Showing posts with label Liquid Amber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liquid Amber. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

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.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

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.