Garden: Rain Drop Dash!

Well--as the title suggests, I dashed out between rain squalls to grab a few photos of the garden.  I'd been hoping to capture some evocative, richly tinted photos of the garden bathed in golden, afternoon sun--but that ain't going to happen!  At the moment, I predict that even if the sun makes a reappearance, all the leaves will have rotted or been driven to the ground by the heavy rains.  Already, I'm seeing a lot of decomposition and leaf drop even before the leaves have had a chance to color.  Maybe we haven't had the cold snap that we need to help develop leaf color?  Maybe this is the legacy of a rather droughty summer that stressed many of the plants? Truth be told, autumn color is a bit scarce everywhere in my neighborhood.

So, here's what we have in the garden today:

Front garden taken from the entry path (looking south, towards my neighbor's ancient cherry tree).  

"Long view" of the front garden taken from the carport.  Did anyone notice?--the unhappy Chasmanthiums are missing...an improvement already, I think.  The bright yellow plant is Amsonia "Blue Ice"  I moved it during the summer and it colored brilliantly.  The other plants won't achieve this fall coloration.

Some of the denizens of the "Carport Garden" located to the right of the path.  I think this planting will prove to be successful--I like the combination of the dark foliage (Ajuga "Mahogany and Salvia lyrata "Purple Volcano") with the other low, green groundcovers.  That's an Allium "Summer Beauty" in the foreground.

Cut Leaf Sumac with Calamagrostis "Karl Foerster" behind--in the bed to the north of the driveway.  I recently planted some asters ("Wood's Blue", I think) near the Sumac and, even though the camera cannot capture both plants at once, the fall color of the Sumac adjacent to the blue aster flowers is a really nice combination right now.

A little Halloween spirit and the Japanese anemones still making a bit of a display.

The walk around the side of the house to the backyard.

Rain-beaten Ageratina altissima "Chocolate" in the shady backyard with Hydrangea "Bombshell" and Darmera peltata.  Last year I wondered about the fall color of the "Bombshell" hydrangeas--the one most recently planted colored up a brilliant flame hue while the remainder showed peachy and pale yellow colors.  Well, this year I think they won't be able to hold onto their leaves long enough to achieve much color.  All the plants look like this and there are already quite a few leaves on the ground.

Still a few blooms on the Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum "Watanabe"  I think I'm going to like this shrub!  It's a more-dwarf form of V. plicatum which flowers heavily in late spring and repeats off-and-on throughout the summer and fall. This, after I almost killed it by letting it bake in its nursery pot on a super-hot afternoon.

Yep.  It's different this year.  This is a picture of the front garden taken on October 20, 2013.  Definitely more lush and colorful, fresher, and greener.

So.  That's what is going on in my garden at the moment.  It's currently raining cats and dogs, so I'm happy to stay indoors working on craft projects and finishing my son's Halloween costume.

Garden: Photos of Early Fall

Well, Fall sure announced itself dramatically!  Last week, the television news coverage was all about "Storm Watch" and the "Weather Tracker".  In fact, we did see almost a week of rain, heavy at times, and accumulated (I'm told) about 3 inches of precipitation.  Usually, our rains are pretty gentle so that's a lot of rain from a single storm system.  The garden soaked it all up, though, and I think the plants were happy finally to quench their thirst.

It's bright, sunny, and pleasant now, so I wandered around the garden for a while with my camera.

Lacey textures in the front garden:  Pennisetum "Hameln", Ammi visnaga "Green Mist" and spent Allium "Summer Beauty" (which would, maybe, have held-up better if I hadn't transplanted it in mid-summer)

Dried stems of Salvia lyrata "Purple Volcano" in the carport bed with coloring Geum in the background (I transplanted the Geum during mid-summer, too--anybody see a pattern developing?)

Assortment of ground covers in the carport bed--Ajuga "Mahogany", Ajuga genevensis, and hardy Geranium "Jolly Bee" with Hakonechloa behind.  Next year, I am prepared for this Geranium to go on a rampage and consume the entire planting bed--this is an aggressive one!

The wider view of the carport bed with Allium "Summer Beauty" visible in the background

Driveway bed with a variety of plants coming up through a matrix planting of Nassella tenuissima:  Geranium macrorrhizum, dwarf leucanthemums, Calico Aster, white Guara, bearded iris, and annual salvia.  I'm trying to treat the Nassella right so it will thicken up and (finally) look good next year.

'Round back in the Arbor bed--Darmera peltata, Hakonechloa, and Astilbe.

Declining Darmera (ravaged by snails--what's up with that?  I never used to have a problem with snails!)  with self-seeded fern, moss, and sedums

Spidery!  Really spidery!