Tag Archives: fall color

Design trends

Japanese Maples for Fall Color

Autumn Moon Japanese maple are breathtaking every season of the year.

I’m starting to see the beginning of fall color on some trees. It’s an exciting time of year. My friend, Kate, in Bonny Doon has an Autumn Moon Japanese maple that’s always in color, no matter the time of year. On a visit to her fabulous gardening in June this gorgeous small tree was a vision of burnt orange and bronze. I’m looking forward to seeing it when it turns vivid orange and red soon. What other Japanese Maples are my favorites for our area?

I have a Bloodgood Japanese maple that I love for the burgundy red foliage during the growing season turning to brilliant scarlet in fall. The interesting red-black bark provides interest in winter, too. This slender, upright tree is great for patios and entryways. It does well in sun also.

Another favorite Japanese maple is the Coral Bark (Sango Kaku) with the variety ‘Beni Kawa’ getting my highest marks. A cultivar originally developed in 1987, they are prized for their brilliant salmon red bark which is much brighter than the regular Coral Bark maple. The ‘Beni Kawa’ is a fast growing Japanese maple that will eventually reach 10-15 feet tall and 5-12 feet wide. It is hardy to 15 degrees. You can even polish the coral bark in the winter if you really want to see that beautiful bark.

There are so many awesome varieties available these days. From the variegated ‘Butterfly’ to ‘Oshio Beni’ with its crimson and orange fall color to ’Seiryu’, an upright lace-leaf variety with an upright habit that turns bright gold, yellow and crimson in the fall.

I see trees of all kinds going into an early dormancy showing a touch of fall color only. Every year is different.

Other things besides hot weather and not enough summer water to consider regarding fall coloring is that it can be disrupted by wind and rain coming at the wrong time. Japanese maples have a more delicate leaf than some of other trees and are more susceptible to the elements of nature. We most likely won’t get rain spoiling the display but wind during this time will put a quick end to the autumnal display.

Leaves change color when they are going into winter dormancy. When nights get long enough, leaves develop a corky layer of cells between the leaf stalk and the woody part of the tree. This slows the transport of water and carbohydrates. The manufacture of chlorophyll is slowed and the green color of the leaves begins to fade, allowing the other pigments to show through. Since the transport of water is slowed down, food manufactured by the remaining chlorophyll builds up in the sap of the leaf and other pigments are formed which cause the leaves to turn red or purple in color depending on the acidity of the sap.

For example, sumacs and California wild grape almost always turn red because red pigments are present and their leaf sap is acidic, While many of the oak and sometimes ashes will get a purplish color because the sap is less acidic. Trees like birch don’t have much orange pigment, so they appear mostly yellow in the fall. Others don’t have much yellow pigment and turn mostly orange or read. Some trees have a balance of pigments and look pinkish. The brown color or many oaks can be attributed to a buildup of tannins which is a waste product in the leaves.

So don’t miss out on Japanese maple season. You won’t regret getting a new one for your yard or patio.

Design trends

Changing Seasons

California fuchsia

I happened last Sunday morning at 2 a.m. That’s when daylight saving time ended and clocks went back an hour. Sure I got an extra hour sleep but the end of daylight savings time signals to me that autumn is really here in our mild California surroundings

I try to enjoy these very crisp mornings and warm days but I miss the daylight. Mixing in late flowering perennials as well as shrubs with bold leaves and a wide range of autumn color will make any garden more captivating.

Bright trees and shrubs add color flashes to fall gardens. Sasanqua camellias have already started blooming and will continue to flower throughout the winter. In addition to asters and rudbeckia, Japanese anemones are the stars of the border at this time of year. The electric blue flowers of dwarf plumbago contrast with reddish leaves as night temperatures dip, Encore azalea and Endless Summer hydrangea are blooming now, too.

Other perennials that are blooming now are California Fuchsia, Pineapple Sage and Mexican Bush Sage.

I used to have a patch of California Fuchsia. Starting in the summer and flowering through fall this California native is covered with orange or scarlet-orange flowers that attract hummingbirds like crazy. A great plant along the path or draping over a rock wall this perennial thrives in areas that might fry other plants. Also known as Epilobium canan or Zauschneria it is in the evening primrose family and native to dry slopes and chaparral especially in California.

Pineapple sage in your garden will provide lots of nectar for the hummingbirds.

Mexican bush sage look great blooming alongside California fuchsia. Orange and blue are opposite on the color wheel so they look fabulous together. The bright red flower spikes of Pineapple Sage (salvia elegans) would make the whole area a hummingbird feast.

But what about vivid foliage in the garden? Which plants put on the best show in our area? Here are some of my favorites:

A great tree for the gardener interested in edibles is the Fuyu persimmon. This beautiful small tree is ornamental with glossy green leaves and also offers a dramatic fall display in shades of yellow, orange and red. Bright orange fruit begins to develop in late October and clings to bare branches usually through December. The tree looks more like it’s covered with holiday ornaments than fruit. And have you priced persimmons in the store lately?

