A bit of fall color

One advantage of living on the frozen tundra is being able to show off early fall color. Of course, when spring rolls around and those of you in the south start posting pics of magnolias in flower, all we can do is sigh and sip. The Kentucky Coffee Tree is a pleasant surprise. They have a reputation for blah color, but this one is a warm gold/yellow.

Very pretty! I'm looking forward to when ours start changing -- it's such a lovely time of year, isn't it?

That third pic looks a bit like a trifoliate maple...

Otherwise, I must agree with your estimation of that fine Gymnocladus dioicus.

It is a trifoliate maple! Here's a fall color update. Very blustery today with considerable foliage and a few hats blown off.

pretty show- Not much has changed over /down here as yet.

What a strange year this has been. Long, snowy winter that we thought was finally over in mid April, only to sting us with a 9" snow fall in early May. Now we've had a very long summer/fall, and have yet to have a freeze. I don't know what the latest recorded date is for the first fall freeze, but we've got to be getting close. I'm sure the late arrival of fall is keeping y'all from posting some pictures. ;) Here's Stewartia finally deciding to show some color:

Which of the trifoliate maples is it?

Resin

Resin, that would be Triflorum. My A. mandshuricum just turned this past week, while A. griseum and nikoense haven't started yet. This seems to be the regular pattern they follow.

Does anyone know if A. griseum and A. nikoense hybridize naturally? Also, since the trifoliates are known for a lack of viable seeds, would having other trifoliates help increase seed viability of any one species? I've got one of each, with griseum and nikoense being withing 15' of each other. I don't dabble in hybridization, so this is more of a curiosity for me. The triflorum produced a very heavy seed crop this year, and it would be nice if they produced some seedlings.

Hybrids might occur, but could be rare - a lot will depend on whether they flower at the same time or not.

I really like being called young man. I think it's time to drop the pseudo and go with young man.

I beg your pardon, but doesn't four count as a forest? Mini forest? I still don't think my question has been answered: Can different species within section trifolia cross-pollinate? If you did answer my question; never mind.

Pseudo, I don't know about hybridizing naturally, but there's a nikoense x griseum hybrid readily available in the trade. I know Girard's nursery used to offer one. There's also a hybrid called Gingerbread which is a nikoense x griseum hybrid, I think. I'm not sure if it's the same plant or not. I have one and the bark has some peeling characteristic, but a much finer texture, not the big peeling strips you see on typical griseum bark. I could post a pic, but not at my home computer at the time.

I got a Virginia Creeper in stunning Fall color as usual. -

You all should see the Toxicodendron radicans around here - makes one say:

"Fraxinus who?"

Pseudo aka Young Man, love your pictures. I just bought a Coral Bark Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum 'Sangokaku' today. Hope to keep it in a pot for a year or so. That way, I can move it around some next summer to let it acclimate in the likely case that we have another brutal summer.

Speaking, sorta, of weird weather, long ago and far away I taught school in a mtn. town in CO. Just as school was about to let out for the summer, we had a snow day. It was June 9th.

4 trees could count as a mini forest, but I think maybe they might be a 'grove'.

It's Pseudo - he'd call it a bosque...

Hey Pseudo/Young Man...methinks you could cross ANYTHING with a holly, ya know...LOL!
And as long as it comes out lookin' like a holly, well' I'M ALL OVER THAT...! HAHAHA!
Except I must admit that suddenly I'm crazy about Camellias...I just bought two. Holly and Camellias go together, and yes, there's that RETRO look... Oh yes, I have some old roses (1940/1950 and older) thrown in the mix. Just lovely. These guys love each other. Best to you in your experiments! Good for you that you have the passion and time for your interests.

Grayce - Really? Do hollies and camelias look good together or were you joking? I've been wanting each but the hardest part is deciding which holly I like best. There's also my thought about liberating my neighbor's camellia. His house has been in probate for over a year but I'm sure that whoever buys it will tear it down and put up a McMansion. (The latest trend.) At that point the camellia will be history unless I set it free. My wood fence is deteriorating so I want to start planting some shrubbery now.

Viburnum - We have a Bosque County about 100 miles south of Dallas. I always thought it was named after someone. Of course we pronounce it 'boss key'. Anyway, it prob. has more trees than people.

Well, actually, hollies, Camellias, Roses and Boxwoods are classics planted near each other! Oh! There are way too many hollies these days. But, I have an old American/Virginia holly that is about 35' tall and very elegant. For my conditions, the new Castle Wall and Castle Spire are best. But, I just love that Christmas Jewel holly...
Both hollies and camellias are tidy, elegant, and pretty year 'round! There is much to admire with them. I just found (and yes, bought-it was so different and perfect for me that I could not walk away) an "Autumn Rocket" camellia that is supposed to get about 2-4' wide max by around 10' tall. Huge semi-double white flowers in fall with pink edges. NEED I SAY MORE?

You can rationalize liberating that camellia by the very fact that you would be RESCUING it. So There! Enjoy!

thought I would share some fall color - follow the link

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9690521

Beautiful pictures Wha!
The plant you refer to as 'red bud witch hazel' is a disanthus?
It looks great.

