More Fall

Fall in Sacramento, when it comes in all earnestness, is a brief and sometimes wonderful few weeks.  In the last few days the autumn season has come on strong.  And today, being an overcast Veteran's Day, was a perfect chance for me to take the camera outside and spend a few quiet moments making some digital memories.

The mulberry tree doesn't produce much in the way of fall color but what it lacks in color it makes up in quantity.

I believe this is a Chinese pistache tree but I haven't been able to positively ID it yet.

More berries.  I once came "this close" to tearing out this frequently ungainly looking bush but the berries make it worth it keeping.

A struggling fuschia on the left and a slow-growing Japanese maple, 'Red Dragon' on the right under planted with some mondo grass.  This vignette will be reworked some day next spring, I think.  But for now it's good enough.

The liquid amber tree . . . it's a true love/hate relationship.  A tall, stately, columnar tree with beautiful fall color and interesting seed pods - that also act as hidden mines when they fall to the earth.  Bare feet beware, these guys mean business.

One of my favorite Japanese maples is this 'Koto No Ito' which means something like golden harp strings.  The inspiration for such a name is fairly obvious this time of year.

More fuschia.  Some blooms still hang on while others have given up the ghost.

More of the ubiquitous mulberry leaves and a succulent planting I'm rather fond of.

Crepe myrtle leaves:

A borrowed view of fall; over the neighbor's fence.

Not every plant and tree is on the same schedule.  Even here, a single branch can't seem to make up its mind.

Japanese maple 'Seiryu' went from total green last week to this:

The plum tree is a bewitching mix of orange, red and green:

And, finally, a word from my family to all the Veteran's out there:

Thank you, and happy Veteran's Day to all who serve and served.

Obligatory Fall Color Pictures

Fall in Sacramento isn't all that special and we're always way behind most of the rest of the country when it comes to changing colors.  Things are just now starting to change colors for the season.  Here are some shots from my yard tonight.

Looking way up into the crown of a Liquid Amber

Another Liquid Amber.  I think the impact would be greater if more of the tree changed at the same time.

A black-stemmed hydrangea.

We went to a pumpkin carving party with kids and their families from my daughter's school last weekend.
It was fun getting messy and then shaking hands with people we hadn't met yet.  

Harry, on the right, has been a family tradition for about 4 years now.  Every year he gets a makeover with either black or green mondo grass. and then that grass gets planted somewhere in the garden.  Bones, on the left, was a new addition this year.

Acer palmatum 'Orangeola' just beginning to revert back to its namesake color.  

Japanese blood grass hasn't developed that blood red color yet, but it is starting to fill in a bit more.

This fall color is making up for the fact that the birds beat me to all the blueberries on this young bush.

Trouble Brewing

The other day I was in the back corner of my property taking a closer look at some of the late summer growth on several Japanese maples.  My neighbor's property line boasts several mature trees whose branches stick out over my side of the fence.  This doesn't bother me - it's borrowed green as far as I'm concerned.  But I did notice that it was causing my maples to grow at awkward angles to reach more sunlight.  

While taking a closer look at the branches coming over the fence line I noticed what I believe to be a wisteria vine growing along the electrical lines.  I'm fairly certain the picture below contains my neighbor's cable line.  Perhaps I should tell her about this?

You have to admire the tenacity of the wisteria.

This picture makes it apparent that it's probably not just my neighbor's cable that could get strangled by the exuberant vine.

And here's just a couple pictures of something I've been working on.  I've got a long stretch of boring fence that I need to do something with.  I am working on killing the grass and I spent part of last weekend installing the dry-laid brick mow strip to outline what will be the new bed.  Hopefully everything will be ready in time for fall planting which is still about a month and a half away in Sacramento.

I hope to post more in the coming weeks.  This summer has been very busy and, truth be told, not very interesting from a gardening standpoint.  There's only so much I can do when it's 95-100 degrees every day.

