Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up November 2016: The Many Colors of Autumn

November 2016

Albert Camus once quoted, "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." His words recollect in my mind every fall as the landscape turns into a canvas of kaleidoscopic color. November has arrived and it is time for another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Foliage Follow-Up, so come along with me as we explore my Long Island garden.

The Changing Colors of Autumn

As the temperatures dip into the 50's, there are so many changes going on in the landscape, as foliage that was once green turns to hues of orange and gold. As we start our walk we immediately come across some of nature's artwork. Sometimes something as simple as a lone leaf will appear like a well planned painting.

Hosta in Autumn

Structure becomes more of a prominent factor in the garden in November. Here is the exfoliating bark of Crape Myrtle 'Sioux'. The underlying trunk has a mixture of light and dark hues, which are more noticeable at this time of year as the top layer disappears.

Crape Myrtle Bark Autumn

Here is the back perennial border.  Astilbe and coneflowers have turned to seed heads, while Stachys (Lamb's Ear) still displays its soft white foliage, which will last well into the winter months.

Perennial Border November

These seed heads of Sedum 'Brilliant' make for nice interest in the fall garden and can even be brought inside as dried floral display, which I'll do on occassion.

Sedum 'Brilliant' Seed Head

The colors seem to be coming on much stronger this year, brought on by a prolonged period of drought followed by rainfall and cooler temperatures throughout this month and last. It's fascinating how the morning dew on this Spirea 'Limemound' is causing it to shimmer in the sunlight, resembling what looks like tiny pink crystals.

Morning Dew on Spirea

Here are the remains of Echinacea 'Pow Wow'. I leave the seed heads in the garden for a long time until they practically disintegrate. They add interest to the perennial border and supply seeds to the birds as well.

Echinacea Seed Heads

As we pass by the back northwest bed, we encounter one of the newest additions to the garden. The longtime wisteria that had thrived there for twenty years did not come back from the winter of 2016, so I replaced it with this 'Kousa' Dogwood.  I love this tree and the striking red fruit it produces in fall. Hopefully it will thrive in its new home.

Kousa Dogwood Autumn

Here is a closer look of the large fruit!

Kousa Dogwood Fruit

        The Weeping Japanese Maple on the front lawn has been there for over twenty years and is showing its wonderful fall foliage...a sight I look forward to every year.  

Weeping Japanese Maple

Perennial Border November

   Let's circle back around and pass by the perennial border another time. In this view is Blue Star Juniper on the right with astilbe seed heads...

Stachys (Lamb's Ear) November

and here is the Lamb's Ear much closer up.

Rudbeckia 'Little Goldstar' 

A true gardener never gives up thinking and adding new elements to the garden and I could not pass up these new hybrid Rudbeckia 'Little Goldstar', seen while at the nursery.  They are a dwarf growing form, only reaching a height of 14 inches tall.  Rudbeckia 'Little Goldstar' is hardy in USDA zones 4-9, prefers full sun to partial shade and blooms from September through fall. 

Weeping Norway Spruce

While many of the other plants in the garden go through seasonal changes, the true reliable evergreens continue to add interest all year long. I have several of these Weeping Norway Spruce throughout the property, for each one has its own unique form and character. This particular one resides along the perimeter of the back patio.

Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, CoralBark Maple and Golden Oriental Spruce 'Skylands'

Other evergreens on the property include this Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar (front) and Golden Oriental Spruce (to the right). To the left of the spruce in the center is Coral Bark Maple Acer palmatum 'Sango kaku' and to the far left towering above is a White Ash.

May Night Salvia's Last Bloom

May Night Salvia is a favorite of mine in the garden and while they are only supposed to bloom throughout May until August, there is a trick in getting them to last all the way though November. Here are the last of the blooms.

Lady's Mantle

Lady's Mantle is known for its beautiful foliage, especially when graced by the morning dew. I have had this plant in my garden for many years and get lots of enjoyment from it.

Montauk Daisy

I have always had a fondness of Montauk Daisies over the years and they were also my mom's favorite flower. While at the nursery a couple of weeks ago I finally bought some. They bloom from late summer well into November, but do tend to take up a lot of space in the garden, so I planted them in a large planter on the patio. I am hoping to enjoy their beautiful blooms right from the window each fall, and think of mom each time I see them. 

Succulent Planter Autumn Blooms

Do you remember the other succulent planter I have with the Hens and Chicks, which bloomed last July? I had made up another planter with a mix of sedum varieties, and it is now also blooming. It started in late September and has been going on for some time now.

Mill Pond Autumn Glory

Well that's it for the garden, but the tour just wouldn't be complete unless I took you for a stroll down the street to the local pond. This is the sight we are graced with every year, ever since I was growing up in my small town. The beauty never ceases to amaze me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Mill Pond: The Changing Colors of Autumn

Autumn has arrived...

Autumn at Mill Pond

with a silent stillness...

Mill Pond Autumn Reflections

as the trees cast reflections in the water.

In A Vase on Monday

As the tour for November comes to an end, here are some Knock Out Roses I just collected from the garden...which...yes...are still blooming. Soon, delicate white flakes of snow will be upon them and they will be done for the season, so I enjoy them for as long as I can.

