Monthly Archives: November 2011

Fall Color

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Blueberry - Vaccinium fall color

Blueberry - Vaccinium fall color

I love the fall color on Blueberry bushes!  Electric reddish-pink that grabs your attention.  Blueberries are easy to grow in full sun and acidic soil.  I recommend mixing in a huge helping of Peat moss into the soil as you are preparing it for planting a Blueberry.  Most Blueberries will grow to 3’-4’ high and as wide, but I’ve seen some as high as 6’.  There are many varieties so you can find some that will fit into any garden and it’s nice to mix the varieties because it extends the fruiting period and helps with pollination.  Blueberries are extremely hardy, most to zone 4 and deciduous which means they give great fall color and lose their leaves in the winter.  Berries are produced on two year old wood so be careful pruning them as you’ll be cutting away some of the berries for next year.  White flowers in early spring, fruit in July.  They have very shallow roots so make sure to mulch them and give them water in the summer.

We also have a brand new variety called ‘Pink lemonade’ which has pink flowers and the fruit ripens to pink instead of blue!

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Great Fall Color! Cornus florida ‘Rubra’ – Pink Flowering Dogwood

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Pink Flowering dogwood - Cornus florida 'Rubra' fall color

Check out the fall color on this tree at the nursery!  Beautiful red, orange and mottled green.  This is a Pink flowering Dogwood tree.  Cornus florida ‘Rubra’ will top out at about 25′ and about as wide.  It is hardy to zone 5 and prefers morning sun and afternoon light shade.  It will not be happy in baking afternoon sun, or where surrounded by pavement.  The early spring “flowers” are large and pink. The fall color is exceptional and the red berries are enjoyed by many birds. It prefers moist acidic soil.

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Autumn Crocus – Colchicum autumnale ‘Waterlily’

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Autumn crocus - Colchicum autumnale 'Waterlily'

This is a great fall flowering bulb.  It is commonly called Autumn Crocus, but it isn’t really a crocus at all.  It flowers in October with lovely lavendar-pink petals before the leaves emerge.  It will slowly spread and naturalize an area.  It prefers sun to light shade and well drained, moderately fertile soil.  Mine come up through a mat of glaucus Helianthemum every year.  We offer these and another variety that is pure white here at our nursery.  The flowers last about 3 or 4 weeks and you can see I took the picture just as they were on their way out.  Extremely hardy here in Monroe and to zone 5.

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Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’

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houtuynia cordata chameleon

Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon'

This is one of my very favorite aquatic plants in the whole world!  This plant has so much going for it.  It has great color with leaves that are green, pink, red, yellow, and apricot. The stems are a bright reddy-pink. It has the cutest white flowers with yellow stamens, and if you bruise the leaves it smells like lemon or citronella.  It will take full sun to part shade although you will get the best red coloring with full sun.  It likes a moist, wet, boggy area or as much as 4″ of water over the crown of the pot.  it spreads rapidly so definately keep it in a pot in your pond or in a bog area where it can’t get into the garden and take over.  it is herbaceous and will die to the ground in the winter but will return bigger and better next year!

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Fall Planting

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fall leaves

Fall Color

 

As fall approaches many people think they’ve missed their opportunity to plant until next spring but that simply isn’t true!  Fall is an excellent time to plant, especially here in the Pacific Northwest. 

The reasons are:

  • The soil retains heat even though the air is cold outside so perennials, shrubs, trees, and lawns that are planted now will continue to grow a large root system all fall.
  • The plants are usually dormant so all their energy can be diverted to root growth instead of top growth.
  • There is ample rain all fall so the plants will develop deep established roots without you having to worry about watering.
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