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Autumn Foliar Color That Shines

Several species color splendidly for autumn.

Autumn is known as fall for a reason. It is when foliage falls from deciduous plants. It is, of course, more interesting than that. Some deciduous foliage first provides spectacular autumn foliar color. Formerly green foliage turns bright yellow, orange, red or even dark purply red. Even some shades of brown are visually appealing as the weather changes.

All sorts of deciduous plants develop autumn foliar color. They can be shrubbery, vines, groundcovers or even perennials. The biggest and best are deciduous trees. Deciduous plants may seem to be messy, but that is only because they shed all at once. Many are tidy after autumn. Evergreen plants shed also but do so slower through longer seasons.

Sweetgum, or liquidambar, is likely the most familiar tree to produce autumn foliar color. It is also one of the messier deciduous trees. That is only because it does not shed all at once. Instead, it retains much of its color through autumn and perhaps into winter. Spiky seed capsules can become a nuisance among mature trees. Roots can be aggressive.

Chinese pistache is as colorful, with bright yellow, orange and red autumn foliar color. It seems to be a bit less messy because it sheds more efficiently. This means that it does not retain its color as late into autumn or winter. Its pinnately compound leaves fall apart into individual leaflets. These smaller leaflets take more effort to rake than larger leaves.

Ginkgo lacks orange and red autumn foliar color but excels at vividly bright yellow. It is a stately tree with tall and slender form. Modern cultivars are exclusively male, so can not generate messy and stinky fruit. While young, their roots are reasonably docile, which is why they are popular street trees. Ginkgo can defoliate prematurely, particularly in rain.

Although some deciduous plants do not develop autumn foliar color, several do. Quite a few options are available. Flowering pear and crape myrtle provide both foliar color and showy bloom. Flowering pear blooms white for spring. Crape myrtle blooms with various bright colors for summer. Boston ivy is a clinging vine that provides autumn foliar color. Smokebush is a big deciduous shrub that develops splendid color for autumn.

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Spring Bulbs Start In Autumn

Plan now for certain spring flowers.

Autumn is time for planting. This does not apply to all plants, but is certainly relevant to spring bulbs. Many have been available from nurseries for a while already. They all are dormant by late summer or early autumn. So, they are unaware of their relocation from their farms to home gardens. They will learn about it when the resume growth next year.

Actually, though, spring bulbs begin growth sooner than that. It merely does not become visible until foliage emerges above its soil after midwinter. Roots begin to disperse when their soil is dampened either by irrigation or rain. Growth is initially slow because of cool autumn and winter weather. It accelerates as weather warms, as spring replaces winter.

Spring bulbs know how the seasons change from temperature. They adjust their growth accordingly. They know that they can disperse roots early. They delay other growth until after a specific duration of cool weather, or vernalization. From the nursery, many spring bulbs are prechilled, or already vernalized. That is why they are so conducive to forcing.

Summer bulbs prefer later planting because they do not need vernalization to bloom. In fact, some are susceptible to rot if they must overwinter in cool and damp soil. They are more resilient once established, after their first summer. These include gladiola, canna, calla, dahlia, tuberous begonia and most lily. They become available after spring bulbs.

Because winter is so mild here, some spring bulbs are unreliable after their first season. They may not receive the degree of chilling, or vernalization, that they require. Hyacinth and tulip, for examples, may bloom only once for their first spring. Afterward, they might not be reliably perennial. Dutch iris and Dutch crocus are only somewhat more reliable.

Freesia and narcissus, including daffodil, are some of the most reliable of spring bulbs. Within favorable conditions, they can multiply and slowly migrate. Grape hyacinth might actually become slightly invasive. Ranunculus and anemone may be reliably perennial, but may not bloom much. Bluebells are supposedly very reliable but remain uncommon.

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Autumn Is Time For Planting

Autumn is time for spring bulbs.

“Autumn is for planting.” This is a common marketing campaign among nurseries at this time of year. Also, it is generally true. Of course, as with most generalizations, there are some exceptions. Bare root season is during winter. Summer bulbs prefer planting after the coldest weather of winter. Many species nonetheless prefer planting during autumn.