November Memories

I  hope you enjoyed your stroll through my November garden. Special thanks go out to our hostesses Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who makes it possible to see blooms on the 15th of every month with her meme Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Pam at Digging for hosting Foliage Follow-Up.  I am also linking with some other wonderful hosts and hostesses at Today's Flowers, Floral Fridays, I Heart Macro, Macro Monday 2, and Nature Notes at Rambling Woods. Also check out What's Blooming This Week Garden Update, In a Vase on Monday at Rambling in the Garden, Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day and Saturday's Critters.

Planning your garden for next spring and need some winter reading? Have you read my book, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer (Gardening in Zones 3-9)? It covers a wide range of information on garden design, tips, maintenance and more! If you have read my book and found it to be helpful, please consider leaving a short review on Amazon. Reviews are vital in getting a book noticed and your help would be very much appreciated!

As Always...Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2016. All rights reserved

This Month's Color in the Garden November 2016: The Changing Garden -The Many Shades of Brown

I've recently met a group of wonderful bloggers with vast knowledge on a variety of topics dealing with the home and garden. The bloggers are from Project Beautiful and each month the participants all focus on a color theme in a meme called #PBColorOurWorld. As you may of guessed by the title, this month's theme is brown. 

 As a designer and avid gardener, I have developed a deep appreciation for all the changes that take place in the garden and for what nature has to offer throughout the entire year. The garden can be beautiful, even after the prime of autumn, when shades of brown become more prominent throughout the landscape. For this meme, I have ventured out into the garden with my macro lens to get a close-up view of the many shades of brown that come my way!

Multi-colored leaves grace the landscape.

As hostas fade, the edges of once vibrant green leaves turn to shades of yellow then brown.  Even though they are going dormant for winter, there is much beauty there.

Here are the dried seed heads of Sedum 'Brilliant'...

and Echinacea 'Pow Wow'. A lone flower still remains...

as if it just doesn't want to give up!

Lamb's Ear (Stachys) with Astilbe Seed Heads in the backdrop add contrast to the garden...

while brown cones on evergreens are a sign of renewal.

Varying shades of brown are displayed in the perennial border with Lamb's Ear, Echinacea and Astilbe as they transition into dormacy for a winter's sleep.

I am looking at nature in a whole new way as a single leaf displays its changing colors.

Ornamental Maiden Grass is beautiful in the way it displays its wispy plumes that sway in the wind...

and allow the sunlight behind them to create a subtle glow.

Large brown seed cones are now appearing on Weeping White Pine...

and Caramel Coral Bells display a rainbow of colorful foliage, including...yes...some shades of brown.

Delicate Spirea seed heads still appear on many of these flowering shrubs...

 and every so often a colorful array of foliage can be encountered among the branches.

Yes...nature is beautiful and continues to amaze...

and "Bear" continues to watch over the changing garden.

I am hoping that this is the first of many "This Month's Color in the Garden" posts. Please feel free to comment if you enjoyed this meme, and I invite you to share whatever shades of brown you have going on in your garden in the comments below, whether it be in the form of plants or otherwise. I know I am already thinking about the many shades of red in my garden for next month's post! Next up is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up on the 15th. and Color Our World Round Up on the 30th.

Have you read my book A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer Zones 3-9 on Amazon? If you haven't, feel free to check it out. If you have read it and found the information to be helpful, please consider leaving a brief review on Amazon. Your help would be very much appreciated!

As Always…Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2016. All rights reserved

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day & Foliage Follow-Up October 2016: Beauty of an Autumn Garden

October 2016 Garden

The month of October has arrived and so has autumn with all its beauty. As the temperatures decline into the 60's, there is a refreshing chill in the air and colorful foliage is emerging throughout the landscape. There is an array of both new and established blooms, as roses, lilies, butterfly bush and viburnum continue to flower, joined by chrysanthemums, liriope and daisies. It's the 15th of the month and it's time for another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Foliage Follow-Up. Come stroll along with me through my October Long Island garden.

Daylily 'Stella D Oro' October

We start the tour with raindrops on lilies after a passing shower. The Stella D' Oro Daylily are continuing to bloom with dazzling yellow flowers from early summer to frost. I do a simple rejuvenation on them in August in order to get them to re-bloom and bring in the fall season.

Variegated Liriope and Japanese Garden Juniper Combination

Variegated Liriope is in full bloom with its vibrant purple hyacinth-like flowers emerging on reddish-brown spikes, just in time for autumn.

Weigela 'Spilled Wine' and Juniperus 'Limeglow'

Here is my Weigela 'Spilled Wine', which is adjusting nicely in the garden after being planted in August. It is all about the foliage with this plant and an added bonus will be its pink blooms in spring-early summer.

Double Knock Out Rose

There is something wonderful about a rose that just keeps on blooming, and these Double Knock Outs fit the bill.  I have had them in the garden for several years now, but they never cease to amaze me as they push out profuse blooms from June until frost.

Bumble Bee on Butterfly Bush Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip'

The bumble bees continue to enjoy the dwarf butterfly bush in the back garden border as they busily pollinate, and I enjoy the resulting blooms! 

