We missed out on the Bloomday meme this month and our Foliage Follow-Up (which technically makes it a no follow-up as it didn't have anything before it to follow...) is perhaps a few days late but as they say better late than never!
Hard frosts are predicted to make an appearance sometime this week which will no doubt put most of the herbaceous perennials into submission and trigger the remaining deciduous plants still in leaf to shed and go dormant. Walking around the garden last weekend and seeing most plants still looking lush and leafy does make you wish that the frosts won't come for another week more or so (or not come at all, wouldn't that be nice? Pure wishful thinking here!). It's nothing unusual though for the time of the year, in fact we're already lucky enough to have had only light frosts when on some years heavy frosts occur the moment November ushers in (sometimes even in October).
But the arrival of the frosts are not all bad. Once herbaceous growth have turned to mush and deciduous leaves have been shed then the winter tidy up can go into full swing.
As our garden is mainly a foliage one then Foliage Follow-up should be easy for us too, nice!
We join Pam at Digging for this month's (and our first ever) Foliage Follow-Up!
Mark :-)
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| Euphorbia stygiana glistening with morning dew. All photos on this post were taken on a particularly misty and dewy early last Saturday morning. |
The tricky thing is being able to take photos of the garden whilst there is still daylight during the week, in a period when daylight is short hence more often than not it's dark already by the time either of us gets home. So most photos we take of the garden during the colder and darker months are at weekend unless specified so. That's our excuse anyway for not getting into Bloomday but at least Foliage Follow-up we can do.
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| Magnolia dealbata (syn. Magnolia macrophylla var. dealbata) still in leaf but is starting to show signs of changing colour. The colder weather forecast for this week will hasten the process leaf fall and winter dormancy. |
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| Magnolia denudata 'McCracken's Variegated' is also still in leaf |
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| Looks like this Tricyrtis formosana will never get the chance to open its blooms |
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| Amicia zygomeris covered in dew |
As our garden is mainly a foliage one then Foliage Follow-up should be easy for us too, nice!
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| Albizia julibrissin is likely to get a cold surprise this week |
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| Zingiber mioga 'Dancing Crane' has already started to go dormant. I don't even remembering seeing it in its full leafy glory last summer and now it's going dormant. That's how busy it was for us... |
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| Ficus carica 'Adam' is going to be naked for the winter |
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| It flowered last year and now it has rewarded us with lots of heads. Can't wait to see how it will develop in the following years to come! - Yucca recurvifolia |
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| Schefflera rhododendrifolia enjoying the morning dew |
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| Euphorbia deflexa in its autumn mode |
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| A glowing Celmisia spectabilis |
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| Yucca linearifolia |
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| Looking particularly very blue even on a cloudy and wet day - Yucca rostrata |
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| And another Yucca rostrata |
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| And not to be outdone in the blue department - Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera |
Mark :-)
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
I like how the threat of frost gets us out there looking around. Are the leaves on that Ficus really as huge as they appear to be in your photo?
ReplyDeleteIndeed Ricki, it's almost like a list ditch effort to see lushness before frosts zap them away. Yes the leaves of that fig is huge (the biggest leafed variety as far as I'm aware of). Some of the leaves go over a foot long.
DeleteI get melancholy seeing photos of plants going dormant. We're approaching my least favorite time of year, but I console myself with the thought that even in the dead of winter there are plenty of plants that look good--like your yuccas and bamboos.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Gerhard, a period when evergreens are at their element and most appreciated, giving winter interest and structure to the garden. The period between Christmas till spring (months Jan and Feb) is my least favourite but do spent lots of time planning during that period.
DeleteWow it's crazy how good things still look there, untouched by fall. Hope your cool temperatures are gentle and not to sudden or deep.
ReplyDeleteHope so too Loree, and a mild winter would be nice too :)
DeleteMust the winter come so soon? At this time of year I long to live on the west coast of Mexico where brugmansias, musas, and Canary Island date palms sway beautifully in warm breezes year round. Your foliage looks lovely! Fingers crossed for a warm winter for you!
ReplyDeleteYour longing sounds lovely Peter, can we join you? :) Fingers crossed for a mild winter for everyone!
DeleteYucca looking good as usual but tell me more about this thing you call Celmisia spectabilis, how does it do through our winters?
ReplyDeletePS. In case anyone missed that it was a classic Star Trek reference, it's OK for gardeners to be geeks too ;)
Nice piece of trivia there Allan, I like it! :)
DeleteThe Celmisia is an alpine and is reported to be hardy for most parts of the UK (even in Scotland) given a reasonably sunny spot and good drainage. We find it to be unfussy and don't give it any protection in the winter. Well worth growing for the beautiful foliage!
Thanks. Look forward to seeing more detailed winter pics so I can see what hardy evergreens you grow that look great in the depths of winter.
DeleteYour yuccas look magnificent! I love that euphorbia deflexa too, and you have done a great job of educating me, I can now apparently recognise a Schefflera without prompting! Definitely worth celebrating the foliage while it is still looking good, there will be a lot more space for your evergreens to shine for next months foliage follow up post.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that Janet, and you really ought to add a Schefflera in your garden soon! Yes you're right, evergreens will have more time to shine in the following months to come, at their element during the winter months :)
DeleteAh yes, it's harder and harder to do posts at this time of year...being dark by the time I get off work as well...the weekends become a rush to take as many photos as possible...and hope I can get a post or two out of them :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good plan Scott, we're thinking of doing the same, get most of the photos during the weekend and plan ahead what posts to do.
DeleteHi guys,
ReplyDeleteLovely plants, I really like that Magnolia, I've never seen one like that before.
Here's hoping we have a quick & mild winter.
That Magnolia is fab isn't it? Looking forward to seeing it look even better in the years to come especially it will be planted out next year. Hoping for a mild winter indeed!
DeleteHi Mark, it is amazing how lush with all this tropical foliage your garden still is at this time of the year. I had assumed that your plants had lost a lot more leaves or would be already dormant. Today I especially like the last three photos of the plants with blue foliage. They are sooo... cool!
ReplyDeleteChristina
Thanks Christina! Those plants with glaucous leaves are looking especially good in the garden at the moment. Autumn this year has been generally mild hence a lot of plants are still looking lush and leafy. It's turned colder now but still not bad. Hoping for a mild winter :)
DeleteMark, I caught myself saying one word while looking at the pictures: texture, texture, texture!
ReplyDeleteLooks good!
Thanks Tatyana, glad to hear that!
DeleteCongratulations upon posting your 1st foliage follow-up! It all looks great decorated by dew. I sympathize with the difficulties in getting pictures taken as the days get steadily shorter - it's troublesome enough for me further south so I imagine it's harder still at your latitude.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kris, so glad we were finally able to join and hopefully we can continue to do so :) It's tricky isn't it? Most picture taking will be done on the weekends now.
DeleteYour plants are still looking beautiful despite you both being so busy!
ReplyDeleteSo much still looks lush there. What is the name of the plant to the left of the Amicia in the fifth photo, the one with the yellowish new growth?
ReplyDeleteHIya, I think it's the Dahlia excelsa :)
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