In The Pink
By late October, many garden plants have that foundering, fish out of water look. You know what I mean. My butterburrs are moments from total collapse. The hostas have that translucent sickly yellow color which precedes the frost turning them to mush. But some things look great yet-my Carefree Beauty roses look strikingly fresh. The foliage is lush and healthy. The pink flowers have an intense cerise pink cast from the cold nights. Though a hard frost will finish them off, they are beautiful right now. It is a rare year that we do not have a hard frost before Halloween. Our coldest night yet has been 40, but I doubt this will hold much longer. I appreciate so much what the garden has to offer right now; the dormant season is closer than any northern gardener is willing to admit.
I was fortunate enough to get a tour of Landscape Supply Inc recently from owner Steve Alford. He has made a life’s work of making rare, unusual and specimen plant material available to the trade. I could not tell that this tree was a Stewartia-the tall thin shape is so unusual for this tree. But what I admired the most was that pink-orange fall color-sensational. I understand why many gardeners in my area are so keen for the fall season. At no other time of year is there so much color in the landscape. As few trees are purchased in fall color, it’s worthwhile to consider that fall color when choosing or placing a tree. Landscape design requires lots of thought times 4-the four seasons.
Petunias shake off the cold and keep right on blooming. This plant has been awash in color since the first of June-5 months. I water much less now, and have really quit looking after them. You would never know this, to look at them. It is an entirely different look from the summer, to see them in the foreground of the kousa dogwood in fall color. If your annuals seem to peter out by labor day, you might want to look into seeing what you could do differently to keep them producing throughout the fall.
I do love Halloween; Buck and I must have hundreds of kids and families who come by that night. This variety, curiously named “One Too Many”, I will carve, and set in my pots Halloween night. The white pumpkins have orange netting that has a decidedly pink cast. I may set each one up on a circle of all white pumpkins. Or maybe the traditional orange; making decisions like this is the fun part of gardening.
My Solenia rose begonias are in a very protected spot on my deck-they have been spared with blustery winds and driving rain. They are an outstanding strain of large flowered begonias. They have been covered in flowers for months, and only ask that I be careful not to overwater. They are geniunely in the pink right now.
Limelight hydrangeas put on a spectacular fall display. In varying shades of cream-white, green, pink, and rose pink, they dry readily in this stage. Kept out of direct light indoors, they keep their color as long as you want to look at them. One bouquet I particularly fancy I have had almost 4 years now.
There are lots of plants that endure or thrive in the fall. The toad lilies are blooming now, as are the anemones and boltonia. My grasses are beautiful. The boston ivy is beginning to color up. My Caliente pink geraniums, so highly recommended by Alan Armitage, look as good today as they did every day of the past 5 months. The trees are turning. The early hours of the day make for skies more likely to be pink than blue. It is an exciting time of year.
Posted on: October 20, 2010 1 Comment
Kousa Dogwoods
Cornus kousa, or kousa dogwood, has an impressive list of outstanding characteristics. Since few properties are large enough for an arboretum, choices have to be made. Trees with year round interest draw my attention. The kousa dogwood has outstanding exfoliating bark when it is of sufficient age. Like the sycamore or London plane, a old kousa dogwood will randomly shed bark, revealing new bark of a paler color, from underneath. As a result, an old trunk is multi-colored, and highly textural. As much as I like bark, I like the kousa dogwood. This tree furthermore sets brilliant red fruit in September. That shiny fire engine red is my idea of fall fireworks.
Notice I have made no mention of the beautiful white flowers that mature in my yard in June. In a good year, those flowers may last 3 weeks; my gardening season lasts 7-8 months. I need more interest than what great flowers provide before I am moved to dig the the hole required to plant a tree. Even my beloved magnolias whose bloom is so fleeting have great bark and branching, and large luscious leaves all season. A long season of interest-I look for this. My Kousa dogwoods are next to invisible after they bloom. You can only spot it in this picture, as the leaves are beginning to turn.
Their green leaves fire up slowly, come the beginning of fall. The contrast of that red, and that green is riveting. The shape of the leaves and the pattern of the veins are never more showy than they are in September. The changing of the guard from the summer foliage to the fall display is an event I follow closely.
The late September Kousa color is peach; that peach will deepen and mature. I do not know the science well enough to state the evolution of the color depends on night temperatures that are steadily dropping. So many times I research my instincts about nature to find out my notions have no basis in fact. Suffice it to say, the fall color on the kousa changes dramatically over the course of the fall.
