Fall Foliage - Weeks 3 & 4

Between home and work, life has been a little crazy lately.  The good part is I feel like I'm finally starting to catch up with things (projects, social obligations, laundry).  The downside is, I'm not spending as much time online, so I'm not posting as much.

I took these photos last Sunday, so this should really be week 3.5.

The oakleaf hydrangea (above) is starting to turn a really deep, rich, red.  Right next to it, the viburnum (below) is a deep, brownish red.
 

The tree I mentioned two weeks ago, with delicate yellow leaves, turned out to be a beech (above, left).  Between the yellow buckeye, the tulip poplars, and the three beech trees I found in the woods, we have yellow covered. 

The really big oak tree out front (above) still has a bunch of leaves, but they're starting to turn.  Our Japanese Maple (below, left) is starting to turn bright red and the kousa dogwood (below, right) is mostly green, but some leaves are turning almost purple.

I'll try to post more over the next few weeks as we finish up our garden prep for winter.  I'm especially looking forward to Friday -- I get the day off, my daughter is going to daycare, and I have about 250 bulbs to plant.  It will be fun.

Look what I found: Hydrangea quercifolia

The oakleaf hydrangea is probably my favorite shrub.  My parents got me one while we lived at the old house and I was hooked.  I put it in a dry, shady spot where nothing else would grow and it seemed to double in size every year.  It also provided multi-season interest: lush greenery in spring, flowers all summer, colorful foliage in fall, and exfoliating bark in winter.  I loved it so much that I got two more...and with a couple of hostas and a handful of bulbs, a problem area became an attractive and low-maintenance bed.





The oakleaf hydrangea at the new house looks more like a tree than a shrub.  It's quite tall (at least eight feet) and has a single trunk for at least three or four feet.  I'm not sure if it was pruned that way, purchased that way, or if grazing deer had some hand in the matter.  It's in the backyard, in the forest understory, between two viburnums.  The only thing growing under it right now is vinca minor and a couple of columbine plants.







I've enjoyed watching the flowers change from cream, to red, to brown and I can't wait to see what the leaves look like as they turn.

Do you have a favorite shrub?



Fall Foliage - Week 1

Today marks the six month "anniversary" of this blog.  I realize I essentially missed two of those months, but it is still pretty amazing that I have stuck with something for so long.  Hopefully, I'll be able to come up with enough garden-related stuff to talk about over the next six months.  When I started the blog, I didn't really consider what to talk about over winter!

Until winter gets here, and all of the deciduous leaves are gone, I'm going to try to document the fall foliage in my garden on a weekly basis.  This should help future garden planning.

The big oak tree out front was the first to start dropping leaves.  It seems like the leaves turn and fall in giant clumps.  The bright yellow clusters look nice on the tree, but not so nice on the lawn.





  

The native dogwoods (left) and the Kousa dogwood (right) are both starting to change color, although the natives are a little farther along.



The leaves on the viburnum (left) are changing to a rich, chocolaty brown.  An azalea out front (right) has a handful of bright red leaves.

Bag Worm Damage

As I mentioned on Tuesday, over the weekend I finally got a chance to take care of a lot of little things that were bothering me in the garden.  I finally picked off the bag worm cases from the evergreen shrub out front (which I think is a bird's nest spruce).  There must have been 80 cases - I stopped counting at 50!


Just a few of the bag worm cases I picked off and put in a garbage bag.


At least half of the shrub is defoliated, but there are new needles coming back.

The pictures below show the difference between the affected area and the rest of the shrub.

Next year, I'm not going to waste any time in addressing any sort of insect problems.  I think I left this too long, so I'll probably have to spray for bag worms next June.

Azaleas - Again!

For the past two or three weeks, the azaleas in the front island have been blooming.  Again.

It looks like there are a couple of different "brands" of reblooming azaleas: Encore Azaleas, Bloom-a-thon, and Bloom 'N Again.  I haven't been able to identify ours (yet).

As you can see in the wider picture above, these azaleas are getting pretty leggy.  According to the Encore azalea website, they do not need much pruning...which made me think these are possibly not Encore azaleas.  Does this plant look familiar to you?

