Hi GPODers!
Today, weāre back in the garden of Lila Johnson. She most recently shared some photos of her garden in summer (Lilaās Colorful Containers in Washington and The Rest of Lilaās Wonderful Washington Garden), and now we get to see how itās faring in fall. For even more fun, check out what her fall garden looked like five years ago: Autumn in the Pacific Northwest.
Hello again from Mill Creek, WA, and my autumn garden. We are finally getting some chillier weather, in the low 40ās overnight and the leaves are turning color. This morning I braved the chill and took a lot of garden photos, something I do almost daily May-September!
We have removed some of our leggy annuals, but many geraniums and some impatiens remain. My husband puts plastic tarps over part of our dry river bed areas to make spring clean up easier; I donāt like the look of it, but he is my maintenance guy and since we are 81 and 80 years of age, āeasierā is a good thing. The tarps keep the vine maple (Acer circinatum, Zones 5ā9) leaves and cedar needles out of the rocks. These areas are in our back and side yard, so weāre the only ones who see them.
Right now the āstarā is the coral bark maple (Acer palmatum āSango Kakuā, Zones 5ā8) in full yellow mode. We have it uplit at night and it truly is a star. And when the leaves are gone, that coral bark is incredible. I think the winter time is my favorite time for this tree, it stands out when all else is done for the season.
Our hardy fuchsias (Fuchsia magellanica, Zones 6ā9) are still lovely and attracting our year-round resident Annaās hummingbirds. And to think, I didnāt know about hardy fuchsias until I joined our local Garden Club in 2008ā¦ they are truly a workhorse in our Pacific NW garden.
Enjoy the photos!
Lila and Dave Johnson
Lila still has a pristine blue bigleaf hydrangea bloom (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 6ā9) this late in the season. Here the periwinkle-blue shimmers against the darker evergreens that frame it.
A Full Moon Japanese maple (Acer japonicum, Zones 5ā7) puts on a sensational display of red behind a glowing, golden threadleaf variety. The blooms in Lilaās garden are stunning, but the foliage this time of year is stealing my attention.
A close up of that incredible Full Moon mapleās foliage. The bright red becomes even prettier when youāre able to see the subtle spots of yellow and shifting green-to-red and leaves below.
āNeon Tricolorā fuchsia (Fuchsia āNeon Tricolorā, Zones 7ā9)āfirst year.
Burgundy tips of āOlsenās Frosted Strawberryā maple (Acer palmatum āOlsenās Frosted Strawberryā, Zones 6ā8).
Seaside SerenadeĀ® Fire Island hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla āHORTFIREā, Zones 4ā9). Flowers may have faded, but the fiery foliage gives this aptly named hydrangea a second show.
Our three column water feature behind an unknown 28-year-old Japanese maple.
At the beginning of this post, Lila mentioned the current star of the garden was her coral bark maple. You might have noticed that it didnāt make an appearance in any of the photos today. To properly showcase all of Lilaās beautiful plants, weāll be back in the PNW tomorrow to see several photos of that glowing coral bark maple as well as more scenes from her autumn garden.
Ā
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