Just a second or two...
>> Wednesday, November 12, 2014 –
autumn,
color,
grasses,
japanese maple
I've been quite busy recently, not only preparing for the cold air that's now here and is resulting in low temperatures of 25ºF (-4ºC) or less every night this week, but with some work deadlines. So I haven't had much time to think about putting together a post. I did see a few things yesterday that stood out for me though, enough so that I took a couple of minutes off from moving pots and digging up plants to capture some images.
The mixture of grasses in the prairie bed is quite nice right now, the last daylight before everything gets fried by cold. The tall grey grass is Pennisetum 'Vertigo', already sapped of color by earlier freezes. The golden grass in front is Panicum 'Heavy Metal', somehow staying upright this year. To the left is the smaller Pennisetum alopecuroides, a seedling from one of my 'Hameln'. To the far left looking a bit reddish is a Miscanthus, with the background greens and whites provided by various bamboos.
Speaking of bamboo and Pennisetum...
The Fargesia 'Rufa' just looks better each year. It will eventually get too large for this spot I think, but pruning should keep the paths to the patio open. The reddish-brown on the left is the ninebark. So glad I planted that years ago!
On the patio the 'Fireglow' japanese maple is a nice contrast to the Passiflora vines:
I really let the vines get out of hand this year, and I suspect next year will be a maypop bonanza (or invasion) -- stay tuned for that.
A couple of the potted japanese maples are making a case to be planted next to each other I think:
The yellow-leaved one is coral bark maple, but the other one I've forgotten. Both plants got larger pots a couple of weeks ago, as I decide if I really want to put them here or not. I really think I do, but if I take down the mulberry and locust (is it inevitable?) they'll probably get too much sun here.
That's all I have time for now.
I hope you have some nice gosh-is-winter-here-already? views in your own gardens!
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I assume you won't be hacking back the grasses till next year? They look great at the moment and as you probably know already they will remain so for the rest of the winter :)
Love your prairie and your maples. Where do they go for the winter or do they survive in the pots? I have taken photos of before the freeze but have been too busy getting stuff inside to really get busy on the computer. Soon, maybe.
Mark/Gaz: You're correct, the grasses all stay in place until the spring. They stop looking great sometime during the winter, once the first heavy snow or ice storm flattens them down a bit, but I can't imagine a winter garden without some grasses!
Jenny: The maples stay in the pots, right where they are. I've never lost one over the winter -- it's summer where things get tricky for them if I don't remember to water. I may have killed a nice one this summer that way. :(