It won’t be long till I have a lot of nakedness at my house. Trees, people, get your minds out of the gutter!
Leaves are coming down rapidly now, soon a big wind will come along and that will be it for another year.
I found the leaves were not as nice a colour this autumn, at least not in Owen Sound. I was at the Toronto Botanical Gardens for a course on the weekend and the colours there were fabulous. I am working on a post with pictures from there. Everyone seems to have amazing photographs of autumn colour, but at Kilbourne Grove it was pretty quiet. I don’t know why, I have a sugar maple, silver maples, Japanese maples. Why don’t I have that famous eastern North America colour in my garden?
The japanese blood grass, is well, gorgeous.
Give it a few years, the clumps merge together, and it will be a sight!
The cerostigma plumbaginoides is turning red. A great contrast to the blue flowers (which are almost finished).
Here it is planted under the cornus kousa I planted as a memorial tree for my mum.
Look at the amazing purplely colour of the leaves!
Speaking of purple….
Look at the oak leaf hydrangea. I love the contrast of that dark purple against the golden yew.
I am a floral designer living in a tiny condo in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city. But on the weekend, I am a gardener/frustrated architect trying to keep up with a 3/4 acre garden in Owen Sound, Ontario, a warm (to Canadians, Zone 5b, and a cold (to Americans, Zone 4b) garden.
Green Theatre 
catmint said,
October 30, 2009 @ 8:11 AM
This post reminds me that part of the joy and endless fascination of gardening is that unexpected unpredictable things happen. Maybe you are disappointed in your trees autumn leaves colours, but as you show, there are still lots of coloured leaves in your garden. Among my favourite coloured leaf plants are smoke bush. I have 2 of them, one with orangey leaves, the other with burgundy coloured leaves.
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 8:44 AM
Thank you catmint for your kind comment. I keep forgetting my garden is very young, very underplanted, and very sporadicly maintained. I forget how sparse the planting is and expect a great show. But, you are right, it is part of the joy and endless frustration (oh, sorry, did you say fascination) of gardening.
miss m said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:49 AM
Same here, Deborah. The fall colours were a bit of a let down again this year. Is it me or has the vegetation changed over the years ? I find there’s a lot less red in the fall landscape. Lots of yellows, not enough striking reds.
Your cornus is absolutely lovely ! Great variety and lovely tribute to your mum.
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:13 PM
I think it is either both of us, or maybe global warming has something to do with it. There seems to be way less red, and that is the sutumn colour I want to see the most of.
Thanks for the comment about the cornus. My mum planted one three times, died every time. and she loved in Niagara (the banana belt of Ontario). I planted this one in her memory and it has lived through two winters so far, crossing my fingers for another.
Scott said,
October 30, 2009 @ 12:41 PM
I really like the J. Bloodgrass, I checked and it won’t make it down here…sigh. Sounds like you were robbed on the leaf color for the year, one thing about gardening, there is always next year. Take care,
Scott
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:14 PM
Scott, that is the best thing about gardening, always something to look forward too!
Jean Potuchek said,
October 30, 2009 @ 1:38 PM
Deborah, the colors were kind of dull here this year, too. We had unusually cool weather and heavy rains throughout June and July; as a result, I lot of the maple trees got fungal infections. As I understand it, it doesn’t do any long-term damage to the tree, but just affects this year’s leaves. They simply turned brown and fell off rather than gracing us with all those glowing scarlets and oranges. -Jean
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:16 PM
Jean, they definitely turned brown and fell off, I was very disappointed. It seemed like fall was very short this year, and so was summer. Is winter going to be really long?
teza said,
October 30, 2009 @ 2:04 PM
Deborah:
The yellow foliage of the sugar maple in the front yard is now carpeting the ground, so there too goes the last of the colour on my property.
I am thrilled to see you have C. kousa – a truly magnificent specimen, and a wonderful ‘memory tree.’
I am going to ‘try’ (and note the emphasis on the word) for year 4 to see if I can over winter Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’ – I love the oak leaf species! Yours looks very healthy and robust….. divulge your secrets, cause you’re further north than me by a loong shot!
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:18 PM
Teza, now you have me scared. The oakleaf hydrangea looks so healthy, because I just bought it. I bought it at Humber Nurseries when I bought the serviceberries. Maybe “Little Honey” is a bit more tender than some of the other varities. NOw, I have to cross my fingers for it too!
Mary Delle said,
October 30, 2009 @ 2:58 PM
The plumbago color is really nice. I like the unusual color you have in your garden–not like all the other gardens. Yours has its own distinctive character.
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:18 PM
Thanks Mary Delle, that is a very nice compliment.
Helen at Toronto Gardens said,
October 30, 2009 @ 6:52 PM
Cornus kousa — what a perfect tree to plant as a memorial. I enjoy all your fall colours.
kilbournegrove said,
October 30, 2009 @ 9:20 PM
Helen, it was my mums favourite. She struggled to get one to live, tried three times, and she lived in Niagara. I planted this one the year she died. I like to think that she is looking after it.
The Garden Ms. S said,
October 30, 2009 @ 11:11 PM
Our trees leaves suffered the same brown, crispy fate.
Looking for the subtler beauties, like you have, is a great pleasure. You really captured all the gorgeous wines and clarets of the plants – colours that I just love in small, ornamental clusters.
Lovely 🙂
kilbournegrove said,
October 31, 2009 @ 5:35 AM
I probably shouldn’t say it, but I am glad I am not the only one. That makes me sound selfish, but really it is relief that there is not something wrong with my garden.
And I also love the wines, and clarets, are we talking about leaves here or drinks? LOL
Grace said,
October 31, 2009 @ 12:14 AM
It’s interesting how weather affects our beloved plantings. One year a plant will perform flawlessly. The next, early drought or some other weather anomaly will send the plant into early retirement. The plants you showcased are responding beautifully to the weather. Hopefully they’ll stay clothed for a few more days. 🙂
kilbournegrove said,
October 31, 2009 @ 5:38 AM
Grace, the snow came early in Owen Sound last year. The leaves hadn’t even all come down yet, but the snow came, and never left. I hope that it is a better winter this year, although that snow is a light, fluffy duvet for my plants.
fairegarden said,
October 31, 2009 @ 5:42 PM
Hooray for the bloodgrass and cornus. Hooray for the Japanese maples and sugar maple. But the silver maple is pathetic for fall color, it is our largest tree and rarely gives anything but leaves for the compost bin. I do appreciate those leaves, but the are lacking for fall foliage. They turn sort of yellow, then falll off. I would think sugar maples would be fabulous. 🙂
Frances
kilbournegrove said,
November 2, 2009 @ 6:40 PM
Frances, the sugar maple is usually beautiful, but this is the tree that (part of) came down in the storm. I don’t know if it is shock, but it just didn’t colour up much this year. And we have mostly silver maples, you are right. boring!
Rebecca @ In The Garden said,
November 1, 2009 @ 3:23 PM
Wonderful pictures, I really love the Japanese Blood Grass.
kilbournegrove said,
November 2, 2009 @ 6:41 PM
Rebecca, I think that you should get some for your garden next year!
Rebecca @ In The Garden said,
November 3, 2009 @ 5:38 PM
I’ll look for it, but I don’t think it’s hardy in my zone.
Joanne said,
November 2, 2009 @ 5:15 PM
Lovely leaves on Cornus Kousa tree My tree is struggling this year not sure if I should move it or water more next year.
kilbournegrove said,
November 2, 2009 @ 6:43 PM
Joanne, I wish I knew more about the Cornus. I did find the first few years, if it was dry the leaves pointed towards the ground more then they were horizontal.
Stopwatch Gardener said,
November 8, 2009 @ 1:44 PM
I really enjoy this blog – your Halloween display was marvellous, and I loved the Toronto show pictures, esp ornamental cabbages and twisted hazel, but the container that had the pumpkin in it made me giggle — it looks like someone passing by dropped a pumpkin onto their container! can I ask you about your cerostigma plumbaginoides — did flower for you well during October? I’m in zone seven in Scotland and looking hard for flowers that will perform for me during early November. — Sheila
kilbournegrove said,
November 8, 2009 @ 7:17 PM
Sheila. thank you for visiting my blog, I am glad you enjoyed it. I would love to have something flowering for me in November, usually that is when the snow arrives. But I think the cerostigma will do well for you, it seems to stop flowering when it gets really cold here. I find it very late to come up in the spring, so I mark the spot where it is planted. You would probably not have that problem.