Foliage Follow-up - October, 2016

Foliage Follow-up, hosted by Pam at Digging, arrives this month after a few days of wind and rain for those of us in the Pacific Northwest. Luckily, the magnitude of the second storm, which earlier had been predicted to have the potential to be a second Columbus Day storm, proved to be grossly overblown. However, there was still plenty of wind and rain to strip many of the leaves from trees that had started to turn and make the garden look a bit gross. So, as with my bloom day photos, I captured these shots rather hurriedly on Wednesday when I saw clouds starting to roll in.

Focusing on fall color helped me keep this post to a reasonable length, for once.

The two persimmons I grew from seed are both gorgeous, or they were when I took these photos. The first one is coloring up faster, being on the drier side of the same bed. The pictures just don't do justice to the glowing shades of orange and red in these leaves. The clouds on Wednesday blocked the evening light that would have made it glow.

Only a couple yards away, but with more moisture in the soil, the second persimmon is slower to color, but also showing beautiful fall shades. I've got two spots picked out for these special trees, where they'll be more visible and easier to appreciate.

The 'Mt. St. Helens' azalea in the stump is coloring up nicely, as is the burning bush in the background. Both have benefited from not being eaten by deer. Before the deer fence went up, I had planned on digging out the euonymus. Now, though, I may as well leave it. It's not in a high profile area and doesn't require any care from me, other than the now-pointless application of deer repellent.

Rhododendron 'P.J.M.' taking on red and purplish tones in the cooler fall weather. There's more red than would be usual for this time of year because this plant doesn't get watered as much as it would like and is in a dry spot.

A preview of things to come. I plunked the Japanese maple and 'Kurume' azalea from the back deck into their new locations, just to see them. The maple will definitely be going in the middle of the pieris. The azalea will likely move around a little before being planted. This bed looks so stereotypically PNW right now: Japanese maple, pieris, azalea, rhododendrons in the background. Oh, but I have plans for this bed that I think will raise it above the stereotype. I hope the reality matches the image in my head. I can't wait to show you.

This weird pieris was supposed to be an upright cultivar, but took on an unusual spreading form. The branches have rooted all around it, so I can cut and dig out the center portion and plant the maple right in the middle, complete with instant pieris skirt. And the fall color of the maple looks so nice with the pieris foliage. Hopefully the upright maple doesn't also mutate into a groundcover after I plant it in this spot. I want it to be a tree!

The wind has stripped nearly all of the leaves from the climbing hydrangea, so I'm glad I got one last shot of it on Wednesday.

Another preview of things to come. I'm very excited by this combination of Carex comans and Cornus sericea 'Hedgerow's Gold', the latter of which I picked up last weekend in Seattle from my friend, Riz. The silver carex really makes the red dogwood stems glow.

Foliage of another deciduous azalea, one of the Lights series, with the dark foliage of Ajuga reptans and green Satureja douglasii in the background.

Yellow variegated Solomon's seal and red Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Cloud' from Joy Creek (thanks, Tamara!) make a lovely combo.

The oakleaf hydrangea above has already turned because it was in a rootbound container this summer and a bit drought-stressed. Meanwhile, the 'Snow Queen' I planted last year has yet to take on even a hint of fall color. Next year they should be on the same schedule.

Before working at Cistus, I never would have imagined myself being smitten by what is essentially a giant, shrubby dandelion. I have two of these Dendroseris macrophylla, and they're really enjoying the cooler weather of fall. Makes sense, since they hail from the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile, which never get very hot. I was going to move the χ Fatshedera lizei ‘Annemieke’ to a different location, but now I really like these two together.

Some of my Liatris spicata really took on some great color this year. I missed photographing it at its brightest, but this is still pretty good.

My favorite stage for Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' is when the leaves take on yellow, red, and purple tones in fall. Who needs flowers? Well, except to make those dark cones atop the stems.

Cotinus 'Grace' taking on beautiful glowing fall color.

I always look forward to seeing the bright peach tones of Poncirus trifoliata 'Monstrosa' against the rich green of Abies balsamea 'Nana'. There are more leaves on the poncirus this year, as its beginning to recover from being moved last summer and didn't get defoliated by ants. I was worried that it wouldn't be able to handle the heavy clay soil in this bed, but it seems to be doing well enough.

Velvety grey foliage of Rhamnus, or Frangula, californica ssp. tomentosum pairs nicely with the yellow and peach tones of Artemisia ludoviciana. I think the artemisia will color up much later next fall after it's been in the ground for a year. Right now, it's still root-bound in a little 4-inch pot, waiting to be released. The frangula isn't planted yet, either. I have a lot of plants like that, waiting to be put in the ground, but there are so many combinations I'm excited to see growing together.

And last but not least, I was surprised by the fall color of Cornus alternifolia 'WStackman'. The deep maroon, almost brown, in the center of the leaves seems so sophisticated with the cream edges. I like it. It also pairs well with the pulmonaria underneath, which I need to divide and spread out. I wasn't sure what the fall color of this tree would be like, and had mainly planted it for the summer foliage and branch architecture. Looks like it has 4-season interest, after-all, counting the flowers in spring.