Autumn Colors

The Autumn colors are beginning to put on their show in my garden. This is the neighbors stand of Sumac trees on the right and my sumac on the far left. In the middle is my Japanese cedar which is a bronze green in summer and it goes to bronze orange needles in winter. The sumacs are small trees and sprout new little trees all around the main tree. I have never had any trouble with any toxins in these sumacs. They are a rather short living tree. I like to keep a few of them in my woodland for their gorgeous fall color. Also, they hold their large reddish seed pods all winter. The ever bronze tree looks very good with this Autumn display. I have a pin oak in the same area, but its leaves are still green. I have a virginia creeper that is climbing up its telephone pole at the front. The creeper is just beginning to turn its spectacular red color. I cannot have a creeper in the woodland as it can be very invasive.

Yesterday I gardened for a couple of hours. While pottering around I manged to get quite a bit of clean up done and enjoyed every minute of it. The black bamboo had sent a shoot up in the thyme circle and I managed to get that pulled out almost back to the main clump. The bamboo clump is getting quite big, but I like this 'grass'. It has nice movement in the wind and even at this size still appears light and airy against the darker cedar hedge.

I liberated a few stones from the bed by the garage and added some to the stone path and the rest to the round stones in the moss garden area. I have cleaned the violets and weeds out of the front garden area around the cement container and its iberis and snapdragon plantings. At the back by the garage I added a bag of compost and cleaned up the perennials. This bed needs another bag of compost added and then I should be finished with it for this Fall.

I topped up the pond and watched the fish for awhile. I cleaned up a bit by the firethorn and yew treee and decided that I am going to dig that little area over, removing the iris, improve the soil with compost and put a few of the better iris back. The iris should do better, now that the big eucalyptus tree is gone and they get more sun. I also have to thin out the iris plants that are on the vegetable patch.

Due to the vegetable patch not getting water in July or August, it was non productive again. I have a very few of the annuals coming up... the ones I planted behind the little rockery at the edge of the vegetable garden. I have one tall cosmos just coming into bloom there, now. So, next year, maybe I will just get a few transplants. I should be home next summer to take care of them.