today's flower: chrysanthemum

i am not really a fan of chrysanthemums! yeah, yeah: they DO provide fall color, but asters are more my style: mums tend to fall over if not clipped and clipped all summer, and i always seem to forget!

but one of my neighbors obviously knows how to treat them as i stumbled upon this huge poof of lilac-pink ones: lovely!

crazy colors of fall

we had 69 days of over 90° days this past summer and rain in bunches when it did fall...but somehow the autumn color has been more spectacular this autumn! my dwarf fothergill continues to impress as it morphs on...

dwarf fothergill

my dwarf fothergill never fails to show off in fall...although, i have never seen this color in it's arsenal of awesomeness!

fall foliage

more fall color from another maple...we are still not in full effect foliage-wise, but the strong storms that blew through earlier today made it seem like fall. now leaves are swirling through the air...mounding on the ground...and beginning to change from green to awesome. one weird note: it's 76°!

dwarf fothergilla

other than the sugar maples, we are not seeing a lot of color around here yet...which is fine by me: hold off winter til the last second, please! while weeding today, i found this blazing leaf in the middle-at the bottom-of my completely still green dwarf fothergilla. a peak at things to come.

sugar, sugar maple

hands down: my favorite shade tree for autumn color is the sugar maple...at the first hint of fall, the sugar maple's leaves go from chartreuse green to golden yellow... depending on weather, rainfall, blah, blah, blah...the large leaves may gyrate through various gradations of red, hot pink and orange: 

it can be stunning, especially when the autumnal sun illuminates them like so many stained glass windows in an outdoor cathedral... the thing about the sugar maple is, you have to be fast to catch the color wheel transformations: the tree can do its thing in like, 48 hours and then drop everything to the ground. i feel fortunate i was able to see this old specimen while walking the dog, because its gone now!

hyacinth bean

here it is, october and one flowering plant is still around, standing head and shoulders above all others: the hyacinth bean! decorative and delicious, the Lablab purpureus has edible leaves, flowers, pods, seeds and roots and is slated to save the world. this is not my plant shown in the photo above, but my neighbor's lovely front gate. i will make sure i dont forget this beauty next year: i opted to plant green beans in my limited space this year, and have been having a difficult time harvesting them amongst all of the same color foliage!

crape myrtles provide fall color

clearly i am obsessed with fall colors...but what about these crape myrtles? exfoliating bark...late summer blooms...fall color...what else? oh yeah: seed pods for winter interest. becoming a little over-used but still awesome!

Shenandoah national park

why drive to all the way to skyline drive in shenandoah national park when you can see all the beautiful fall colors in your own back yard?

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