A bit of fall color

Judging from my shrub, it doesn't take much of a difference. I'll be interested in hearing what you find out.

Here they are today. I couldn't see if one gets more sun because there was NO sun today, very gloomy. The yellow Ozark Witch-Hazel is on the left in the ground and the green one is in that big, black pot on the right.

How did you sink those edging bricks Short? They look straight. The OWH in the pot looks happier in this shot.

They're not sunk..lol Thanks, I just keep kicking them straight every now and then.
They just have leaves all over them. Actually, I'd like to do away with the blond bricks in the border eventually and replace them with those yellow limestone rocks. I shouldn't say how I get those rocks but I have lots of them and I can get lots more, they're free! Here's more clutter and rocks. That will be a project for this Winter, organizing and cleaning up back here. If I don't get all this to look better I'll be the odd man out! Before things started taking shape in the Summer of 2012, code enforcement was called on us 3 times, (they said). That's all behind us now, it looks considerably better back there now.
Will

This message was edited Nov 6, 2013 5:10 AM

Free limestone? Lucky guy! I've had garden ties for so long now, I've been thinking about a way to line my beds. I'm looking for functional, appealing, doesn't rot or warp and cost efficient. I should start a thread for ideas. I'm tempted to make some cement forms and come up with something creative. Good luck with your winter project, that would be fun for me.
Robin

What are garden ties, (landscape timbers)? Railroad ties? I understand Blissfield, Michigan is big on railroads.
A friend of mine in Indiana, juhur7, makes homemade cement poles with 2 liter bottles and cereal boxes as the molds, she is also creative on cement. She regularly comes to the Central Midwest forum, is where we met. I tried making a cement birdbath using an Elephant Ear leaf as the mold and it fell apart! Thanks Robin, I need some luck!
Will

Lol... garden ties are pseudo railroad ties. The only cement work I've done is sidewalks, I'll talk to Juhur7 regarding his technique, perhaps he'll share some expertise. Thanks for the info, it's better than gold.

I like the mix of yellow, orange and green leaves on your persimmon tree, Will. I'm giving a little thought to what kind of tree I could plant in my backyard after my silver maple is gone, and I had thought about a persimmon. Pseudo's Kentucky Coffee tree is very appealing as well.

Mipii, I read about a cement-like substance that gardeners can use to make garden art, pots, etc. It might work for your garden, so I'll see if I can find the magazine article somewhere in my unorganized gardening "files".

I use rocks to edge some of my beds because there are so many in the ground here, including some the size of Will's rocks. I don't know what else to do with them, and I like the look. I dig up a lot of marble, too, but that comes up in smaller chunks.

I see, pseudo railroad ties. Her technique is creativity and patience, I don't know if I could do it!

Oh, your welcome, I like to blab, if it helps anybody, that is good.

I like your pic of your porch, and landscaping there, Mipii.
A friend of mine had a house just like that, years ago, a bungalow style house too.
I don't know what the crime statistics are there, but, my friend grew some big plants there, mainly Elephant Ears, all the plants obscured her front porch and front door. She was burglarized one time when she was gone and they cleaned her out, they even took her laptop computer! They just broke the doorframe and walked in the front door! She and everybody suspected her next door neighbors, at night she worked on the laptop with the shades up, they could see right in and knew what she had and that she lived alone. She had no proof on that though, she just moved shortly thereafter, but it took a while to sell her house unfortunately.

Thanks muddy! I tell people that that Persimmon tree is iridescent, I love that tree in the Fall! Well, I love it all year round' but maybe a little more in the Fall! I don't know how long it's gonna be so pretty in Fall color though. Usually, young trees or juvenile trees have unusually good Fall colors. I'd say that about this tree but it's not that young anymore, it already bears persimmons.
That in itself is odd because it's dioecious, not a self-fruiting tree. I only have one Persimmon tree so I don't know how it gets pollinated, maybe from insects. I'm not complaining! That is a big relief for me!

Here's where I see rocks. - On the sides of highways on the ground only.
Coffee trees lose their steenking leaves so early in the Fall though. Do you have any restrictions such as height in the next tree, Muddy?!
Will

This message was edited Nov 6, 2013 10:36 AM

Thanks Muddy! I'm sure the formula is something that makes the cement lighter but increases the strength...maybe by adding peat. Don't tell Will, he'll be turning Elephant Ears into molds and he's already got alot on his plate this winter -- no time to play.

All you guys need is a little stone mason savvy and you've got it made!

Will, my house is a craftsman style and it only looks that full when the Hisbiscus are in full bloom. I am going to replace the dark pink Hibi as soon as I find a 'Degroots Spire'. I need more winter interest via conifers. I replaced a beautiful mature, nine point Pom Pom with a Japanese Maple 'Shirazz' the Pom just got too large for the space...I was really disappointed that I couldn't find a home for it, it broke my heart to kill it, even though it took a half day job to trim it.

