Fall Tidbits

I thought I'd share with you some recent fall photos I've taken at one of our stores and then a couple of plant photos I thought were timely for fall!  I really love this book 'Plant Driven Design', it's always nice to have good reading material to inspire you and this is a nice one.  I fully admit to being a plant geek so when I saw the title I knew it was for me!  However, I know not everyone shares my sense of enthusiam for plants, and it is a great book for the average weekend gardener.  It teaches a lot about plant selection as and is full of inspirational photos.  I also really loved the dark landscape painting on the white wall, that olive green is the right shade of green for this time of year.  I wish that glass canister was a bell jar, I am on the hunt for a smallish one...

In my opinion, fall is the perfect time to showcase some sunflowers.  They are a happy addition to any yard, or home, that splash of late summer color is much needed (for me at least) before I put my garden beds to sleep for the winter and plot and plan what to add for next season!  I love that yellow tuscan urn, but I really love the cabinet everything is housed in, that tall first shelf allow for a lot of storage or display space and the glass lets in a TON of light to showcase all your goodies.

Here is a beautiful close-up of a River birch on our lot before it headed out to a planting job.  I love the texture of this plant, the peely, shreddy bark only gets better as the plant matures.  It has GREAT winter interest, beautiful leaves and rustle when they move in the wind and a good yellow fall color.  Yes, they can be messy and drop branches, but their other merits still put them on my must have list!

And finally, FALL COLOR!!  With the drought we've had for the past several summers it's always a toss up as to whether or not the color will be good in the fall. 

(Oh science class how I miss you) Here's a little info on why the leaves change, very interesting for those who don't know...

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis so the trees go dormant, and live off the food they stored during the summer.  As their growth slows in the fall, they begin to shut down their food-making factories.  The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves.  As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors.  Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along.  We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.


The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall.  In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops.  Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color.  The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

This is a gorgeous maple, I'm just hoping we don't have any gusts of wind so I can continue to enjoy these brilliant colors for a few more days!

How about you?  Do you get great fall color in your area?  Do you like it?  Do you miss it?  Or are you happy to have sun all year long??

*Amy