The fall colors have been muted this year. Actually, I guess "muted" is not the right word - when there is color, it is very nice. But a lot of trees around here went from green to dropped leaves. I'll admit that is the norm for the junk maples behind my house, but this year even the tree on the north side of the house just threw its leaves down as if sulking over the constantly gray summer/fall days we've had. And then there is Autumn Blaze, which is looking nice this year. All pictures, except the last (which is noted) were taken yesterday afternoon This is not a named maple. As luck would have it they managed to leave the one nice maple when they cleared the lot next door. Doesn't have the more brilliant red of a swamp maple (that used to be swampish land), but is very pretty. The green leaves to the very right are from my October Glory that has so far refused to turn (it is usually the latest). The red leaves to the left are on a burning bush that has always been wishy-washy when turning. The old tree hydrangea. Upper left corner shows there are still some flowers that haven't turned yet and are still white (or mostly white). This picture was taken 10/12/2023 and is Burgundy Belle. She is planted at the northwest corner of the house and is always the first of the maples I planted to turn. There are a couple of trees behind my house (not on my property) that I am waiting for. While the trees around them have all dropped their leaves, those two are still fully dressed in green.
The Crimson King maple (I assume) is looking nice. The leaves during the summer are a dark purplish color A couple of maple saplings behind my lot line Burning bush behind my lot line. I assume this is from seeds from my shrub on the south side of the house Summer sweet in my shrub garden. I don't remember it ever having a nice color like this - or maybe I just never noticed it before. That could be the case because now it shows up well against the light blue of the shed (not in picture) when viewed from the back porch.
October Glory maple turned pretty much all at once. Pictures taken just a couple of minutes ago From the east side - sun is on the southeast side (over my left shoulder) From the west side, sun is on the southeast side (in front of my right shoulder). YOu can see a bit of the burning bush in the lower right corner
Looks like my yard at the moment. I’ve been debating leaving the leaves on the grass for the winter, but mulch them up with the mower first. At least in the backyard anyway. Never tried it before but it’s supposed to make decent fertilizer. That’s just my excuse for getting out of doing cleanup though (got rid of my old mower with the bagger system back in the spring)
I always just mow over the leaves in the yard. I've dont the bag and dump into the woods (at my other place) and wasn't a fan then. Now that I really don't have a place to dump them I see no reason to bag them up and take them to the dump. Someone who has a manicured lawn would not like the results, but the pieces make their way under the grass/weeds eventually. However, I also mow leaves several times so there aren't large mounds of them - my excuse for getting more exercise.
Just learned that actually, that they’re not berries. That and only the female trees produce them. Of course I gathered some to plant
My Thanksgiving cactus is blooming. Probably a bit early so won't be in actual bloom on that day, but that's okay. Most of the blooms are a salmon color. But every year I get one bloom that is a pale pinkish, which is cool
Sunday I noticed that the Sweet Autumn Clematis and a lupine are still showing green leaves despite all the hard frosts we've had along with high temps 32-35*. Other lupines are also still green - just this one made the best picture.