Anyway, I understand and agree with your point about obscuring vision from neighbors, we are lucky to have really low crime here though. We are not so lucky; however, to have limestone just sitting by the roadside.

The evergreen in the forefront of my photo is unidentified as it was a welcome volunteer (I'm praying it doesn't grow to 60'). I guess we'll find out how good I am at praying.

Ahh, a craftsman! That's what I meant! I have a photo of that house from 2002. I blurred her out, (she was posing for the camera, and the address on the side).

Haha! Yes, I do have alot to do outside.

Wow, a Pom Pom that size would cost about $300 or more at a store.
Degroots Spire is nice, I've seen photos of them, usually by a front porch or somewhere by there.

It's too bad that the insides of houses in high crime areas are so nice, such as hardwood floors and other stuff.
Will

And of course, I forgot the photo! lol -

mipii it is not often I hear someone speak about the shiraz jm - one of my favorites for spring and not bad through the summer and I've had some good fall color as well - I have two of these as one was not enough - very hardy for cold and full sun - nice choice!

I might actually plant 2 trees, both of which ideally would be medium to fast-growing and not susceptible to storm damage, disease or insects (yes I know you're LOL!).

One would be a deciduous tree to shade our patio. It would have to tolerate sometimes moist, not well-drained soil, and ideally would top out at 20 feet. There was a Bradford pear in that area when we bought our house, and it grew to be very tall before it dropped a large limb (in sunny weather with zero wind) and was taken down.

The other should be no taller than 40 feet and would have to tolerate well-drained and sometimes very dry soil because I might have to plant it on a slope. I'm thinking of a conifer or holly so that my birds would have food and shelter on that side of my yard - everything else there is deciduous.

Oh, and if non-native, then at least non-invasive.

time for some more color as the leaves are almost down

first is our invasive wild burning bush - will be trimming those down some when the neighbor is out, not my property
koto-no-ito jm
wider shot from the top is berrrima bridge jm front right, front left is red baron jm, below is the koto-no-ito again, paperbark maple, behind that to the right is blue shadow fothergilla, and in the distance a kousa dogwood.
Okagami jm looking good against the house
omure yama with it's stunning fall color

What a beautiful mix of colors and leaf shapes! I want a blue shadow fothergilla - or three.

Wha, it wasn't an easy choice between all those JM's out there. You and WeeRobin both have a stunning collection. Since my lot is so small and one specimen plant had to go, I opted for something I'd love even more (I never spent so much on a dang tree before). Turns out it's been suffering a tad and I've got a good size branch that reverted to scion. I can take a photo of the fall color tomorrow but, thought I could share the pics I have.

Will, that's such a cute house, it's a craftsman! They're usually small but big on character.

cut off the branch that reverted - your tree is young enough that it will fill in quickly

Done! I thought it would look bare if I did cut it...it looks great and I'm trying to root the branch. It may not be Shirazz but it's a JM and has nice fall color.

the branch will never root, you can try although do not waste and $$ doing so.

Thanks Mipii, it was a neat house. I cleaned out HUD foreclosed houses in 2008, (a big year for foreclosures). Anyway, several of them were just incredible inside, including the Craftsman style ones.

Great job on those round bushes, Mipii. Several years ago I was over at my grandparents' trimming the bushes in their front yard. My grandfather was sitting in this metal chair on the porch talking about, "now, take the chainsaw and cut in the middle for a round shape on that big bush". I knew it wasn't possible, that's something you have to do over time, you can't just take an overgrown Japanese Yew and make it look like a green ball. I didn't get nasty or anything, I just cut it back about 3 feet. That had to be done, it was about 5 feet tall. When I did that it took all the foliage off, it just looked like bare branches sticking up, it looked terrible. Today though, it's back up to around 4 feet tall.

Muddy, a persimmon would be a manageable height for a few years but they get pretty tall over time. The state champion one in Va. is 120' tall, the state champion in Missouri is 124' tall. -
http://www.persimmonpudding.com/nathist/bigpersimmons.html
The Nat'l champion one is in Arkansas but the ones in Va. an Mo. are much taller.
Here is the one here, it has grown considerably in 7 and a half + years. -
So has the clutter..lol
Will

Clutter happens! The clutter in my backyard is often much, much worse.

The sight of your plants in nice pots reminded me that I have to get my assortment of perennials waiting to be planted - most in unattractive black plastic pots - off the patio and put them in a protected place.

Thanks for the heads up about the tree - I'll cross that one off my list.

