Fall Floral with Dahlias

We're getting close to the first frost when all my dahlias will turn into black mush, but until then we've been enjoying them in the garden and in vases.  Above is peachy-cream 'Cafe au Lait,' rightly popular with prolific, big blooms on a stocky plant.  The maroon dahlia is 'Karma Choc' with an Angelica purpurea seed head at center.

I love the texture that umbel seed heads add to arrangements, including more Angelica and a green parsley seed head above.

A less mature 'Cafe au Lait' flower is still mostly closed with maroon 'Royal Purple' smoke bush leaves adding contrast.

Dahlias don't continue to develop after cutting.  This 'Cafe au Lait' bloom was cut after it had time to mature and open on the plant.  I've discovered that heavy dahlia flowers often need sturdy greenery stems to hold them up in an arrangement.  The forked stems of my Korean spice Viburnum have been especially helpful with this, as shown here.

After reading that 'Rip City' (above left) is English gardener-extraordinaire Sarah Raven's favorite dahlia, I planted several this spring.  But they were crowded by other plants and didn't produce flowers as large and full as expected.  As trees mature around the perimeter of my backyard, I have fewer full sun spots without tree root competition.  So I'm considering spraying Roundup on my two large 'Twilight Blue' Baptisia plants next spring.  They're in prime sunny positions with rich soil, and they produce flowers that are quickly hidden by the foliage and then grow nearly six feet wide by the end of the season.  They're taking too much space for plain green foliage and I want more room for dahlias instead.

A final 'Cafe au Lait' bloom is held up by Korean spice stems and joined by parsley and Angelica seed heads.  Dahlias are so showy that they make it easy to create lovely arrangements. 

Hardy Chrysanthemums

Most fall-planted chrysanthemums don't make it through the winter around here, but there are some hardy mums that are perennial in zones 5-9 if planted in the spring so their roots can get well established before winter.  Mulching well, planting in an area with good winter drainage and waiting to cut back dead foliage until spring also increase the chance of mums surviving cold winters.  Last spring I planted several types of hardy mums in my garden.  Above is 'Jessica Louise,' which is still blooming in my yard despite many frosts in the past month. *In my original post I mixed up some of the mum names.  I think I've got them correct now.

Earlier blooms on 'Jessica Louise' were this lighter shade of peachy-pink.  I've noticed that color tends to deepen on chrysanthemum flowers opening in color temperatures, though the color often fades as the flower ages.

Last week I was surprised to find enough flowers to create this arrangement.  My garden looks very bare overall, with many perennials cut to the ground.  But the mums, violet asters, 'Chantilly' light salmon snapdragons and a few 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' roses were still in bloom.

The little rusty-red mums are 'Fireglow,' and the coral ones are 'Whippoorwill.'  I'm excited to grow some large-flowered mums next year for arrangements.  Many of the showiest mums aren't hardy here, but there are a few selections available from online companies.

Here is 'Fireglow' in the garden.  It didn't get full sun so it leaned toward the light.  Next spring I'm planning to transplant it to a better spot.

Despite arriving this spring as a tiny plant in a 6" pot, 'Whippoorwill' grew to 3 feet tall and wide by fall.  It was planted in good soil with plenty of water and nearly full sun, which are ideal conditions for mums.  The mums I planted in mostly shade didn't grow well (especially since the slugs devoured them, but I've already bought bags of iron phosphate to spread next spring to reduce my slug problem).  Next spring I'm going to transplant poor slug-eaten 'Pink Crest' and purple 'Medicine Bow' to sunnier spots. 

The vase above includes coral-peach 'Coral Cavalier' and purple 'Medicine Bow.' which surprised me when it opened more buds after the tree leaves dropped and it received more sun.  Bluestone Perennials has a large selection of hardy mums, and I'm happily planning which ones to order next: creamy 'French Vanilla,' salmon-peach 'Homecoming,' golden-orange 'Ticonderoga,' amber 'Cheerleader,' fuchsia 'Debutante,' shell pink 'Helen Mae,' golden lavender 'Fall Charm,' 'Red Volunteer,' and white 'Nor'easter.'

'Mickey' was a lovely bloomer with typical orange-red fall color.  Here are the first flowers in September.

