The most notable changes that occur in the fall, aside from the welcome cool days and the golden light, is the magic that mother nature performs with fall foliage. In addition to the color that comes from trees there are perennial plants and shrubs that change with the shorter days and cooler nights, as well as plants that wait to bloom. Here is a list of some of my favorite plants for Fall.

Anenomes (Windflowers), both the Honorine Jobert Hybrid as well as one of the pink cultivars such as September Charm' (Anenome hupehensis) are both great fall bloomers.

Another Fall blooming favorite of mine is Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis paniculata).

[photo via]

Caryopteris also holds out until late summer and into the fall to show it's vibrant blue blooms. I particularly like this variety, Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Sunshine Blue' with it's bright yellow foliage.

Autumn Joy Sedum, Autumn Fire, Neon - are all upright cultivars belonging to the Sedum spectabilis species that bloom a nice salmon to magenta pink come late summer and into the fall. Another cultivar of sedum is Dragon's Blood (Sedum spurium) - the whole plant changes from green to a deep red. Like, well- Dragon's Blood!

Sedum Autumn Joy

Dragon's Blood [Photo via & via]

Some Geraniums (the real Geranium, not Pelargoniums) have nice fall foliage; Sticky Geranium, a Utah native (Geranium virscosissimum), Geranium cantabrigiense species, as well as Geranium macrorrhizum such as Becans Geranium, all put on a great show.

[Geranium catabrigiense, photo via]

Coral Bells (Heuchera) show their unique color all summer long, but as the colors around them change these plants stand out.

[L-R 'Amber Waves','Obsidian','Purple Petticoats','Lime Rickey'; photo via and via]

Dog Wood's fall color ranges from fire red to deep purple, Cornus alba and Cornus sericea are the two species I am the most familiar with. Alba's are great for their variegated foliage. Sericea varieties are great for their red stems which are a great fall and winter additions to the garden, the common name for this species is Red Osier Dog Wood.

Fruiting trees and shrubs, like Service Berry for example, provide petty fruits along with their fall color. I am most familiar with the Utah Service Berry, Amelachier utahensis. All Service Berries show great fall foliage with small bright red berries coming on in late summer into early fall.

[Photos from here]

Chokecherry as well as Sand Cherries (Prunus virginiana, Purnus costena) along with all cherries are heavily laden with fruit come fall. The special thing about these two cultivars is their smaller size (Chokecherries growing to 20-25', Sand Cherries only reaching 8-14') as well as their foliage color, each species has a purple leafed cultivar.

Although Laurels are evergreen their fall fruit with it's deep purple color is another contrasting fall color.

[Prunus laurocerasus]
Believe it or not it isn't too late to plant any of these plants! You can plan now for your show next year - consider using some of these plants in your garden to extend your garden's beauty through the fall months.

Autumn's Joys

[Me harvesting in last year's vegi garden]

This being the 1st day of Autumn I thought to pay ode to one of my favorite seasons - next to Spring that is. I would guess that for most gardeners it is common for these seasons to be a favorite. Fall is such a rewarding time of year in the garden. It is a time for harvest, for preservation, for change, and a time for planning. That's right, planning - fall is the time to plan and prepare for your spring garden!

Did you missed that short window to get a vegetable garden up and running this past spring? Well fall is now the time to build those beds, plan the garden and even plant some cool season crops like, cabbage, lettuce, and peas. Need some help planning? Give me a call!

Things looking over grown? Does your yard seem to have been planted without much fore thought? Well, fall is a great time to transplant, plant bulbs, and map out plans for spring perennial planting. You can even plant perennials to surprise you when the snow melts as late as mid October (depending on when Jack Frost decides to take up residence in these parts again).

Need help with this planning? Well - GIVE ME A CALL! I will come to your home! We can do as little as a consultation to suggest where things should be transplanted and even show you how. We can build on that and start planning with you now and over the winter so that while the snow is falling you can be reminded of warmer, more colorful days and a beautiful garden to be created once the ground has thawed.

See - aside from the beautiful scenery fall provides it is a valuable time in the garden. If you have more questions about what you can do about your garden now that the temperatures have dropped feel free to leave a comment here or email me; jbhadfield@hotmail.com

Post Edit - Please email me at diglandscape@gmail.com Happy planning!