The bigger question is, when should I prune these azaleas?  From what I've read, you should prune regular azaleas when they're done blooming in the spring.  I'm going to prune these when they're done blooming this fall.  It's possible I'll lose some spring flowers, but with the show that goes on in my front yard, no one will even notice.   I'd almost prefer to get them on a late summer/fall schedule.

How do you feel about plants designed to bloom "out of season"?

Garden Parts: Along the Fence

Here are four of the five types of buddleia my Aunt gave us.  They've all been planted along the fence and mulched.  I'm considering adding some perennials as well, if I can find them at the right price, but I'm not sure about planting perennials in the late summer/fall.  I know it's recommended for shrubs, so maybe I'll give it a try.

The arbor at the end of this bed needs to be replaced.

It fell over during the hurricane and no matter what we do to try and stand it back up, it always ends up on the ground again.  It looks like termites have been munching on it for a while.  The bottom rung and stakes look like they're still sturdy, but they're essentially hollowed out.  The hard part will be moving the climbing hydrangea from the old arbor to a new one...I'll have to think about how to accomplish that.

Look what I found: Rhododendron indicum 'Satsuki'

Just when you thought the azaleas were done, a whole new area starts blooming.  These azaleas are Satsuki azaleas -- Satsuki is the Japanese word for the fifth month in the Asian lunar calendar and refers to the late bloom period for these plants, typically May or June.

The most interesting thing about these azaleas is the variety in color patterns and flower forms.  As you can see in the picture above, it is not uncommon to have different colors or patterns on the same plant.  This variety makes them very popular as bonsai plants.

They're quite low growing and ours were virtually lost among the pachysandra.  I'd like to clean out the groundcover underneath of the azaleas so they're more like specimen plants.  Satsuki azaleas are prone to petal blight, which thrives during warm, wet weather.  Early blooming azaleas aren't usually affected by it, since the weather is fairly cool during their bloom period.  An older gentleman I know who grows and sells Satsuki azaleas recommends spraying with a fungicide containing Bayleton as soon as the blooms show color and then again a week later.  I didn't spray this year, but I haven't seemed to have any issues.

On Saturday, I was talking about timing the bloom period of plants.  These azaleas really extend our spring flower display into summer and from what I've read online, there's a chance they'll bloom in the fall as well.  So far, they are my favorite azaleas.  What's your favorite azalea?

A plant I fancy: Itea Virginica 'Henry's Garnet'

Phew!  What a weekend...I feel like we've packed two days of stuff into the past 12 hours.  We did: gymnastics, a birthday party, and a play date.  Right now, I'm laying exhausted in bed and my three year old is pretending to be a kitten in her bed.  At 9:00pm.

While my daughter and I were running around, my wonderful husband decided to check out our irrigation system.  We were told the house had one when we bought it, but we haven't given it much thought and even with all of the digging we've been doing, we've only run across one sprinkler head.  With the hot weather we've been having lately,  we decided to see if it worked.  I was expecting the worst, but it seems like everything is working, even though it doesn't look like it's been used for over five years or so.  We're going to schedule it to run tonight and see what happens.

Ok - now onto the plant:

Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

Scientific name: Itea Virginica 'Henry's Garnet'
Common name(s): Virginia Sweetspire
Height x Width: 3-4' x 4-6'
Growth rate: unknown
Hardiness: Zones 5-9
Soil: Prefers well-drained soil, medium to wet, but can tolerate a range of soil conditions
Light: Full sun to partial shade

Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

After the past few weeks,  where I've been talking about sun perennials and exotic plants, I'm back to my old standard: shade tolerant native plants.  Virginia sweetspire is a native shrub with a lot going on.  It blooms in the early summer and then the foliage turns a deep burgundy red in the fall.  The variety 'Henry's Garnet' is known for superior flowers and autumn foliage.

Reasons I like it:

• Attractive, rounded habit
• Multi-season interest
• Deer resistant

Where would I put it?

• Side bed?
• Backyard understory
• Possibly even front island, if I wanted to add shrubs out there

The only drawback I've seen about all Itea Virginica cultivars is that they tend to send up a lot of suckers.  In all of the spots I'm considering for this plant, it wouldn't be a big deal.  In some spots, naturalization would even be welcome (side bed - I'm looking at you).