One Of Those Hot Nights

It got hot here this week.  It was at least 92/93 degrees today which is right on the border of misery.  But hot days often make for pleasant evenings in Sacramento.  Tonight is one of those nights.  After we finished dinner and did the dishes I was drawn to the window by the sound of a couple mourning doves on one of the wires stretching from the telephone pole to our house.

I must have spooked them because they flew off and perched on another wire farther away.  I think they can get a better view of the sunset from these wires anyway.

While standing at the window gawking at the birds like I'd never seen flying creatures before, I realized that the setting sun made everything look better.  I grabbed my camera and went out to see if I could capture the feeling (I couldn't, but the following pictures were my attempt):

Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' - one of the most ubiquitous Japanese Maples 

I've had this 'Bloodgood' maple for years.  It was the first one I ever bought and I have abused, neglected, and mistreated this fella since Day 1.  I even removed about half of the tree this very spring.  One day I just felt like pruning stuff and I took a "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" approach with this tree.  And if it died? Oh well.

And yet here it is, shining in the sunlight for me to enjoy as if I hadn't totally insulted it.

Looking just to the left of the Bloodgood, you can see the borrowed view of our neighbor's mature trees.  You can also see multiple power lines, cable lines and who knows what other kinds of lines those are.  It's a shame that our homes need to have these visual monstrosities in order for us to do things like blog on the internet.  But the greens, the reds, and the golden sunshine help distract from the wires if only for a few minutes.

Rosa 'Mr. Lincoln'

At the other end of the yard. the sun's rays had already gone behind the trees.  But I was captivated by the juxtaposition of the red rose petals against the weathered fence boards.  If I wanted to get all poetic here, I'd make an analogy about how two of the blooms have clearly passed their prime.  They are setting suns at the end of their path.  But the third bloom is still just a promise.  It has yet to open, it has yet to shine.  That bloom is like tomorrow's sun.  But I don't want to get all poetic.

Japanese Maples in Spring

Murasaki Kiyohime - a great dwarf JM for a shady spot.

Katsura - has almost neon green spring colors.

O Isami - Acer Japonicum

Red Dragon - a slow growing lace leaf maple.  

Close up of the leaves on an Otto's Dissectum JM

Koto No Ito - a beautiful, delicate-looking tree.

Ryusen - a unique tree that can be trained to act like a ground cover.

Orangeola - I had one of these at my old house but had to leave it behind.
I couldn't resist replacing it when I saw this one at the nursery the other day.  

Viridis - a weeping lace leaf maple that should eventually be wider than it is tall. 

Spring: In Seven Pictures

Sacramento's spring has begun.  There are still plenty of leafless trees and our record breaking dry winter (part of California's worst drought in 500 years) has left many homes, mine included, with dry, brown lawns.  But it's not all gross to look at.  Here's a peak at what has been blooming in my yard the last few days.

A plum tree of an unknown variety.  But I think it might be a Blue Damson or a "French Improved"
No matter the type, the blooms this year were the first to proclaim the end of winter. 

One morning last week I woke up and saw a Camellia bloom.  A few hours later there were a half dozen opening up.

The Japanese maple cultivar "Katsura" is almost always the first to leaf out in the spring.
It starts out yellow with tinges of red and then turns lime green for a while before darkening a few shades in summer.

This hydrangea managed to hold onto a few leaves from last season and is now putting on new growth.

This is one of my favorite Japanese maples.  The cultivar name is Murasaki Kiyohme.
It's a smaller JM and suitable for growing in a container in a shady spot.
All JMs prefer afternoon shade in hot climates but this one is especially sensitive to hot sun
and the leaves will shrivel up in the wrong spot.
If you look closely, you can see the buds are just beginning to swell.

The birds have returned and their voracious appetites made quick work of what I put out for them.

This pictures sums up Sacramento's Spring pretty well.  There are plenty of weeds to attend to but since they are the greenest part of the lawn I might just decide to let them take over this year.  Who needs a lawn anyway?