Gardening Magazine

More Shades of Autumn

By Mwillis
There is not a lot going on in my garden just now - from a human's point of view - just the occasional bit of tidying up and cutting back of spent plant growth, but from Nature's point of view a lot is happening. The plants are briefly putting on their Autumn attire for one final display before their annual "long sleep".
A fashionable colour-scheme right now would be red, with tinges of orange and yellow...
The part of my Cotinus bush that was not affected by what may have been an attack of Verticillium Wilt has now adopted its normal Autumn colours, so I hope that at least part of it will come back in the Spring.

More shades of Autumn

Cotinus "Royal Purple"


More shades of Autumn

Cotinus "Royal Purple"


More shades of Autumn

Cotinus "Royal Purple"


These are Blueberry leaves:

More shades of Autumn

Blueberry


 In this next photo you can see next year's buds already forming before this year's leaves have fallen.

More shades of Autumn

Blueberry


The Callicarpa has a very brief show of Autumn leaves, doubtless because it wants to shed them to better show off its array of purple berries:

More shades of Autumn

Callicarpa


More shades of Autumn

Callicarpa


My little Fig tree is joining in too, though it is less showy...

More shades of Autumn

Fig "Brown Turkey"


This is almost the last flower in my garden for this year. It's a Gaillardia "Burgunder", whose colours definitely fit the theme.

More shades of Autumn

Gaillardia "Burgunder"


The Hydrangea on the other hand is being obtuse and bucking the trend. During the Summer its blooms were pink, and vestiges of that color still remain:

More shades of Autumn

Hydrangea

 But some of the blooms seem to have decided to turn green.

More shades of Autumn

Hydrangea


I have only had this Hydrangea since March, so I have a lot to learn about its behavior. For instance, I have read that it is best not to dead-head it, but to leave the old flowers on the plant until it begins to grow again in the Spring. What do you think of that advice?

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