By the end of October, after numerous frosts, 'Mickey' looked a little worse for wear but still sported good color.  At the right is a non-hardy mum whose name escapes me. 
The past few years have found me beefing up my fall garden with more dahlias, sedums, asters, hardy mums and Japanese anemones.  Last week I planted one 'Honorine Jobert' anemone (the classic tall single white), three 'Lucky Charm' anemones (compact purple foliage in spring and dark pink single flowers in fall); and three 'Pocahontas' anemones (bubble gum pink double flowers, compact, and supposed to stay in a clump instead of running all over).  I already grow light pink single Anemone robustissima, whose spreading is a pain to contain but it's so pretty that I keep it.  It's delight to keep planting new perennials and imagine how much prettier the garden will be next year.

Autumn Changes

Autumn is moving quickly this year, with our first frost occurring October 2.  My family has been helping to clean up but there's more to do each day as perennials give out and leaves continue to fall.  The photo above was taken a few weeks ago as the 'Shademaster' honey locusts trees turned yellow, then golden, then orange, and then the leaves fell.

A month ago the white garden was full of white flowers, green leaves and a few 'Karma Choc' dahlia blooms.

Now that area of the garden is going bare quickly.  The 'Spring Snow' crabapple trees lost their leaves earlier than usual this year.  Leaving their fallen leaves to rot in place last year led to a bad fungal scab problem this year.  They were dropping spotted leaves throughout the season, though our dry summers meant they didn't completely defoliate in midsummer as can happen in rainy, humid climates.  This year we're raking and removing all the SS leaves and I'll spray the ground and trunks with copper in the spring to reduce the scab problem.  Live and learn. The honey locust and 'Royal Raindrops' crabapple leaves will be left, though.

Here is the Northwest corner a month ago, with the RR crabapples still sporting pretty maroon leaves.

Now the area features orange tones on the crabapple leaves and fewer flowers along the path.  Last week I sprayed beneficial nematodes around the lilacs, peonies and roses in my backyard in hopes of controlling my root weevil problem.  I thought the chewed-up leaves were from carpenter bees or grasshoppers, but a mention of root weevils by one of the employees at a nearby nursery led to the realization that I had a big problem throughout much of my garden.  The adults don't hurt the plants too much by nibbling on leaves, but the larvae eating the roots can cause great harm.  I think that's why one of my 'Blue Angel' hostas grew much smaller this year than last year.

The 'Caesar's Brother' Siberian iris leaves collapse in fall despite the help of wire supports.  They'll turn completely yellow and then golden-orange if we don't drop too far below freezing in the next weeks.

Last month the west garden was still cheerful and full.  Tiny starts of 'Dazzleberry' sedum were planted along the edges of the path and finally matured enough to make a nice show this season.  You can only see a couple of them from this angle, but the blue-violet leaves, deep pink blooms, and rusty seedheads have added a lot of color and interest.  I'm slowly joining the sedum fan club.  In addition to 'Dazzleberry,' my collection now includes 'Angelina,' 'Matrona,' 'Lemonjade,' 'Cherry Tart,' 'Blue Spruce,' and 'Blue Pearl.'

Now the few remaining plants in the west garden are looking a little lonely and a trellis is begging to be straightened.  I know some gardeners leave dead perennials clumps throughout the winter and enjoy the textures, but we usually get enough snow to smash them flat.  And spring is always busy enough without adding fall chores to the list, so we're getting as much cleanup done as possible this month.

These cute autumn crocus flowers are reminders that spring will come eventually.  I've started planting bulbs but still have more to finish after my last order arrives in the mail.  This fall I'm adding 15 lilies, 30 alliums, 166 tulips, and about 50 other bulbs.  I've also planted 3 'Chocolate Shogun' astilbes, 8 'Prairie Dusk' penstemons, 6 'Moody Blues' and 2 'Hocus Pocus' veronicas, 3 'Harlem' poppies, 2 'Berry Awesome' hardy hibiscuses, a 'Lemon Chiffon' herbaceous peony, 2 'Mini Mauvette' hydrangeas and a 'Little Quickfire' hydrangea.  I thought my garden was mostly full but apparently there's still plenty of room!

Homegrown Fall Floral with Karma Choc

Last month I created this moody fall vase with the flowers blooming in my September garden.  Like most gardeners, I focused first on creating a flower-filled June garden, but I've been expanding my palette to have good cutting flowers earlier and later in the year.