Cooling weather is less stressful for new plants while they begin to disperse their roots. Yet, the soil is still warm enough to promote healthy root dispersion. Later, rain will keep the soil evenly moist and provide all the moisture new plants need. Even if growth is not evident above the soil, it is probably active below. Roots grow until cold winter weather.

Simultaneously, most common pathogens and weeds are less vigorous during autumn. Many diseases need spring and summer warmth to proliferate. Insects are similarly less active now that the weather is cooler. Although weeds have dispersed their seed, some of it will not grow until next year. New plants can have the whole garden to themselves.

Planting in autumn gives the plants an advantage next spring too. Although they appear dormant through winter, they slowly continue to disperse roots. By spring, their roots are more dispersed than they would be if planted in spring. They are ready to grow as soon as the weather warms after winter. There is less delay to disperse their sustaining roots.

Many bulbs and bulb like plants are naturally dormant by late summer or early autumn. Spring bulbs, such as daffodil, hyacinth, crocus, tulip and allium, will soon be in season. Not only are they dormant, but some also bloom better after vernalization by winter chill. Bearded iris are already dormant and ready for division. So are many larger perennials.

Because some plants are dormant or visually tired by now, some nurseries have sales. This could be a good time to purchase certain items at a discount. Daylily is an example of a perennial that begins to defoliate about now. Nurseries do not want to keep them in stock while they are dormant and mostly bare. New foliage develops shortly after winter.

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Autumn Weather Eventually Becomes Cooler

Some foliage turns color for autumn.

Cool season vegetables and cool season annuals might still seem early. The weather is not yet notably cool, although it is not as warm as it was for summer. Nevertheless, it is now autumn. The weather will become increasingly cooler and eventually rainier before winter. Plant growth will decelerate. Some foliage will become both colorful and messy.

As the weather cools, irrigation will become less demanding. Evapotranspiration, which is evaporation from foliage, decreases substantially. Deciduous plants defoliate, so can not transpire. Evaporation from soil also decreases. Rain will dampen everything that is not under a roof later in autumn. Then, irrigation will be redundant until the rain pauses.

Rain later in autumn typically accompanies storms. Stormy weather can damage trees, or potentially destabilize some. It is therefore important to address arboricultural issues now, prior to stormy weather. Arborists will be busy later, so may not be able to respond to emergencies immediately. After autumn, winter storms can be even more destructive.

As plant growth decelerates, pruning and mowing will become less necessary. Hedging may not be necessary again until growth resumes in spring. Late pruning can stimulate new growth. Such growth would be susceptible to damage from stormier winter weather later. Rain might sometimes delay lawn mowing, which should be less frequent anyway.

Some deciduous foliage becomes colorful as the weather cools and the nights lengthen. Even more of it becomes messy. As autumn progresses, it necessitates raking from turf and hardscapes. Unraked foliar debris causes mildew within lawns, and shades out the grass. Foliage also stains hardscapes, clogs drainage, and becomes a slipping hazard.

Gardening certainly evolves with the seasons. Some tasks become less demanding for autumn, or unnecessary. Others become more important. This autumn may precede an extreme El Nino winter. It is therefore advisable not to neglect garden maintenance as it becomes necessary. Minor concerns can become major when the weather gets stormy.

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Successive Planting Prolongs Vegetable Harvest

Productive vegetables can become overwhelmingly abundant.

Cool season vegetables are now becoming seasonable. Regardless of warm weather, it is technically autumn, so the weather will get cooler. It might be tempting to sow all seed and plant all seedlings for vegetables at once. There should be no rush, though. Spring is half a year from now. Until then, successive planting can prolong vegetable harvests.

Successive planting entails cultivation of small crops throughout their seasons. The first vegetable crops, or groups, should begin as soon as they are seasonal. The last should finish at about the end of their seasons. Various vegetables grow at various rates. Some begin or finish earlier or later than others. Timing should not be too complicated, though.

Each crop of vegetables should ideally finish production as its subsequent crop begins. The typical duration of production should determine the frequency of subsequent crops. For example, each beet crop is productive for about two weeks. Each subsequent crop should therefore begin two weeks after its preceding crop. Production can last all winter.

Successive planting is not merely for cool season vegetables. It is as effective for warm season vegetables, and some spring and summer bulbs. The earliest cool season crops can replace the first warm season crops to finish. The process continues for weeks until the cool season vegetables replace all others. There is no rush for successive planting.