I have four kousa dogwoods on the north side of my house. All four have grown steadily over the past 15 years. This kousa planted at the front corner of my Romeo and Juliet balcony has grown such that the branches have come up and over the deck; they are at my eye level now. One branch of that dogwood grows over the driveway far below. I never notice that branch until the fall colors up the leaves. The garage lights make those leaves glow an orangy red.
The vibrant red kousa leaves, underpainted and glowing from inside with that early orangy peach color, are the star of my north side garden show for weeks. The fall is all about the evolution of the leaves. How they grow and photosynthesize over the summer, then turn, how they fade-how they drop-a gorgeous visual lesson in the process that is nature. The process I am writing about takes the better part of 3 months. That three month spectacular leaf turn and drop makes a kousa dogwood a tree I would not do without.
There comes that brief time when the red leaves of my dogwoods are just about as intense as the red fruit. That spectacular fall color is one of many reasons why a Kousa dogwood is worth any gardener’s consideration. I have considered no end of plants for my own garden, and for the gardens of clients. Decisions get made; trees get planted and take hold. A good choice matters much.
A tree is one of nature’s biggest plants. I think about every tree I plant, and its location, long and hard-given the space it will occupy, and what conditions on the ground it will influence. I additionally hope any tree I plant will outlive me. That given, I choose which tree for where with great care. Today I am delighted to have a foursome of Kousa dogwoods thriving in my garden. Their fall leaves in color delights me. The summer season has no end of visual delight. I have three other seasons besides the summer; I have interest in some off-season delight.
That congested thicket of red-orange kousa leaves peak, thin, and fall. Those last few dogwood leaves holding on today speak eloquently to the end of the season. Consider cornus kousa for your garden. Should you already have one, consider more. The fall color-enjoy every bit of it.
Posted on: October 18, 2010 2 Comments
Sky Blue
I may have been playing hookey from my writing the past few days, but I have been slammed with work. I have been out shopping for a variety of projects the past few days-but what is really capturing my attention is the show going on overhead. October skies in Michigan can be so vibrantly blue, and the clouds are always such fabulous shapes. I am treasuring these moments, as Michigan winters mean an unvarying shade of lead grey overhead-most every day.
Blue skies in the fall are that fresh blue that reminds me of lobelia in the spring, cornflowers and belladonna or bellamosum delphinium. So striking and so lively. The clouds overhead yesterday against the blue skies were dramatically directional and three dimensional.
The atmosphere refers to that mass of air surrounding the earth. Clouds like this describe that air in a visually spectacular fashion. I have been seeing the stars the past few mornings-this tells me the blue of the daytime sky will be clear sky blue.
No matter what I might design, engineer, organize or dream up, what nature effortlessly puts on display every day is remarkably beautiful. My efforts to make something beautiful take lots of behind the scenes work. The beauty of nature-out there every day, for everyone to enjoy. We are having a spell of unusually beautiful weather right now. On the ground, 72 degrees.
Beautiful weather is enabling us to express a sky blue and white idea of our own. Some 15 years ago I stained a concrete pool deck for a client with a checkerboard of blue and cream squares. My client called a month ago-that pool deck, and the landscape, needed an update.
Concrete stain can do an old piece of concrete a world of good. A vintage concrete sidewalk or terrace still in great shape is a great look with a vintage home. Concrete is a common material for pool decking. It can be poured in any shape, it has a slip-resistant texture, and the light color keeps the surface temperature reasonable on a hot summer day. This pool deck was in fine condition, but the old stain looked tired and faded. My client was interested in a fresh look.
Steve snapped the 3′ by 3′ checkerboard pattern onto the surface with a chalk line. He painted the blue squares first; the blue chalk became part of the edge of those blue squares. Should you want to stain concrete in a pattern, choose a chalk color that won’t adversely affect the color you intend.
We carefully edged each square by hand; Trevor rolled on the body of the stain from there. The water based stain soaked into the old concrete; years of rain and wear had made the surface open and porous. The rough texture of the concrete has not changed at all-just the color. There is no mistaking the concrete for some other material; this ordinary concrete has a new look that is anything but humdrum.
Cloud white would have been too glaringly white for the alternate squares. A soft yellow-cream would contrast with the blue, but not blindingly so.
Even at this stage, I could tell the staining of the concrete would make a big visual statement from a utilitarian surface. The comment from my client’s pre-teenage grandson? This makes it look like young people live here. I rather like this description.
Posted on: October 8, 2010 Leave a Comment