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.