Wildflower Wednesday

Even when the big trees disappoint, when the leaves are ripped off by wind or rain as happened this year, there are always late pops of color, whether it be from adult trees inside the woodland edge, young trees that are likewise sheltered from the wind (and are more likely to turn brilliant shades of red compared to their older counterparts), shrubs like blueberries, and even the fall color of some perennials. That combined with the green gold shaded landscape of November and December always makes for a beautiful fall, especially when it's lit up with the golden light of early morning or late afternoon.

I wanted to join Wildflower Wednesday even though the only things in bloom in my garden currently are a couple of Camellia sasanqua and a few very late swamp sunflowers, so I'm opting to show the last of the fall foliage instead. As Albert Camus famously said "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

Most of the highly colorful trees here are red maples. They turn any color from yellow to orange to red, and can even sometimes rival sugar maples.

The golden leaves of a sweetbay magnolia.

The swamp cyrilla seemed to have turned red and orange
overnight. The most reliable small tree for fall color here.

My St. John's Wort is actually coloring up this year! I've always looked at the spectacularly colorful ones at clay and limestone with envy.

If you look closely you can see that there are two blueberries. The one in back is a wild volunteer at the edge of the woods near our mailbox, the one in front I grew from a cutting. The blueberry in front has done spectacularly well. Most of the blueberries I grew from cuttings and put in a garden setting are half the size, if that. Most of the blueberries on the farm and indeed the area (according to the NC Botanical Garden) are Southern black blueberries, although we have a lone highbush blueberry too.

'Sunshine Blue' crowded by summer phlox and swamp sunflower. Freezes often kill the leaves before they can fully turn because it receives too much shade with the house blocking the sun low in the southern sky. It produces delicious very sweet berries when frost doesn't get the early flowers. It's probably too big to dig now so I'll try to grow more from cuttings, as I think this could make a beautiful small shrub for fall color if grown in more late season sun.

Fothergilla 'Mt. Airy with 'Sunshine Blue' in the background and a blackgum in the far background.

Like the blueberries, Fothergilla x intermedia 'Legend of the fall' starts out dark burgundy and turns bright red.

Muhlenberia filipes is still showing a little bit of its purple color and will look good through most of the winter. Bonus: photobomb by Prince

Thanks to Gail at clay and limestone for hosting Wildflower Wednesday.