The big draw for this shrub is the fall foliage, obviously, but I also like the fact it is an early summer bloomer.  My ultimate dream is to have a perfectly timed landscape, with items of interest  popping up across the garden as the season goes on.  With the bazillion varieties of azaleas we have, Spring is covered, but Summer and Fall could use a little attention.  I think 'Henry's Garnet' fits the bill perfectly.

Do you take "timing" into account when you buy a plant?  If so - how do you keep track of when everything blooms/gets interesting?

RIP Juniper Bushes

Before

On Monday, I mentioned my husband cut down four juniper bushes over the weekend.  Typically, I don't like to cut down established plants.  However, these had outgrown their space and were hiding some other more interesting shrubs.

After

There's a slight change in perspective, but those are the same two trees as the first picture.  The one on the right is dead, and will be taken down soon.  Removing the juniper bushes will allow the arborist to get to the tree and grind out the stump without damaging any of the shrubs we want to keep. 

We found an interesting yew, more baby rhododendrons, a couple of azaleas, and a half dozen mahonia bushes between and behind the junipers.  We also found some scraggly hostas and a handful of leaves like the two shown above.  I think this is some sort of begonia groundcover?  It was very obviously planted along what would have been the edge of a bed, but was hidden under the junipers.

We'll be moving a couple of azaleas from the back island bed to this space (since the tree in the back island bed is also dead).  Once those are moved, I'm going to re-evaluate this space.  I think the junipers provided valuable greenery in the winter, so I'll probably look at some sort of dwarf evergreen to fill in the gaps without overgrowing the space.

Look what I found: Kalmia latifolia

As I was taking pictures for Bloom Day, I noticed interesting looking buds on a handful of shrubs in the woods.  It's my much longed for mountain laurel!  For some reason, even though I had researched this plant extensively when I was planning the "woodland" garden at the old house, I didn't recognize them in the new yard.  I was expecting them to be more bushy and round like a rhododendron.  My mountain laurels seem like waifs compared to my rhodies.  They're contorted little trees that lean and twist upon themselves.
 

These are deep in the woods, past the end of the forest path, almost to the ravine.  The only things back there are a pile of pavers from the previous owners and my composter.  I didn't really think anything interesting could grow in the deep shade back there, but I'm glad to be wrong.

Possible dwarf form?  Definitely cultivated.

 There's also a smaller, redder, cultivated form in the backyard along the fence line.

It's quite charming and doesn't seem to be affected by the leaf spot plaguing its wild counterparts in the woods.

From what I can tell, this is Phyllosticta kalmicola, or Kalmia leaf spot.  It's a fungus that causes unsightly spots, but no real harm to the plant.  Plants in moist (check), heavy shade (check) are more susceptible.  I'm just going to keep an eye on the spots for now rather than spray.

Look what I found: Rhododendron catawbiense (?)

I think this is Rhododendron catawbiense, or Catawba Rhododendron.  I looked at hundreds of pictures of rhododendrons and evaluated things like leaf size, plant habit, bud and bark.  I still kind of feel like I'm guessing.  I'm going to record the characteristics of our rhododendrons/azaleas in more detail and over the winter I will try to identify/classify them.

The Catawba rhododendron is a large rounded shrub native to the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.  Its flowers range from white to pinkish purple and bloom towards the late midseason.  Its broad, leathery, hairless leaves grow up to five inches long.  After ten years, the Catawba rhododendron should reach a height of about five feet.

I enjoyed watching the flowers emerge from their buds.  The blooms are bright and the huge pom-poms of flowers are quite flashy.  However, since they're only scattered about on the shrub, they don't seem as garish to me as the azaleas did.  I also prefer the broad leaves of this rhododendron to our smaller azaelas.

We only have one "adult" Catawba rhododendron and it's in the backyard understory between the lawn and the woods.  However, immediately behind the Catawba Rhododendron, I found at least a dozen baby plants.  It looks like I need to start researching how to transplant rhododendrons!