Fall Colors out Front

My front flowerbeds are filled with delightful colors, even once the flowers have gone.

 

The front porch bed.

Oakleaf hydrangea, I knew I could count on you for some gorgeous fall leaves!

Snowball bush, with peony and Echinacea seedheads in the background.

Love it!

Boxwood, rose, and other foliage

Barberry

The guillardia are hanging on, and those lovely red tones blend in just fine.

Catmint seedheads, with purple ninebark in the background.

 

 

Plus a bonus: strawberry foliage up in the garden

 

If our winter is as mild as the weatherman claims it will be, we will be enjoying these colors for a few more months!

Fall Colors

So my last post was all about how I'm ready to be done done done with the vegetable garden.

My flowerbeds, on the other hand, just continue to delight me.

 

Check out the fall colors I'm enjoying out front!

 

That lovely orange is a peony.

I know!

I don't remember it doing that before!

Maybe I had already cut it down in years past?

I feel sure I would have remembered that gorgeous color.

 

These mums provide a nice spot of pink right as I pull up to the house.

Closeup of the peony.

Snowball bush on the top terrace.

So pretty!

Add them all together, with the green from the boxwood and the deep brown of the Echinacea and wow! I could stare at it all day!

When I planted these I didn't realize how much I would enjoy them in the fall.

Plus, there is no work involved for me at this point, just enjoyment.

Makes it even better!

A Few Hardy Souls: November GBBD

Hello Bloom Day friends!

I didn't think I would have anything to contribute this month.

But despite most nights below freezing, and even a couple solid days of snow cover, I still have a few blooms hanging in there!

 

Winter--what?

 

A virtual round of applause for these tough beauties:

 

I knew unassuming salvia could take the heat.

It looks like the cold is also just a minor irritation at this point.

Even the leaves are still green and fresh-looking.

The dead, yellow phlox in the background is how just about everything else looks right now.

 

I had an inkling this hollyhock was tough as nails when it lived on our back deck this summer. It had died completely, I thought, so I stopped watering it. Two months later, I noticed small leaves and buds forming around the base. So I started watering it again.

Now it is out front in its new home and blooming like all I've done is treat it right.

Now that's my kind of plant!

Of course, the mums are hanging in there.

The colorful foliage almost swallows up the blossoms.

 

Almost as good as blooms this time of year:

the last of the fall colors.

This the strawberry patch.

It is easily visible from my kitchen window and I just can't get enough.

Those brilliant colors make me happy.

I was excited for the fruit.

I had no idea a gorgeous fall display was part of the package!

Thank you, strawberries!

 

 

The delicate leaves on this hardy geranium are a little harder to see, but they also have some multi-toned fall colors going on. Love it!

These pretty purple 'Hens and chicks', along with the Echeveria, just got replanted in my back flowerbed, in the dry strip along the house.

Not a moment too soon, either, as it is snowing right now.

 

Happy Bloom Day!

 

Shade Bed

First, I should say that this is a mix of pictures: some taken 3 weeks ago (before frost), and the more colorful foliage from 1 week ago.

 

Red-twig dogwood, looking lovely this fall.

I love the variegated colors of the leaves.

Such a good-looking shrub.

 

On the left, columbine, added from VW Gardens.

Actually, all the additions to this bed were gifts from her.

Thanks, again friend!

 

 Neither of my dicentras came back this year.

Of the 3 ferns I had planted, only 1 has survived.

So I added another columbine to the right of the pink heuchera.

Also, this little hosta replacing one of the ferns.

 

These 2 hostas were already here from last year, as was 1 tiarella, and the brunnera, hanging on.

I added the 2 purple heucheras, plus 1 lady's mantle.

I even managed to cut back the grass threatening to overtake the bed.

This has been my most neglected flowerbed this year.

I tried to get back to water it during the hottest parts of the summer, but for the most part, it just chugged along on its own steam...or not, in the case of the ferns.

I'm excited about the added color from the heucheras.

Also, that I know they are tough and should survive.

 

I had forgotten how the hostas change colors in the fall.

That banana yellow next to the heuchera is so pretty!

I can see them from my kitchen window, and it's such a bright little spot back there in the shade.

These 2 aren't quite as yellow, but still set off the other foliage quite nicely.

 

Maybe next year I will spend a little more time back here.

There is hope, since the front terraces are all filled in now.

Fall Beauty

So much beauty surrounds me right now.

Every day I want to just keep looking, all the time. 

 Front flowerbed

I didn't know that the daylily foliage would change colors in the fall. What a pleasant surprise!

Another reason to love these dianthus: check out the deep purple color of their stems and leaves!

Baby aspens on the back slope.

These should all come out, but they are so pretty right now, that I can't bring myself to do it. Maybe once all their leaves fall off... 

Aspen closeup, with clover heads.

Looking toward the neighbors, from the garden. 

Remains of the tomatoes. 

Basil and oregano (above and below)

Looking up the street.

Directly across the street. 

  

By the front porch.

 How many different pinecones do you see?

I counted at least 4.

  The dark evergreen really makes that orange pop.

Apple tree, looking toward the garden.

This really a beautiful little tree, even without fruit on it.



Fall colors

 The golden leaves of this aspen in our backyard thrill me every time I look at them.  Especially side-by-side with the almost lime green and rust orange of these trees (below), plus the deep green of the pine tree here.

It has been a long time since we've had beautiful trees on our property.  

And a bonus that our neighbors have such beauty peeking over the fence on all sides.