You just never know if it will be down there or up here and if it is down there it could be anywhere. Go over a hill and you can be entering or exiting the fog. Go up or down and you could be entering or exiting the fog. Fog has a mind of its own.
I drove through it and found it was fog free in town. A sunny and cool day that was quite pleasant for garden tidying and leaf raking.
There will be more leaf raking to come because the Liquidambar styraciflua 'Rotundifolia' is just now deciding that it is fall. This Sweetgum has rounded leaf margins and is fruitless, so it does not have the spiny balls which is nice. It is also putting on a much better fall showing than last year.
There was even a bit of actual fall color on some of the Japanese Maples. Just above the top of this picture the leaves were all a crispy brown in a rather distinct line.
Seeing this and another Japanese Maple in a different garden in a blaze of color has me convinced that the marginal hardiness of these maples here often means the fall color is lost to early freezes. It seems these maples need a longer time to turn. The blast of snow and patchy frost we have had so far froze the leaves of entire trees, parts of some and missed others all together. Then it turned warmer and has stayed that way for the most part. The ones that were not frozen are now putting on a color show that I have not seen before.
Even this camellia was zapped last year in its prime. The plant is quite hardy. The flowers are not. It might even manage to finish blooming before the next blast of winter arrives. Good thing it sets flower buds at the end of the summer growing season.
Quite the nice camellia at the edge of its hardiness zone. It does have a good south facing exposure, half day full sun actually, not a camellia preference, in a planter bed in the parking area. Definitely not a planting situation I would recommend for a camellia further south.
It was nice to come down from the naked mountain top and see bits of fall left over and very late in the season.
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5 comments:
Wow, a lot of blossoms yet. I like the Sweet gum without fruit. Those Maple leaves are so awesome. Love that yellow.
Those first photos make me think you were flying above the clouds. They look like scenes I have seen from an airplane window.
My Japanese maples are just now at their peak, when even most of the oaks have dropped. I do think they must turn later, at least in certain sites.
bev
Lola I have to warn folks about camellias up here. At another garden I have worked in up high on the mountain, the camellias plants were froze to a crisp. People think if they see them down in the valley thay can have them too. Even down there it can be iffy.
Lisa small planes fly over here regular. I have always thought that would be a fun thing to do.
Bev, this is the first year I have seen bits of good color on the Japanese Maples. Normally the leaves just get frozen off.
In your pictures the fog literally looks like rivers and lakes and the mountains partially submerged -- magnificent.
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