Large vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, require more space. They also require fewer crops because they mature relatively slowly. Successive planting for them may involve only one early crop and one late crop. Each crop might be productive for more than a month. Individual plants within each crop might mature at different rates.

Cucumber and pea are actually fruits rather than vegetables. Their vines are productive until they succumb to the weather. Those that start now may produce until the middle of winter. Those that start after the middle winter may produce until spring. Therefore, two crops may be the extent of their successive planting. One may suffice for mild climates. Cucumbers are actually warm season vegetables that grow for autumn and early spring.

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Autumn Fever

‘Purple Ribbon’ sugarcane has been growing like a weed, but should go into the garden.

Autumn is the time for planting. So is winter. It is difficult to resist new acquisitions for the garden. However, there is already so much in the nursery that needs to be planted into the garden that I should not consider acquiring more.

I like to think that I purchase almost nothing for the garden. I grow just about everything that I want to grow from bits and pieces from other gardens. I purchased sugarcane, though, because I could not find any of a cultivar that I wanted in another garden. Now that it has been growing like a weed here, I returned to the online catalogue of one of the nurseries that sells sugarcane to see what else I want.

Planting Justice grows and sells many fruit and vegetable plants that I want to purchase. Because the primary nursery is in Oakland, only about an hour and a half away, I could purchase directly, rather than by delivery. My wish list from them includes medlar, yacon, currant, sunchoke, lingonberry, moringa, kangaroo apple, raisin tree, earth chestnut, chestnut, cinnamon vine, tree collard, sea berry, aronia and highbush cranberry. The twenty items that I want cost only $316, but are contrary to my tradition of purchasing almost nothing for the garden. Fortunately and unfortunately, I will most likely refrain for another year, when I expect the garden to be refined enough to accommodate them.

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Rain Will Increase Until Late Winter

The weather is about to change.

Defoliation is the colorful beginning. It indicates that the weather is getting progressively cooler. It then gets messy with the first rain. This is inevitable at this time of year. After all, it is late autumn. Storms will become more frequent as weather simultaneously becomes cooler. So, while gardens are getting wetter, they also take longer to dry between storms.

Ironically, vegetation uses much less moisture while it is so abundant. Deciduous foliage can not perform any evapotranspiration after it defoliates. Evergreen foliage is much less vascularly active while cool. Roots can not utilize all the moisture that autumn and winter rain provides. Soil in some areas might stay moist from now until next spring or summer.

Conversely, summery weather is innately arid and warm. That is how the Mediterranean climate here operates. Moisture is either scarce or abundant. Rain will eventually stop in spring, and then not resume until next autumn. Summer thundershowers are uncommon. Gardening could likely be easier with a bit less rain for winter, and a bit more for summer.

With more rain expected, irrigation needs seasonal adjustment. Such adjustments might need to be incremental, since weather changes incrementally. Manual irrigation might be either less frequent or less voluminous, or both. The same applies to automatic systems, which have a disabling ‘rain’ option. It turns irrigation off without modifying the schedule.

Besides necessitating modification of irrigation, rain can also be messy. It dislodges and accelerates the deterioration of defoliating deciduous foliage. It causes even formerly dry soil to become muddy. A bit too much rain can cause erosion. Cleaning up such mess is less pleasurable while the weather is wet and cool. Then, the weather gets messy again.

Rain can not postpone all gardening. Spring bulbs must get into their garden soil prior to winter chill. Dormant pruning happens later in winter, prior to spring. Fortunately though, gardening is less involved than it is during spring and summer. Maintenance of tools and sorting seed can be indoor tasks for rainy days. So is shopping online for seed, plants or garden tools.

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Six on Saturday: Autumn Or Not?

Some vegetation is responding to cooler autumn weather as it should while some refuses to concede. Autumn foliar color is not so spectacular this season.

1. Canna musifolia, canna foliage is beginning to discolor in response to cooling autumn weather. I will groom such foliage out through the season until there is nothing left of it.

2. Plectranthus scutellarioides, coleus is not so easily convinced that it really is autumn. It is as vigorous now as it was for summer. I suspect that it will not last for long like this.

3. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood is already defoliated, and it did so quickly without much color. Others were somewhat more colorful, and were retaining their color better.

4. Acer palmatum, Japanese maple, like coleus, is not convinced that it really is autumn. This particular specimen is as green as it was for summer. Others are beginning to color.

5. Strelitzia nicolai, giant bird of Paradise supposedly blooms randomly. However, ours prefers to bloom through summer and finish about now, so is actually right on schedule.

6. Impatiens hawkeri, New Guinea impatiens, like coleus and Japanese maple, is not yet convinced that it is autumn. It will likely succumb to autumn chill when the coleus does.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

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Autumn Foliar Color Is Chill

Sweetgum excels at autumn foliar color.

Cool season annuals are not the only options for home garden color for autumn. Even in mild climates, deciduous foliage eventually notices increasing autumn chill. While some merely sheds, some first develops spectacular autumn foliar color. Such foliage is not as conducive to instant addition to gardens as annuals are. Yet some may already be there.

A few deciduous shade trees and street trees provide the best autumn foliar color. Some are less popular with those who prefer evergreen trees. However, they are quite practical for some situations. Some are less messy than evergreen trees. They only seem messier because they defoliate so much at once. Most evergreen trees shed throughout the year.

Sweetgum, or liquidambar, probably provides the most colorful autumn foliar color. It also happens to be among the messier deciduous trees. That is because it retains its colorful foliage later into autumn and winter. While prolonged mess is a disadvantage, prolonged foliar display is an advantage. It is an unwieldy large tree, though, with aggressive roots.

Chinese pistache is as colorful, with dazzling yellow, orange and red autumn foliar color. It seems a bit less messy because it defoliates a bit sooner. Also, it does not produce the spiky seed capsules that sweetgum trees produce. However, its smaller leaves require a bit more effort to rake than larger leaves. Chinese pistache is a rather popular street tree.

Flowering pear, or callery pear, produces similar autumn foliar color, with more deep red. It also provides billowy white spring bloom. Crepe myrtle is a smaller tree with both vivid autumn foliar color and summer bloom. Ginkgo is a tall and slender tree with exclusively brilliant yellow color. Boston ivy is a clinging vine that is as colorful as Chinese pistache.

Not all deciduous trees produce impressive autumn foliar color. Sycamore might already be defoliating with just a bit of pale yellow color. Valley oak does the same later. Both are quite messy as they defoliate slowly through much of autumn. However, both are notably sculptural while bare later through winter. There are other advantages to deciduousness.

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Successive Planting Increases Vegetable Production

Radishes produce for a limited time.

Cool season vegetables might seem to be a bit early while the weather is still warm. It is technically autumn, though. If the weather is a bit too warm now, it should not be for long. Cool season vegetables may soon enjoy the cool weather they prefer. Their subsequent phases of successive planting can enjoy it even more. Spring is a few months from now.

Successive planting begins early and finishes late. It entails cultivation of relatively small groups of vegetables throughout their seasons. The first groups start as soon as they are seasonable. The last groups should finish at about the end of their season. Each type of vegetable prefers particular seasons. Therefore, some begin or finish earlier than others.

Ideally, each group of each vegetable finishes production as a subsequent group begins. The expected duration of production determines the frequency of phasing. For example, if radishes produce for two weeks, each phase should be two weeks apart. Also, each of the phases should provide enough radishes for two weeks. Scheduling is very important.

Larger vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, likely need fewer phases. Successive planting for them may involve only one early group and one late group. Each group may remain in production for a month or longer. Individual vegetable plants within each group mature at different rates. Even when mature there is no rush to harvest them.

Cucumber and pea vines remain in production throughout their seasons. Those that start now might continue production until the middle of winter. Those that start after the middle of winter might continue production until spring warmth. Two such phases are the extent of their successive planting. (Cucumbers and peas are really fruit rather than vegetable.)

Successive planting also prolongs the bloom of spring bulbs that will be available soon. Of course, it is only effective for the first spring after initial planting. Bulbs synchronize for any subsequent bloom if they naturalize. Successive planting is not so effective for bulbs that bloom later in summer or recurrently. Cannas bloom late regardless of planting time. When seasonable, all dahlias should start on time.