of Chokeberry. Certain times of the day seem to light up my Side Oats Grama to a golden-orange, but the bright sun washes out the colour. There’s really almost nothing that looks crappy in autumn though!
Your photos make me think I need even more grasses.
Laura – yes, you need more grasses, ha. Tell me more about the Side Oats Grama. Never heard of it before. Thanks.
I would say it is similar in growth habit to prairie dropseed, but with really interesting delicate orange seed heads. It has remained in well-behaved clumps in my garden so far, and looked attractive despite the drought this year. I am a fan! http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BOCU
Also, I should never overestimate my ability to type my own name properly before hitting enter…. ha.
My Little Honey Oak Leaf is turning several shades of purple and maroon – very, very cool!
Bill – I just googled this hydrangea and wow! I struggle keeping hydrangeas from the deer but this one seems worth it. Any tips for survival?
It’s year one, so we’ll see. Last year I bought three Gatsby Star Oak Leaf Hydrangeas and they were promptly eaten to the ground by rabbits. So I had no blooms this year (though they did grow to 4 feet tall–quite the comeback!). But we did get a medium size dog this year and he has kept the rabbits away, along with a strict regimen of rabbit repellent.
We do not have deer, so I can’t relate to that, sorry!