Cole's Select serviceberry in fall color. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
I know I’m late filing this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day report, but I’ve been in the desert and didn’t plan far enough ahead to post this on Oct. 15.
Now that I’m back home again in Indiana, I’m even more appreciative of my landscape, drought-challenged plants and all. Although I enjoyed the architecture of the cactus and the beauty of the mountains, I felt fully broiled in the heat and headachy from the altitude. I think you just have to like the overall look of an otherworldly, barren landscape compared to Indiana’s green hues.
So this month, I celebrate my Hoosier landscape and its rich fall colors and aroma.
There are always surprises in the garden and this fall, it’s the blooming ‘Jackmanii’ clematis. It has weather the drought, clematis wilt and still pops a bud.
'Jackmanii' clematis in October. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
‘Raydon’s Favorite’ aster (Symphyotrichum) is blooming in its new space at the foot of two Hydrangea paniculata and Amsonia hubrichtii. The latter plants have not started to take on their fall hues, however.
I was kind of surprised by the color difference in the two native flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) in the bed outside the living room window. One has an intense wine red, leather color and the other is a more of a dark pink. The wine-colored dogwood gets more sun than the pink one.
Native dogwoods with their fall color. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Native dogwood. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Native dogwood. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
The ‘Sikes Dwarf’ oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) is probably the most photographed plant in the garden. It’s what I see when I look out the kitchen window above the sink and when I walk out the back door. What you see when you look out the windows of the kitchen, office, living room or bedroom, is as important as what passersby see from the street. People often forget about planting for the views inside-out when they plan their landscape, focusing more on what’s seen from the street to the house.
Street bed awaits a new design. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Speaking of street, while I was in Tucson, a crew pulled all the plants out of the bed, which has become overgrown with bindweed, a truly awful plant. So, the clean bed presents a new opportunity to redo one of the first gardens I planted when I moved here.
Please feel free to join in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day the 15th of every month. All you have to do is write a bit about what’s going on in your landscape for your blog and post the link at May Dreams Gardens, which created the meme. More than 100 bloggers post every month.