That NE gardening forum is a lively bunch. With Rutgers joining the Big 10, I think Wisconsin should be included in the NE Gardening Forum. Wha, I've never seen a Disanthus, but the pics you posted look great. Foliage like Cercis with the fall color of Fothergilla. They're supposedly hardy to z4, but it still remains a great unknown in these parts. Rare Find Nursery has them and I'l be ordering one this spring.

Wha - Great pictures. Your Oak Leaf Hydrangeas are most interesting to me b/c mine never turn colors like that. Could be the different climate, etc, or the fact that I probably abuse mine.

We have a lot of Redbud trees here but I've never heard of or seen a Redbud Witch Hazel. Like it.

Gracye - No problem rationalizing setting the camellias free. But I do have to wait until the house is out of probate. I know it will sell one day after that. Since the camellia is smack-dab in front by the entrance, don't think I'll move it yet as it would probably be missed, unlike all the irises in the alley that I liberated. The 'Autumn Rocket' sounds like a winner. I hesitated and lost a chance to buy one called 'Kraemer' or something like that. It's supposed to be a double bloomer. Maybe next year. For now, I have a bunch of new plants (including 2 small gardenias) that I scored yesterday at our local RoundUp.

weerobin it is a Disanthus cercidfolius

VV spotted that here on a visit a few years ago, it was a lucky find at a local nursery - that one suffered some winter damage (heavy snow lifted the root system out of the ground) and I have since replaced it with this one and nursed the other back to health.

probably the climate tex

thanks for the kind comments all

What a good memory you have, VV! Toxicodendron radicans, commonly known as Poison Ivy, it is one of the best for Fall color, I've always said that, and you remembered! It is one of the plants around here that were in full Fall color. The first 2 pics are some stupendous Virginia Creeper in a brilliant Fall color of red. -
Alot of the other Fall beauties are still about half green or more.

Pseudo, did you know that word is the shortened version of Pseudoephedrine? It's an ingredient in meth. In the show Breaking Bad, they use that term quite a bit. Also, unfortunately, I hail from the meth capitol of the world, Independence, Missouri. I hear about it alot on tv, (like the news).
Sugarcreek is just a small city about 2 blocks from Independence, I was born and raised in Independence. I've never done Meth myself, that's not how I know about the nickname! Meth will mess up one's insides and ruin one's teeth I understand! Pseudo, are you peddling meth on Davesgarden?! lol

Anyway, I present to you some Virginia Creeper in outstanding Fall color. -

Now, here is some brilliant trees in Fall color. - 4th pic
From left to right I believe is a Sugar maple then 2 red trees, Sweetgums.

Here is an exceptional Cornus Florida, (Flowering Dogwood) featuring a Crimson red color. - 5th pic
Will




This message was edited Oct 25, 2013 4:17 PM

I wondered about that myself. But I had never seen Virginia Creeper go up a tree. I was assuming that's what it was, I couldn't tell from the distance. I was as far as away as the first photo, I had just zoomed in for the 2nd photo, it shows more what it is. I'll try to get some genuine Poison Ivy photos. I was hoping that nobody would say that! lol

Ok, Resin you. I went back over there to get out and get closer photos and you are indeed right!
That's the first time that I've ever seen Virginia Creeper go up a tree, I guess there's a first time for everything! I got a whole bunch of photos but one only needs to see this one to be sure.
I always knew there was a difference between an amateur (me) and an expert (you)!
I'm not kidding, people that really know their trees can just tell from a further look away.
I remember years ago just driving down a street with Guy Sternburg and he knew what distant plants were what just from looking at a distance from a moving car. It really is incredible, people that know their trees and plants can just tell by a distant look.

You can really tell here, I put it in my Comcast webspace, where it's full size. -
http://home.comcast.net/~metalglove/pwpimages/100_2951.JPG
Will

;-)

Good point, Resin. That's something like what I say to friends and other nursery employees etc. about rooting hormone and plant food and stuff for plants, I just say, "funny, there isn't any of that in nature".
Will

Fortunately, other DG'ers have posted pictures of poison ivy vines: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1629/. It is truly something to be given a wide berth.

It's a very interesting plant. There's a tendency to disparage toxic plants like this, including by me, but they do hold a certain fascination. Everything does its thing, but their powers are pretty awesome. Kind of like a rattlesnake. I don't want to include one on my garden stroll, but they have my respect.

I wish the deer would eat the poison ivy vines growing in the woods instead of the plants in my yard. Things in the woods seem to be the deer equivalent of broccoli, and plants in my yard the dessert table.

And not just to deer...

Very true and there are exceptions -- the deer have avoided this carlcephalum. The fall color is an added bonus.

Deer never so much as nibbled at my Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Mariesii' aka doublefile viburnum....and deer in my neighborhood will look people in the face as they nibble their plants.

for VV

here is a link to more fall color

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9695436

Thanks for the props, Pseudo. Now - isn't that more rewarding than some old one trick pony Euonymus alatus?

Hey wha! Do I know anything about the provenance of those winterberries? It is the Year of Ilex verticillata and Friends here at the Valley. I ought to do a calendar.

The viburnums aren't too shabby, either...