Hi GPODers!

Today, we’re back in the garden of Lila Johnson. She most recently shared some photos of her garden in summer (Lila’s Colorful Containers in Washington and The Rest of Lila’s Wonderful Washington Garden), and now we get to see how it’s faring in fall. For even more fun, check out what her fall garden looked like five years ago: Autumn in the Pacific Northwest.

Hello again from Mill Creek, WA, and my autumn garden. We are finally getting some chillier weather, in the low 40’s overnight and the leaves are turning color. This morning I braved the chill and took a lot of garden photos, something I do almost daily May-September!

We have removed some of our leggy annuals, but many geraniums and some impatiens remain. My husband puts plastic tarps over part of our dry river bed areas to make spring clean up easier; I don’t like the look of it, but he is my maintenance guy and since we are 81 and 80 years of age, “easier” is a good thing. The tarps keep the vine maple (Acer circinatum, Zones 5–9) leaves and cedar needles out of the rocks. These areas are in our back and side yard, so we’re the only ones who see them.

Right now the “star” is the coral bark maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’, Zones 5–8) in full yellow mode. We have it uplit at night and it truly is a star. And when the leaves are gone, that coral bark is incredible. I think the winter time is my favorite time for this tree, it stands out when all else is done for the season.

Our hardy fuchsias (Fuchsia magellanica, Zones 6–9) are still lovely and attracting our year-round resident Anna’s hummingbirds. And to think, I didn’t know about hardy fuchsias until I joined our local Garden Club in 2008… they are truly a workhorse in our Pacific NW garden.

Enjoy the photos!
Lila and Dave Johnson

Lila still has a pristine blue bigleaf hydrangea bloom (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 6–9) this late in the season. Here the periwinkle-blue shimmers against the darker evergreens that frame it.

A Full Moon Japanese maple (Acer japonicum, Zones 5–7) puts on a sensational display of red behind a glowing, golden threadleaf variety. The blooms in Lila’s garden are stunning, but the foliage this time of year is stealing my attention.

A close up of that incredible Full Moon maple’s foliage. The bright red becomes even prettier when you’re able to see the subtle spots of yellow and shifting green-to-red and leaves below.

‘Neon Tricolor’ fuchsia (Fuchsia ‘Neon Tricolor’, Zones 7–9)—first year.

Burgundy tips of ‘Olsen’s Frosted Strawberry’ maple (Acer palmatum ‘Olsen’s Frosted Strawberry’, Zones 6–8).

Seaside Serenade® Fire Island hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘HORTFIRE’, Zones 4–9). Flowers may have faded, but the fiery foliage gives this aptly named hydrangea a second show.

Our three column water feature behind an unknown 28-year-old Japanese maple.

At the beginning of this post, Lila mentioned the current star of the garden was her coral bark maple. You might have noticed that it didn’t make an appearance in any of the photos today. To properly showcase all of Lila’s beautiful plants, we’ll be back in the PNW tomorrow to see several photos of that glowing coral bark maple as well as more scenes from her autumn garden.

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