Your welcome. Oh, clutter here has been much worse too, I'm talking code enforement 3 times bad.
We have free drops to a landfill in our city, over the years I've taken (8) 5' x 9' trailer loads of trash to it. Thanks, nice pots.. hehe, they are mostly just decorative pots that have been around for years.
I've only broke out my wallet on 2 big pots, (that Colorado Blue Spruce 'Globosa' is in one and I have a Japanese Water Iris sitting in another $30 big pot. In this photo you can see that big brown pot with the Iris in it. - I've bought a few smaller pots but most of them are old ones. Years ago, I forgot I paid $22 for this big white pot that my Eastern White Pine 'Nana' is in. -
Will

Hey Will, you've got a plant bath!

Code enforcement for a cluttered yard?! What kind of community do you live in? Our HOA has no codes, and our county has very few and mostly reasonable ones..for example, people's grass can't be more than 1 foot tall.

code enforcement??? move to New Hampshire - live free or die

now I would like some code enforcement on a neighbor across the street - actually two of them.........

Alas, no; it only applies to their lawn grasses.

New Hampshire! That's where Walter White on Breaking Bad went, Live Free Or Die!
Actually, NH. would be kinda neat, but it would be cold! The coldest place recorded in the U.S. was in NH on that mountaintop there I believe.

Miscanthus! Resin is being funny! If I had that much solid Miscanthus, I'd make it a display!
Sugarcreek, Mo. is this area, it's not upscale or anything, no HOA's, this area is older. I personally think the city just wanted a reason to get in the backyard and root around for no reason, but it was a mess, I'll admit that..lol The biggest violation was an old unlicensed car that used to be parked back there.

Yeah, it's a plant bath alright! I hand-scooped most of the water out of it today. I really don't need it to freeze and bust because water was in it! I think it might have a small fracture in the big bowl now. I need to empty the water out so it possibly doesn't freeze in that crack and split the bowl apart, I don't want to ruin it. But, I have several plants that will be submerged in that bottom bowl is the plan, 2 Arrowhead plants, (in warm weather), a pot of Gold Creeping Jenny and several pots of English Ivy. There might be some other submerged plants that I might experiment with there, like a pot of purple Sweet Potato Vine and a pot of Mezoo, (in warm weather of course for those).

This message was edited Nov 11, 2013 5:08 PM

Will, that's a creative idea. Perhaps you could fix that crack with hydraulic cement? Something new and easy to use on the market is 'fiber fix it' or the sprays that turn your screen door into a canoe.

BTW, I have Miscanthus giganeus seeds if you'd like!

Thanks, I may look into fixing it. Screen door into a canoe eh?! I'll take your word for it! : )

Sure, I'd love some Miscanthus Giganteus seeds. I'm not sure how that would work out from seeds, if they'd be true. I would try them at any rate though. I once, (a couple years ago) ordered 2 M. Giganteus plants from Bluestem.ca I think and they arrived fine and everything but they perished in about 2 months or less. I'll dmail you my addy!
Thanks, Will

This message was edited Nov 9, 2013 10:16 PM

They're as large as a small tree. Let me know if the seed comes true, my bet is they will.

That Swamp White Oak sapling up there in the nice red Fall color, (last year), is very much different this year. It is much closer to what I've seen on them in the Fall is the boring real color of the tree in the Fall, brown. - I uploaded both photos, what a difference, I like the first one from last year better..lol

Maybe next year it'll be back to red!
Will

Okay, Mipii, I've got to know....how the heck can a screen door be turned into a canoe...and why would people want to do it...so they can float out of their houses when there is a flood?

Shortleaf, the colors on my shrubs and trees weren't as brilliant as they were last year either. I was disappointed because my tallest JM used to be so beautiful that I almost forgot how much I hate fall.

I missed your last post Mipii. That's happened before, I'll start writing a post then I'll get up for awhile, maybe to watch tv or do dishes or vacuum the floor. Then I'll come back and it'll say no new posts, so I sometimes miss posts that way I think, I should look closer.

Oh, I believe their big, even the site I used to look at says 9 to 12 feet tall, from looking at the pics I believe it! - http://www.bluestem.ca/miscanthus-giganteus.htm I'll let you know, I'd even mail you one back if they grew, that would be so cool. I remember I wanted to get one to grow bad on the corner of the house, of course that never happened.

I don't care much for Fall either but this one red laceleaf JM here was a stunner in the Fall.
Unfortunately, it died due to the heat and drought of the Summer of 2012. I'll post a photo of it from earlier, it was brilliant in the Fall. Boy, it was pretty, when I told my housemate it was dead I thought I was going to have to find a new place to live, she was not happy at all!
These are older pics, it was quite alot bigger than that when it perished. That porch has even been remodeled since then.

that would be Mt. Washington and it had the wind speed record until recently Mt. Everest beat it out.

Muddy, I'm talking about Flex Seal...'as seen on TV' I couldn't remember the name but I remembered the stupid commercial (I can't retain important stuff).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofMwxrWDUmQ