Fall adds a certain sense of urgency to the air, especially for gardeners. I just managed to get all of my houseplants indoors before they began to droop and sulk. I snipped off the last of the basil, pulled up the pepper plants and put the last green tomatoes under newspapers to ripen under cover. Here at the Garden we are busy moving the exuberant tropical plants - bananas, hibiscus, elephant ears, palms and more, into winter storage. Coming soon: leaf raking, lawn fertilizing, trimming, composting and of course, massive bulb-plantings!

The urgency is heightened by the fleeting magnificence of fall foliage and thrilling, blue skies. Some of the most brilliantly-colored leaves last only moments on the tree, or so it seems. It’s nice to stop in the midst of all the flurry to let the beauty of a perfect combination soak into your soul. Enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulata)  and fall-blooming Anemones (Anemone japonica) are one such combination. The perfect scarlet of the Enkianthus and the clean, gold-crowned white of the petals don’t coincide every year. Sometimes a frost will clip the flowers before the Enkianthus has completely turned to red. In some years, the Enkianthus doesn’t really reach full color. Anticipation is part of the pleasure.

Posted by Ann McCulloh