The main players in this vase are Karma Choc dahlias and a stem from my new Cape Lookout hydrangea, which opens white and ages to green and then pink.  It's really lovely, and I'm hoping this hardier version will bloom next year for me despite the early fall and late spring frosts in our valley.  After babying my Let's Dance Big Easy hydrangeas this year with plenty of water and fertlizer, I finally had one covered in buds . . . but it frosted before they could open.

Karma Choc dahlias are delicious to the eye, aren't they?  These read as black in some lights and were planted in my black and white garden section.  Their dark foliage was a plus.  A stem of Magical Desire hypericum berries at the left were peach last month then ripened to this interesting plum/black color.  I also included some stems from my 'Royal Raindrops' crabapple tree with their tiny red crabapples.

Foliage is an important part of this vase, including red/maroon coleus stems from a front porch pot, 'Royal Purple' smoke bush, 'Chocoholic' actaea, and draping variegated vina.

I carefully selected some unopened 'Chocoholic' actaea buds for their texture.  These have such a strong fragrance when open that they might overpower some noses inside, though they're lovely to sniff when outside.

I really enjoyed growing several types of dahlia this year, although they often grew taller than I expected and looked odd in the landscape.  After recent frosts turned the foliage to mush, I started digging my dahlia tubers to store for next year.  But I don't have an ideal place for them.  My basement is too warm, my fridge is too cold, and my garage fluctuates too much in temperature from warm car engines (it's pretty hot in there this week, but by January it might freeze at night).  I think I'm just going to let mine rot in the ground and buy more tubers next spring.  Swan Island has the largest selection of dahlias I've seen, Floret Farm has the prettiest pictures, and Brent and Becky's Bulbs has the best prices on their small selection.

Hummingbird Mint: Agastache 'Ava'

Three Agastache 'Ava' (aka hummingbird mint or hyssop) plants live in my main sunny backyard bed next to Russian sage (Peroskvia), Lilium rubrum and a 'Royal Purple' smoke bush (Cotinus).  These plants add beautiful color to my late summer and fall garden, when flowers are fewer.

I haven't caught a good photo of the hummingbirds visiting my hummingbird mint plants, but they came every day.  Sometimes several times.  They also visited the butterfly bushes, Russian sage and catmint, but Agastache 'Ava' was always their first stop.

Ava emerges in spring as a low mound of grey-green leaves (top center above) and grows to a mature size of 2 feet wide and 4-5 feet tall.  Our growing season is short and my plants are only 2 years old, so they're still maturing.  Ava's square stems and aromatic leaves mark it as a member of the mint family.  It grows in zones 5-10, unlike many agastaches that are less hardy, and Ava is touted as being resistant to deer and rabbits.

Long lasting colored calyxes (the darker pink part at the base of the flowers above) are what make Ava really special among agastaches.  Even after the lighter pink flowers drop, the calyxes remain colorful until hard frost.

In the photo above, the Russian sage has finished blooming and peony leaves are starting to turn yellow for fall while Ava still shows color at top right.  From August through October, Ava's lavender-pink flowers were a welcome presence in my garden.

Ava grows best in lean soil, low water and full sun.  My plants get a little floppy because they get too much water and the soil is too rich, so I set plant hoops around the base to hold them up.  Ava will rot and die in waterlogged soil, but my plants are fine in the well-drained soil of a mounded bed.

Ava is available from several online sources.  I ordered mine from High Country Gardens and was pleased with the baby plants that arrived in good condition.  If you're looking for a tall, sturdy, low maintenance plant to add interest to your end-of-season garden, Ava is a great choice.

Fall Floral Warm and Deep

Last week I used a combination of purchased flowers and homegrown fillers to create some fall floral arrangements.  The shot above features roses, alstroemeria and purple kale from the grocery store, plus foliage from garden baptisia, scented pelargonium, purple honeysuckle, and curly willow.  I also used seed pods from 'Coral Charm' peonies and cimicifuga. 

This larger arrangement consisted of the same flowers above, but arranged for viewing from all sides instead of just from the front.

Aren't the sunset colors of these roses pretty?  I only grow old-style David Austin roses at home, but sometimes it's fun to work with regular hybrid tea roses.

Another arrangement made use of a vase from my grandmother, who was also a gardener.  It used to seem very out of style to me, but now gold is coming back.

A short centerpiece consisted of purchased mums and kale mixed with garden asters, lemon sage, and more peony seed pods and honeysuckle. 

