We really don’t have much in the way of excessive summer heat here, but when fall rolls around, you do notice the difference. The air is softer, the sky seems bluer, and sweaters and jeans become the fashion choice. Leaves start changing their colors, becoming more intense like this blueberry bush before littering the ground.
The frantic growing pace in the garden slows down and time seems to be suspended for a bit as the landscape prepares for its winter nap. That is not to say that nothing of any interest is blooming or showing off its stuff in the autumn though! Daisy-like flowers like asters, chrysanthemums, and rudbeckia are familiar stalwarts. Here is Boltonia ‘Snowbank’ covered with a flurry of little daisies.
How about tall Japanese anemones or cimicifuga waving in the breezes?
Flowering sedums like the ‘Autumn Joy’ cultivar are wonderful paired with ornamental grasses and rudbeckias. The pennisetums like ‘Hameln’
are beginning to throw their flower/seed stalks. Swaying easily in the wind, ornamental grasses add a rustling sound and the appeal of movement to the landscape. Their rapid growth and changing appearance through the year, particularly in the fall, adds seasonal interest. Here, the Japanese forest grass Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’ is beginning to flower. If you look closely, you can see purples and reds.
Miscanthus fountain grasses are among the most beautiful in the fall.
Sweet autumn clematis, a vining plant that can grow 20-30 feet in a season before dying back to the ground in our zone, is covered with starry white blossoms that signal the end of the gardening season.
Even the vegetables like this artichoke are winding down.
And finally, who can resist the allure of the Japanese maple in autumn? They seem like flaming beacons in the landscape before getting snuffed out by the snow.
The colors of fall will slowly deepen and change before winter finally arrives. I think fall is my favorite time of the year, but it reminds us that life is ephemeral and to use the time wisely.
