Despite shorter days, increasingly cooler nights and the impending likelihood of the first frosts, the garden continues to provide a succession of ‘wow’ moments as autumn takes its brush and repaints it in its own choice of colours.
The initial peachy colour of crab apple ‘Evereste’ has instead become a glowing shade of pinkish red, whilst leaves of the various witch hazels change from green to yellow in the case of Hamamelis ‘Zuccariniana’ (below) and to a stripy russet shade on H ‘Spanish Spider’ (second below):
Hydrangeas age gracefully, morphing like our favourite Grannie into a calm, serene and soft old age:
Ornamental grass Anemanthele lessonii is wonderful in many ways, providing movement and texture in the border and taking on glowing autumn shades as the year progresses; here, it is just beginning to show reddish tints but in a small pot elsewhere it resembles a burning bush:
Finally, for today’s Six on Saturday contribution to Jon the Propagator’s meme, Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, sandwiched between two different cornus neighbours, took me by surprise by suddenly casting off most of its leaves and exposing its red bark for any passer-by to see – the floozy! All of the group have shot up in height this year, despite having been cut right back to the ground, and will once again provide a spectacular showing throughout the winter. Look out for their colourful stems on Six on Saturday in due course!
Rambling in the Garden 
Lovely brushwork by Mother Nature. I covet your Dogwoods!
The dogwoods look wonderful all winter once the leaves have dropped
Indeed
Love that Spanish Spider leaf! I bet it would look great dried and pressed. Then embossed on a greeting card.
I might do that, Chris, well, dry abd press them at least. Some of the witch hazel leaves colour up from the outside in and are especially attractive
Fall colors are definitely here.
Yes, the effects are become more obvious now we are getting some cooler nights
No signs of autumn in my garden yet, though. I suspect it will happen in a hurry and if I blink, I will miss it!
Where is it that you garden, Jenanita?
The south of England, Cathy… tucked behind the south downs. This seems to protect us from extremes of weather, including thunderstorms, something I’m not too happy about…
You mean you would rather experience thunderstorms? Even though the Midlands is meant to have more thunderstorms then elsewhere that doesn’t seem to be the case here, but I enjoy seeing & hearing them when we do
I miss having them now and again…
Beautiful autumnal colours – in particular the Evereste crab apples and dogwood stems.
Thanks Ciar – the digwoods will really glow once they have lost all their leaves – great winter colour
Fabulous autumn colour Cathy! I have one witch hazel with flaming orange/red foliage whilst the other remains resolutely green 😄
My witch hazels are so varied, and Arnold Promise seems to drop its leaves befire all the others wuthout colouring at all. You don’t know the name of yours?
Love it! And love the Cornus too. I was tempted to buy one recently, but it would have to go into a container and I am not sure if they are suitable for container growing.
My cornus originally started in pots. I think it would be worth giving them a go in a permanent pot
I might do that.
And since I wrote that comment I have read Rachel de Thame in the Sunday Times suggesting growing them in pots for a time (I imagine a few years at least
I’ll have to see if the local garden centre still has them at half price.
Hope they do…
Oh, and thanks for your kind comment about the paintbrush – Autumn is a great time of year for descriptive writing!
That crab apple!
Gorgeous, isn’t it?!
Yes! Even though it is classified as an ornamental ‘flowering’ crabapple, the fruits are big and juicy enough for jelly. I suppose fruits of any cultivar are good for jelly, but some of the smallest sort are rather pithy. I wanted to collect fruit from ‘Prairie Fire’, but there is not much substance to them. Besides, they were too pretty on the tree.
Yes, it can be a difficult choice to leave them on for their prettiness or pick them for jelly
Cathy the most wonderful fall colors take over her garden. I love crab apples, Hammamelis “Spanish spider” and Cornus. The Lawn Anemanthele lessonii had never seen it and I like it very much. Enjoy your colors, because they are ephemeral like time. Take care Greetings from Margarita.
I like that statement, Margarita – ‘Enjoy your colors, because they are ephemeral like time’. Very true
Thanks Cathy. Time is ephemeral as we are in a world where everything is, even the most beautiful rose in the most beautiful garden. We go from the glorious bloom to the fallen petals and when the last one falls, we fall into the ephemeral time. But someone will always remember us in his sweet heart for eternity. Greetings from Margarita.
That is very philosophical, Margarita – such gentle words
Cathy thank you very much for your kind words. They are very grateful when one is sad. I wish him well. Greetings from Margarita.
You are most welcome Margarita, and this particular blogging community is very supportive
I love the colours and fruits of autumn too. Your hydrangeas have turned a gorgeous antiquey shades.
It’s only one hydrangea, and just an apology for one too – it belonged to the Golfer’s mother and was shoved at the back of the woodland edge border to sink or swim, and it seems to be swimming… But yes, I think I prefer the faded shades
A very autumnal six! I suppose we must admit that summer is long gone now.
But already we can get planning for next summer, can’t we?