Evergreen, Flowering Shrubs & Perennial Garden

Here is a view of long-blooming Lo & Behold Butterfly Bush with Gold Mop Cypress, Caramel Coral Bells and Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar. I enjoy this combination of evergreens, flowering shrubs and perennials as the garden changes throughout the seasons.

It's All About the Foliage-Sedum and Maiden Grasses

Over the years of being a garden designer, I have also enjoyed combining various hues and textures of foliage. This particular combination is especially striking to me, even more so in autumn, as the foliage of the sedum changes color and the grasses are showing their wispy plumes.

Blue Atlas Cedar October Seed Cones

The Blue Atlas Cedar is showing off its larger than usual cones for this time of year. It could be a sign of a severe winter approaching, but hopefully not.

Coral Bark Maple October

Signs of autumn appear as the first of the trees on the property starts to display its changing colors. This Coral Bark Maple is lovely for its beautiful yellowing foliage and reddening bark as the temperatures start to decline.

Weeping Japanese Maple Autumn

Soon the large Weeping Japanese Maple on the front lawn will start to lose its leaves, unveiling its beautifully structured trunk.

Plum  Krauter Vesuvius 

This 'Krauter Vesuvius 'Plum has matured nicely and is getting established in the garden after being planted about five years ago. Besides the delicate light pink blooms it produces in spring, this tree is also all about the foliage...

Weigela 'Spilled Wine'

as is the foliage of this Spilled Wine Weigela, as we pass it by once more.

Pool Garden

Here are some of my favorite evergreens along the pool garden. Weeping White Pine (left), Golden Hinoki Cypress (center), Montgomery Blue Globe Spruce (center in front of Hinoki) and Dwarf White Pine (center front).  They add structure to the garden throughout the entire year, but especially in the winter months. The 'Yaku JIma' grasses are also seen here to the right, with their feathery plumes.

Weeping White Pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula')

Here is Weeping White Pine close up. This one has been here since 1996.

Viburnum 'Summer Snowflake'

In the back partial-shade garden is Viburnum 'Summer Snowflake', which blooms on and off throughout the summer and into fall.  It is still pushing out some of its delicate white blooms that remind me of lace doilies each time I look at them.

Weeping Norway Spruce, Salvia 'Caradonna', Spirea 'Magic Carpet', and Agastache 'Kudos Yellow'

Strolling back around to the driveway garden is purple Salvia 'Caradonna' with Spirea 'Magic Carpet', Agastache 'Kudos Yellow' and Weeping Norway Spruce in the backdrop. The Spirea 'Magic Carpet' and Agastache 'Kudos Yellow' are new to the garden this year, and I am getting lots of enjoyment from their continuous blooms.

Dwarf Maiden Grass 'Yaku JIma'

Autumn wouldn't be the same without ornamental grass plumes, so we need to pass by and take a closer look! This is dwarf maiden grass 'Yaku Jima', which stays more compact than some of the others.

Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo)

The Nandina domestica (or false bamboo) is also starting to come into character with its fall berries, which will turn a bright red for winter. This plant exhibits bamboo-like foliage, but does not spread like its counterpart, making it a wonderful addition to the garden.

Perennial Border October

One thing I love about gardening is how the landscape changes with the seasons, always bringing something new and exciting to look forward to.  As the blooms start to fade, a new array of color starts to present itself with hues of orange and gold.

Montauk Daisy

So pretty are these Montauk Daisies that are in the neighbor's garden across the street. I always look forward to them blooming and wonder over to take a photo every October. Having resided in the home I grew up in, I have admired these flowers for as long as I can remember, and the lady who has planted them is very special to me.

Autumn Mums

As our tour comes to an end, we pass by the chrysanthemums on the back stoop...

October 2016

along side this unusual tree bark pumpkin which I discovered a few years ago. The blooms are right within constant view and surely make me smile every time I pass them by.

Hydrangea 'Tardivia' in a Vase on Monday

The last of the 'Tardivia' Hydrangea are now in a vase on the kitchen counter, bringing a little of the outside within.

October 2016 Garden

I  hope you enjoyed your stroll through my October garden. Special thanks go out to our hostesses Carol at May Dreams Gardens, who makes it possible to see blooms on the 15th of every month with her meme Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Pam at Digging for hosting Foliage Follow-Up.  I am also linking with some other wonderful hosts and hostesses at Today's Flowers, Floral Fridays, I Heart Macro, Macro Monday 2, and Nature Notes at Rambling Woods. Also check out What's Blooming This Week Garden Update, In a Vase on Monday at Rambling in the Garden, Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day and Saturday's Critters.

In the news: I was invited to do a talk and presentation on garden design at the local gardening club this past month and got to meet lots of lovely gardeners who share the same passion!

Planning your Garden?: Have you read my book? For gardening tips and design information, you may be interested in my recent publication on Amazon, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer (Gardening in Zones 3-9). If you have read my book and found it to be helpful, please consider taking a moment and leaving a short review on Amazon. Reviews help a book get noticed and your help would be very much appreciated!

As Always...Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2016. All rights reserved