The Colors of October

This fall has been a good one for fiery color in the garden.  Some years we get hard frosts so early that the colors don't develop well, so I'm always glad for a good year.  In the photo above you see the orange-red fall color of the 'Royal Raindrops' crabapple trees across the back, with yellow leaves of 'Caesar's Brother' Siberian iris down below.  The 'Fine Line' buckthorns at center are slower to change color, though they'll turn gold before shedding their leaves next month.

This photo from a week or two earlier showcases the yellow color of the neighbor's aspen trees.

The violet and lavender asters stand out  against the yellowing foliage of the Siberian irises.

I almost pulled this aster out a few years ago because it was spreading too quickly, but the bees are glad I just moved it to denser soil instead.  This plant has been covered with bees ever since it started blooming.

I bought this 'Popcorn' viburnum for its hydrangea-like flowers in spring and compact size (compared to other Viburnums), and the fall color is a bonus.

The fall color superstar is my Korean spice viburnum, though.  Fragrant flowers in spring are followed by glossy green foliage in summer and a carnival of color in October.

'Stella d'Oro' daylily leaves add some nice straw-yellow before collapsing.  These plants even put out a few more flowers this fall.

This shot of the honey locusts is from early October.  I wish they didn't drop their leaves so early, but at least they put on a nice show of true yellow shifting to golden-orange before dropping their little leaves.  Their color contrasts nicely with the deep purple color of the 'Hall's Purple' honeysuckle on the swing set.

Early Fall Fullness

Recently my husband and I spent a couple of days on the western side of Washington, and I felt so happy in the lush forests that I came home wanting to plant more trees in my eastern Washington backyard.  But after taking the photos for this post, I realized I probably already have plenty of trees (my husband is sighing in relief since he digs the tree holes).

It has only been four and a half years since our newly landscaped backyard looked like the photo above.

Now this shot from a similar angle shows the growth.

I'm not done planting, though.  There is room for many little filler plants among the large trees and shrubs.

This is so much better than plain lawn.

In another view of the same bench as the previous photo, you can see the new post of our patio cover.  In a couple of years it will be covered with a climbing hydrangea (H. anomala petiolaris).

This shot from the second floor shows my efforts in using different foliage colors for contrast when few flowers are blooming.  Baby 'Boulder Blue' fescues at bottom left look like polka dots now but should fill in well next year.  'Obsidian' heucheras were also planted this year to bring maroon leaves down to ground level and echo the 'Royal Purple' smoke bush at center and the 'Royal Raindrops' crabapple trees at top.

Some foliage colors are unintentional, like the iron deficient hydrangeas above.  I'm about ready to give up on these unblooming 'Let's Dance Big Easy' hydrangeas.  After a rough winter and long spring with plenty of late frosts, not a single bloom appeared on my six bushes.  Our late frosts just don't mix well with mophead hydrangeas.

Because of those late frosts, all of my butterfly bushes had to be cut down nearly to the ground in spring.  You see at the right of this photo that they bounced back just fine.  Tall, showy 'Ava' agastache is visible at the top center.

In this picture 'Shasta' doublefile viburnum in the northeast corner is just starting to turn maroon for fall.  Last weekend I fought a battle with aspen roots in this corner.  During the landscaping project years ago, we had a 5' deep Plexiglass barrier installed in the ground to keep the neighbor's aspen tree roots out of my garden, but we piled the bark too high last spring and the roots jumped right over the barrier and colonized all the way out into the lawn.  My son and I have been working to pull out the shallow roots and move the bark away to uncover the top of the barrier.

In the opposite corner, the foliage of 'Caesar's Brother' Siberian irises is very dramatic this time of year.

The whole corner is filled with a sweet fragrance from the 'Black Negligee' cimicifuga plants in bloom at center right.

The west side of the backyard is filling in so you can't see all the neighboring houses very much anymore.

At the base of these crabapples I've planted more plants with interesting foliage, including 'Diane's Gold' brunnera, 'Eola Sapphire' hostas, 'Dicksen's Gold' bellflower, 'Chocholic' cimicifuga, and 'Evergold' carex.

I'm going backwards today, as this is the view of the backyard as you enter through the gate.  The contorted filbert at right put on a lot of new growth this year.

I'll end with this photo of the front yard.  You see it's the time of year for 'octopus arms' on the roses.  Soon the fall colors will be on display before another long Spokane winter, so I'm soaking up the green views while I can.