Ginkgo in fall

It's been a great fall color season, and the ginkgos are currently at their peak.

Ginkgos are ancient conifers with a delightful habit of turning butter yellow in fall, just before all the leaves (in clusters on short shoots) drop, practically in unison.

I remember a great photo/memory image from years ago of our dog romping with my gardening companion in the ginkgo leaves in front of our (first) house in Georgia.

Ginkgos at the South Carolina Botanical Garden

We've had ginkgos ever since.

These two are at the garden where I work.  Fabulous!

Fall color

We usually think about fall color in leaves; in Eastern North America, we have an abundance of deciduous trees that illuminate our landscapes with colors varying from yellow to red.

But on a 'fall color walk' today, I pointed out many more 'fall colors' -- those of flowers and fruits, especially, but also of foliage of annuals and perennials that we don't normally think about as 'fall color.'

It was interesting -- fall color (in terms of leaves) is just now coming on.

Blue Ridge Parkway views

Fall color in the North Carolina mountains is becoming apparent.  At mid-elevations along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the color is spectacular.  Higher up, it's still early; lower down, drought stress may diminish the usual clear yellows, defaulting to brown.

Hemlocks are gray ghosts, felled by woolly adelgids

But yesterday, it was spectacular north of Devil's Courthouse and Graveyard Fields.

A luminous ginkgo

I posted about this view a few days ago, but I can't help doing so again.

The view from the kitchen caught my attention, looking towards the bedroom window.

The ginkgo under the powerline is glorious today. Totally luminous in the late afternoon light.

This view is through the bedroom window (the details are blown out because of the slow camera exposure).

The view from the outside door tells the story.

Gardening inspiration

Visiting interesting gardens, reading great gardening books (the thoughtful ones), and learning first-hand digging and planting, and moving plants - that's what makes gardening fun. It's a lifelong journey, whether we're passionate about organic gardening, native plants, and wildlife gardening (like me) or have enthusiasms for specialty plants and collectible plants.

There's inspiration everywhere, if you look for it. I find natural landscapes a continuing source, of course, but that's what inspires me to plant and garden.

Bumbling across wonderful garden vignettes, created by talented gardeners, is also inspiring. I love the way my colleague's Kathy's new pathway planting looks this fall in the morning light. Wonderful.

The Hosta Garden was lovely with the fall color highlighted by the morning light.

Witch hazel and fall color

My gardening companion planted a large native witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) to the left of the meadow in front of the garage some years ago (we've been reducing the meadow's size). It's flourished in the conditions there, and is really now more of a small tree than a shrub.

This afternoon, it glowed clear yellow, with the backdrop of our neighbor's beautiful old Southern red oak.

And the view from my study window was striking, too, with the vibrant yellow of the hickory peaking through.

After a rainy Saturday, it was nice to have a sunny fall day!

Fall color walk

Fall color, red berries, and seasonal change were the themes of a fall color walk last week. Family groups, surprisingly, made up most of the audience.

I was totally delighted to see this photo, from photographer Jessica Nelms from upstate.today (Seneca Journal/Daily Messenger) on the front page of the print version of Friday's local paper last week.

Fall color

The signs of fall are everywhere. The yellows, reds, and browns have appeared, at least in their beginning stages.

In the mountains, it's ahead, but in the piedmont, it's not far behind.

These are photos from the mountains, though, into the ravine behind our small house there.