Although Christina is not in her Hesperides Garden at the moment and is instead experiencing autumn in the UK countryside she is still hosting this month’s Garden Bloggers Foliage Day. We can therefore be thankful to her for encouraging us to notice and value the foliage in our gardens more than we might otherwise do – I certainly do.
For the last few months I have focussed on a specific aspect of foliage for GBFD such as the shape or pattern or texture of foliage, and because autumn is now gathering momentum this month I am looking at the colour yellow, such as the field maple tree in our little woodland shown above. Observing my witch hazels in recent months has made me aware of how different they are in their timing and habits, and particularly now their leaves are changing colour. I have been thrilled to see the shades of red on Hamamelis ‘Ruby Glow’ but couldn’t say whether the leaves have turned as red as this in other years; none of the others have shown signs of red, either turning immediately butter yellow, or gradually going through a mottled and then veined stage like H Diane and H ‘Magic Fire’ (below). Magic Fire is in fact a more definite ‘chrome yellow’ than the picture on the right suggests.
Our other trees cannot compare with the witch hazels and our neighbour’s beech tree, but our hazels and silver birches are gradually turning and falling to form a yellow carpet:
The magnolia turns to a straw-like yellow, even paler than the rich creamy yellow of the hazel, but the Hydrangea petiolaris is a full-on almost custard yellow, drawing the attention of any passing rambler more than at any other time of year.
Many of the clematis leaves just shrivel up at the end of the season, but I found yellow leaves on one of the C alpinas (below left) whilst on the right the wisteria has just started to turn and in a few weeks the path at the back of the house will be covered in dry yellow leaves:
Most of the hostas go through a yellow stage too, but not always very gracefully (the lost label one below looks better than most at this time of year) but I can’t be sure is this little potted Acer ‘Orange Dream’ is going through a red and then yellow stage, or vice versa:
When viewed together, these photos suggest a predominance of yellow in the garden, but with only one October night close to being frosty so far this year, foliage is still overwhelmingly GREEN!
It may be my age, but I have started to spend a lot more time smelling the roses…The foliage has been pretty grand this year, such a wonderful parade of color.
I suspect most of us garden bloggers are spending more time in our gardens as we get older whether its smelling roses or admiring the foliage…
What a month for foliage – stunning!
Thanks Eliza – and it’s lovely to have the time to notice the colours changing… I know when I was at work there were were many years when I barely noticed autumn passing by…
The witch hazels are pretty variable aren’t they. I have three with one red, one bright yellow and one still completely green. But all three also have a lot of buds and much earlier than I noticed them last year. Should be a good show come January, as long as the winter isn’t too dire!
I didn’t notice when my buds appeared until this year Jessica – and was amazed at how early it was. At first I wondered if there might (randomly) be a connection with leaf and flower colour as Ruby Glow has red flowers and others with yellow flowers were turning yellow – but then Diane has red flowers and leaves that turn yellow! hey ho! Which of your has changed to red?
Robert, orange flowers! I bought a second one today (half price, rude not to..) and that has red leaves too.
Oh yes, definitely rude not to!!
What a good idea to study foliage by choosing a colour. Could you have also chosen red or orange? I imagine the answer is yes. Thanks for joining GBFD with a clever idea as usual.
I shall be running out of clever foliage ideas soon though – and no, only a couple of reds and no oranges yet…
It’s an amazing autumn for foliage colour isn’t it? I like your celebration of yellow too, nice to see a hosta included as well as the obvious leaves of shrubs and trees. Your garden is like a wonderful tardis, I always enjoy seeing your selections.
is it bother than other years? It’s always hard to say. Thanks for your kind comments – I like the idea of my garden being like a tardis…!
I think leaves that turn yellow in Autumn (rather than orange or red) give a lightness and brightness to the garden after all the green. I’m enjoying yellow from wisteria, Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ and hydrangea petiolaris and it feels so different, especially the contrast with the green of the grass, the red of the brick, the grey/green of the pear tree and the blue/green of the Sorbus. Gardens never stand still do they and I always enjoy a ramble round yours.
Yes, the contrasts are lovely, aren’t they? That’s one of the reasons I have been enjoying my new shrub border. My Midwinter Fire is not quite turning but ‘Sibirica’ lost all its leaves a couple of weeks ago.
We have had two frosty nights and our foliage is mostly green and brown. I will have to look around to see what is going on in my garden today. Happy Foliage Day.
The frosts make such a difference, don’t they?
The autumn leaf colour has been spectacular around here this year, it will be sad when they have all fallen.
A few windy days will see a lot of them off… 😦
This time of year always brings a golden glow to the garden, you have a lovely selection of golden leaves, are you saving your red and orange for next month?
Oh, definitely a golden glow in parts, Pauline – sadly not much red now that the amelenchier is leafless but next door’s beech will soon bring the orange
Cathy your foliage is stunning and looks familiar….my garden is going over to fall. I also like how you have been themeing your foliage…a grand idea.
Thanks Donna – autumns are so variable these days so it is always intriguing to observe the changes
I keep planting with RED in mind but the buttery yellows slip in and are always welcome.
I must check back at last year’s photos and see if things were any different then
Lovely collection of yellows. I think this Autumn is looking rather beautiful.
Yes and it is good to have time to notice it!
I’m jealous, my witch hazel lost its lovely multi-hewed leaves weeks ago, though many of my other trees and shrubs are still green. My birches seem to be at a similar stage to yours though. Isn’t it amazing, the variety of colours in the leaves as they turn, particularly when you get up close to them. Lovely!
My witch hazels have been SO variable! Most interesting to observe