Blueberries are a must for the edible gardener. They make a beautiful hedge that provides showy red or yellow fall color. Because of our colder winters here in the mountains, we can grow both northern highbush which are self-fertile and southern highbush which produce better with another type to pollinize them. They can be great foundation plants around the home as well as in the garden.

A vine that lights up with the onset of autumn is Rogers Red California grape. If you have an arbor, wall or fence that needs covering quickly, this is your plant. The green and gray leaves are transformed in autumn into great draperies of rich, scarlet red leaves with clusters of summer fruit turning all shades of purple.

Japanese barberries are deer resistant, low water-use small shrubs that make them superb hedge plants, background plants against fences and foundations or accent plants. Red or lime colored summer foliage changes to orange, red or amber in the fall. I love the graceful growing habit of many of the varieties but there are pillar forms and also dwarf types.

Bright foliage on trees like red maples, liquidamber, Chinese pistache, ginkgo, ornamental pear, cherry or crabapple, dogwood, goldenrain, locust, katsura, oak, redbud, sumac and witchhazel all add to the fall drama of the landscape.

Light up your garden as the light fades and the days shorten. I know my garden needs a greater variety of fall color than just the Japanese maples.

Design trends

Fun Facts about Fall Color

Eastern Dogwood showing off fall foliage

The weather has been perfect for us to have great fall color this year. Because it’s been warm during the day and chilly at night I’m looking forward to the show. Many trees and shrubs are already showing color because they are stressed from lack of water. Others will wait their turn and baring a wind storm which would dry out leaves before their time we’re in for a beautiful fall.

The vivid colors in a leaf are always there. They are just masked by the green chlorophyll which is busy making food by photosynthesis while the sun shines.

Come autumn, shorter days and cooler temperatures cause the trees to switch to energy-storage mode and their leaves stop producing chlorophyll. The leaves actually develop a corky later of cells between the leaf stalk and the woody part of the tree. This slows the transport of water and carbohydrates. The manufacture of chlorophyll is slowed and the green color of the leaves begins to fade, allowing the other pigments to show through. For the few weeks before the leaves fall to the ground, they are colored only by their natural pigments that have built up in the sap. Depending on the acidity of the sap – red and purple anthocyanins, yellow and orange carotenoids – fall foliage can be glorious, sometimes anyway.

I read that the fall color in the eastern U.S. is not quite as great this year due to their exceptionally hot and dry summer. The Rockies are rockin’ it this autumn because of the summer’s monsoon rains. And our own Eastern Sierra Quaking aspen show is in full swing.

Quaking Aspen

Quaking aspen (Populua tremuloides) is the most widespread tree species in North America. They generally grow in high altitude areas but also exist at sea level in high places along the Pacific coast where climate conditions are ideal. Quaking aspen provide food for foraging animals and habitat for wildlife. They also act as a fuel break retaining much more water in the environment than do most conifer species.

High mountain systems, such as the Sierra Nevada, are uniquely sensitive to global climate changes and act as “canaries in the coal mine” providing early signals of significant climate-driven changes. Research in the Sierra Nevada by Pacific Southwest Research Station, a USDA Forest Service research organization, shows how vegetation has responded to climate in the past and indicates changes that might be coming in the future over the next decade.

Climate has a profound influence in shaping our environment and natural resources. By looking at tree ring records of living and ancient wood and pollen lake sediments present, climate can be compared to historic patterns to show climate changes.

Research indicates a complex, unpredictable future for aspen in the West, where increased drought, ozone and insect outbreaks will compete with carbon dioxide fertilization and warmer soils with unknown cumulative effects. Aspen are vulnerable in the face of climate change. Hopefully, we will not lose this wonderful tree in California.

Lagerstroemia in fall color

Which plants put on the best show in our area? Here are some of my favorites.

California native Western redbud turns yellow or red in the fall if conditions allow. This plant is truly a four-season plant starting in spring with magenta flowers, then leafing out with apple green heart shaped leaves. Colorful seed pods give way to fall color. This small native tree or large shrub does well as a patio tree in gardens with good drainage.

Other California native plants like Western dogwood, Spicebush and Western azalea turn yellow, red or gold in the fall. A native vine that lights up with the onset of autumn is Rogers Red California grape. If you have an arbor, wall or fence that needs covering quickly this is your plant. The green and gray leaves are transformed in autumn into great draperies of rich, scarlet red leaves with clusters of summer fruit turning all shades of purple.

Trees and shrubs that also provide fall color include Eastern dogwood, Chinese flame tree, Ginkgo, Idaho locust, Chinese Tallow, Chinese pistache, crape myrtle, smokebush, witch hazel, all maples, liquidambar, katsura, Eastern redbud, sumac, crabapple, goldenrain, locust. oak leaf hydrangea and barberries.

Edibles that turn color in the fall include blueberries, pomegranate and persimmons.

Light up your garden as the light fades and the days shorten. Now through late fall is a good time to shop for plants that change colors because you can see in person just what shade of crimson, orange, scarlet or gold they will be.