Last post I wrote about Japanese garden fall color. This post is about my favorite area for it. I also cover what you can learn from this Japanese garden fall color use in creating your garden sanctuary. The area is the path to the tea garden. I have never been able to completely capture it in a picture. Not only is it hard to photograph, it is also short lived. For about one week in the midday the area glows. The tea garden meanders through plantings of sugar and red maples. As you walk … [Read more...]
Plants for fall color – Part 2 of 2
I must admit I used to recommend Ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana) such as 'Chanticleer' (same as ‘Select’, ‘Cleveland Select’, and ‘Stone Hill’) as a good tree for fall color. I also recommended Burning bush (Eunymous alatus) as a fall color shrub – although I warned it was invasive in some areas. I now recommend that you don't plant these and perhaps should REMOVE them if you have them. They are as invasive as warned. I have seen it with my own eyes. You should not be planting these in … [Read more...]
Plants for fall color – Part 1 of 2
Last post I talked about adding fall color to your garden. Today, I will give you a list of some good common and less common plants for fall color. In fact, I have too many, so I will break this post into two and post the second half tomorrow. GREAT COMMON PLANTS FOR FALL COLOR When talking about plants for fall color, where better to start than the maples. Red maple Acer rubrum – Large tree - Brilliant red, yellow or orange fall color. Named cultivars usually have … [Read more...]
Plants for Fall Color – Four principles
I am going to take a break from winter gardens to discuss the timely element of plants for fall colors. It is too late to plant for fall colors. It is however, a great time to observe and appreciate them and to start planning for future plantings. One of the main principles of Japanese gardens is to show the seasonal changes. Whether it is spring flowers or fall colors, these changes are more important to display than ornamental flowers. This is a difference between Japanese gardens and … [Read more...]