Enjoying fall color and a mellow garden
By the time I hang red Christmas balls from the agave’s spines, the Japanese maple finally blushes red too. Fall comes late to Central Texas, but I’ll take it, even at Christmastime.
Last week was peak color for the Acer palmatum. Today, shriveled tan leaves cling to the branches. But it was lovely while it lasted.
In the side garden, fall color is absent, but I’m pleased with how the Mexican feathergrass has filled out around the agave pillar and ‘Baby Gem’ boxwoods. Society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) is doing OK too — there are a few lavender flowers — although during this hellish summer it didn’t fill out as much as I’d hoped. Maybe next year!
At twilight, the string lights along the fence come on automatically, illuminating the side path.
That’s an ‘Opal’ American agave in the dish planter.
Out front, Wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) is a spiny, blue-green starburst. I’m grateful that deer don’t antler these during the fall rut, like they do with small trees, agaves, prickly pear, giant hesperaloes, and certain yuccas (ugh, deer). I didn’t cage my giant hesperaloes this fall — I just got tired of the caging — and they now lie smashed flat courtesy of Bambi. I’ll be removing them soon. My deer-resistant plant palette shrinks every year, but I still have more variety than most in my neighborhood. Gotta keep trying things!
Our mellow weather this week is patio weather. Today the high is 81F. Still no freeze yet in my garden.
Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida) and ‘Amistad’ salvia make a pretty combo alongside a potted ‘Moonglow’ mangave. Purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis) in a turquoise pot continues the color scheme by the sofa.
A native pepper, chile pequin (Capsicum annuum), is Christmas-colored alongside a silvery whale’s tongue agave — a Moby pup! — and silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea).
In the lower garden, the little Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) catches my eye with leaves turning butternut-yellow.
More yellows glow around the Circle Garden, including Eve’s necklace (Styphnolobium affine) in back, forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis), and ‘Color Guard’ yucca.
The bouncing balls are ‘Winter Gem’ boxwood, with ‘Micron’ dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Micron’) around the center ring.
But the golden star right now is the ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate. It’s still not quite at peak color. I love it against the steel-blues of the Yucca rostrata and ‘Blue Ice’ Arizona cypress.
A wider view — and look how freaking tall that yucca has gotten!
A view across the Circle Garden, with the pomegranate and forsythia sage stepping up for fall.
My forsythia sage pouted after this blistering summer. I sympathize! It normally starts flowering around Halloween or early November. But this year it didn’t flower in earnest until early December.
I’m grateful for no freeze yet to nip it in the bud.
The moonlight-yellow variegation on the whale’s tongue agave echoes the pomegranate’s fall splendor.
Along the deck, Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) adds velvety purple.
The bees were going after it.
A rogue fall flower on the ice plant (Delosperma cooperi)
And a cute little anole hanging out on a ‘Frazzle Dazzle’ dyckia — spiky!
Inside I’ve still been enjoying fall vibes, but Christmas decorations are going up this week. It’s time to let the pumpkins and mums go.
Anyone else vacillating between fall and winter?
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Digging Deeper
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Great splashes of color, Pam. You have me wondering if I have a spot for a pomegranate tree. That variegated whale’s tongue agave is a looker too.
I bet you have a spot for one, Kris. The nice thing is, they don’t get too large.
Pam, as usual your yard looks fantastic. A quick question: Do you prune that Arizona cypress anywhere except for limbing up the bottom branches? I love the color and feeling those trees bring to the yard.
Thanks, Pam! Re: the Arizona cypress, I’ve only limbed up the lower branches. The ‘Blue Ice’ cultivar is naturally narrow and tapered. “Narrow” meaning, in this case, about 10-12 feet in diameter.
Loved seeing Mobys babies have grown so well!
I just plunged into your old posts about Moby and saw when you first planted him you thought he might only get to 2-3ft tall – and then saw how tall he actually got! He looked enormous!
Fingers crossed for a mild winter for you – here in the Chilterns in the UK we had our first frost last night and it dropped to -6 celcius (21 F)- with day time maximum highs of only 1 degree for the next few days (33F)- its not very warm at all at the moment! This will be a good test for my half hardy plants! I have a baby Agave ovatifolium planted out here who is going to hopefully survive!
Moby exceeded expectations in every way! 🙂 I hope your baby whale comes through your English winter in fine form.
That’s a very colorful yard with lots of blooms, considering it is early winter. This is why I put up with the summer heat, lovely autumns and (usually ) mild winters. The yellows with your blue cypress are just gorgeous.
Thanks, Paula. I agree our cooler months are usually quite lovely. The last two years have let me down in that regard, but my fingers are crossed for a mild winter this year. BTW, I got your other comment about your new email address, and I’m not publishing it in hopes of keeping your new email out of spammers’ hands. I’ve already changed it in my email address book, but I can’t change what auto-fills on the blog when you comment. You may need to key in the correct email whenever you comment.
It’s hard to imagine vacillating of any kind when it’s 80° out… but this is a Seattle perspective 😀
Your Circle Garden is one of my favorites. If I’m not mistaken, you were looking to add some taller plants around the Agave pot in the center; I’m wondering if you made any decision in that regard.
I love that you have the space for Mexican feather grass. It looks so good when it is swaying in the breeze.
Thanks, Chavli! I am mulling several changes to the Circle Garden actually. I want a less busy look for the center, so I’m thinking of a corten raised bed for the agave, underplanted with silver ponyfoot. I’m also considering a paving change to correct some problems including tripping hazards, and with tighter paving to reduce seeding that creates a maintenance issue. As for those temps in the 80s, I’m certainly ready for some 60s. It’s our 5 minutes of winter after all!