Autumn is upon us once again. Where does the time go?
Apart from the leaf clearing at work, it's one of my favourite times of the year. Still so much colour around!
The awareness and feel of all plants finally slowing down, taking a breather before the winter rest for them. Sugars in the plant becoming less and less able to work, and so we get those amazing autumn colours.
Acers, Beech, Paeony, Hamamelis, Hydrangea, Euonymus elata, Cotinus, Sumach, Boston Ivy, just a small grasp at what's out there. Our garden above is in need of some serious control. It's been a little neglected this year due to some increasing business changes, but has still brought us a lot of pleasure.
We will probably start attacking it this coming week. Pruning, tidying, snipping, weeding, and a little potting on of some self sown seedlings, notably the Echium pininana, which seems to have spread it's little children everywhere.
The Acer Senkaki (yellow tree towards the middle), needs a crown reduction and some thinning. The Acacia (at the back and just out of sight), needs a serious crown reduction before our neighbour throws a hissy fit. We also have a Rosa 'Albertine', a favourite of ours, that we planted by the lounge window a couple of years ago. It didn't do much last year, but this year has gone mental. All of it's growth has been stuffed behind pots, into hanging basket brackets already on the wall, in fact anywhere to just tide us over for now. The plan is to put in tensioned wall cables on the back of the house and cover it.
As for our own Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata, it's been rampant this year
Growing over the roof as usual, it's about to get it's annual trim.
We've tried over the years to stop it growing over the back wall, but it won this year, and has taken the liberty of coming into our bedroom. It's the growth furthest away from the roots at the front, and so is the first to show the autumn colour change. When all is red, it's amazing. However, we will be cutting this back completely to the corner of the house.
Do you have a favourite autumn colour plant?
What's your favourite summer plant?
Hello! I see your part of the world is turning orange and yellow and red too. On Sept. 22, the first day of Fall here, the temp was 83 F and that night it dropped to 40 F. And it has not warmed up since and we have high winds every day. Not liking this early of a change as I am a bicycle rider on a path here that actually goes from north Ohio at Lake Erie to south Ohio at the Ohio River. I have 45 miles go right through my county and I already miss that I have not been out for 10 days. I like the color change, however I do not want winter. I see how prolific your ivy is! I'm thinking it to be a bit of a scare if it came in the window. Have a great Fall season but don't work too hard. Lynn
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynn,
ReplyDeleteI love the autumn. Leaves are falling thick and fast now. Take care