Carol Verhake is sharing some photos of her favorite garden plants. I hope you’ll send in your favorites as well!
Here in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, in my Zone 6/7 garden, I enjoy the transition to autumn. The changing leaf color is evident in the vibrant yellow of my bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora, Zones 5–9) and hickory trees (Carya species, Zones 4–8), and I adore the red-orange color of my Stewartia (Zones 5–9). My variegated stellar pink dogwood (Cornus ‘Variegated Stellar Pink’, Zones 5–9) is beautiful all season long, but its leaves become tinged in pink as the fall progresses, an eye-catching look especially when backlit.
In the flower department, I love the orchid-like flowers of my Tricyrtis (toad lily, Zones 4–8); I only wish the deer didn’t love them too! The berries on my Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst’ (beautyberry, Zones 5–8) steal the show with their intense color, and I like watching the birds enjoy them even if it means fewer berries for me to admire. I like spending time in my garden for as long as I can. My firepit makes some relaxing moments possible even as the temperature falls and the days shorten.
I like using what’s available in the garden for transitioning containers. I used redtwig dogwood, Osmanthus, conifer greens, and dried hydrangea blooms to carry a fall container into the winter season.
Bottlebrush buckeyes get their name from their spikes of white flowers in the summer, but their fall color is pretty spectacular as well.
Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst’ is stunning in the fall, with brilliant purple berries that last until the birds finish eating them up.
Clippings from the garden transform a container into a beautiful arrangement for the winter.
The firepit helps take the edge off chilly autumn and winter days.
Tall hickory trees in their autumn glory catching the sun.
Stewartia have lovely flowers and bark, but it is hard to beat their fall color.
Many plants for the shade garden bloom in the spring, but Tricyrtis bucks the trend by putting out these intricate blooms in the fall.
The leaves of variegated stellar pink dogwood flush an incredible shade of pink as they begin to change color for the fall. This variety has a beautiful display of pink flowers in the spring, but it is hard to imagine they could be as beautiful as these leaves.
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Comments
I really enjoyed reading your narrative as well as perusing your pictures. It's obvious and understandable that you love not only the entirety of your beautiful garden but also the individual plants that make it up. Thank you for sharing.
Oh, I adore fall colors. Sadly, we really didn't have good color this year due to our summer drought. I adore hickory & have a teeny, tiny one planted. Wonder if I will ever see mine as big as yours?
Forgot to say that the Bottlebrush buckeye is stunning.
It is fun to see what 'favorite plants' other gardeners choose - each time so far there have been two or three that are my favorites also. LOVE your buckeye, and your calicarpa! Our birds (usually cardinals, but sometimes mockingbirds) never eat the berries until well past what WE consider prime - when they are black and mushy! Must taste better then! Thanks for sharing, especially with telling your story.
In your photo with the fire pit, I can see Tinantia pringlei still blooming up a constellation of blue sparkles. It takes a hard freeze for that perennial to slow down.
I'm glad to have noticed this year that some Tricyrtis can survive some early deer browsing and actually set new buds (perhaps even more numerous than the undisturbed Toad Lily.)
Love the scene of the fire pit and one chair, quiet solitude of Autumn.
Thank you for these beautiful autumn garden scenes. The hickories are just magnificent!
What a sweet garden!
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