Water Wisdom

[photos via Jordan Valley Water Conservation Park]

If you are from these parts (and that would be the Rocky Mountain West, Utah, to be exact) you have likely heard a lot about being "Water Wise". This is one of the major ways we can have a positive impact on our environment locally.

If you were not aware, Utah is considered desert. I know, I know, the parking strips and the big trees and the massive lawns that you see everywhere really do not paint this picture, but it's true! When those pioneers came over those mountains to the East, there was just one lone meager tree standing down in the valley of Salt Lake City.

Despite the weather so far this summer (it has been raining cat's and dogs all June long! Not normal.) we have pretty dry summers, and rely a lot on the snow pack of the winter to provide the water we need. Any ways, this is probably all stuff you all know, but it seems as though we so easily forget the water is a large comodity around these parts, when really it would only tke a few bad winters and we would be in serious trouble. So, how do we conserve this water that is such a valuable resource? Well, one way is to look out at that big fat square piece of green right out our door. That's right - I went there - I'm am talking about your GRASS! And before you tell me to step off your turf, let me pose some questions.

Question one - what is it about that Kentucky Blue that has you so sucked up into agonizing all over it? Where did this hold of the idea that a lawn is just how a front yard is supposed to look come from?

Question Two - what do you use your lawn for? Yes, I mean use, not sit from a distance and admire, I mean use, what do you use your lawn for? A trophy? Or do you honestly use it to lay, play, roll around in? This is a question I tend to ask every time I meet with a client, and I do get looks of concern when I do too. ("Oh know, she is going to take my lawn away!!!") But in most cases, while I know that the client is not prepared to let go of the tradition of a piece of grass to grace their front, I am just hoping to encourage people to think about turf as having a use, and if you are not using it, or if you do not need as much as you have to get use out of if - then get rid of it, or cut back on how much you do have.

Before going any further I do want to throw a disclaimer out there that I am not a turf hater, and you will likely see grass in most of the pictures I show here of yards I designed. My senior term paper for my Turf Management 2050 course (I know, nerd.) was all about how to care for the plant referred to as turf to water it less. Did you know that you could cut down on how much you water you lawn to only 2 times a week?! Grass has a purpose and I am happy to see grass grow and thrive when serving that purpose. But, did you know that some landscapes using native and drought tolerant plants can go with out ANY supplemental water?! This means that while you are spending lots of money on your water bill to keep that piece of lawn alive that you hate to mow, that gets crab grass or mushrooms that makes you want to cringe, you could be spending nothing, AND have a beautiful BLOOMING landscape. I did the all cap thing on blooming because a lot of people think this kind of landscape is all lava rock and dead cow skulls (ewe) when really you can have something truly beautiful and not water it at all.

I have something like 3 posts happening in 1 here. The main point. Grass is OK, but we should have it if we are going to use it, not to just go with this weird expectation that has been set. Grass when used can be watered more efficiently(whole other post - but if you are anxious to learn more now visit slow the flow.). And finally, xeric (and its xeric, said zeeric, no zero, drives me batty when people call xeriscaping zeroscaping, ugh!) landscapes using native and drought tolerant plants can be beautiful, and a whole other post will have to be dedicated to how you care for a xeric landscape as it is like learning a new gardening language for a lot of people that have come accustom to watering every single day.

That yard down there in the first post of this here blog - that yard, while it has grass in the front yard (mind you we cut it down by about 25% and the reason there is lawn is because the kids play on it and run from the neighbors lawn to their lawn) is designed with mostly drought tolerant plants and the entire front yard can be trained to take 2 watering's in a week. Pretty isn't it? Does it fit your expectation of what a lower water yard would look like?

Dig focuses on sustainability, and in these parts that means low water use. My designs are focused on water wise landscapes at varying levels. If you are intersted in learning more about how you can cut down on your water use have me out to give you a consultation, or contact your local extension office, or schedule a water check.

This Just In!

Did you see the generous post by Liz over at Say Yes!? Can I just say what a pleasure it was to meet Liz and her cute family? And while I am super excited for them, how sad I am that they will be leaving SLC! We need cool people like the Stanley's!

I am so grateful to Liz for her sweet words. It is also encouraging that she 'digs' my business plan. If you think you just need some hand holding in your yard, shoot me an email; jbhadfield@hotmail, or give me a call; 801.913.0843.

PS - if you would like your very own dig button on your blog here are the url links;http://diglandscape.blogspot.com/ - link url

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