Sunday, October 3, 2010

October

The nursery is closed until March 29th, 2011 and here it is fall. I love fall. The cool nights are perfect for sleeping (so why am I up at 3AM blogging?), the mornings beg you to enjoy a cup of coffee (maybe that's why I'm up at 3AM) outside while watching the birds and there are apple pies, applesauce, apple chutney, dried apples and did I mention apples. But my favorite thing is fall color. In the Gila you will see predominately yellow with Cottonwoods and Aspen (Populus acuminata, alba, tremuloides). There are some reds provided by the Sumacs (Rhus trilobata, typhina), the native Virginia Creeper or Woodbine (Parthenocissus inserta) and the occasional Big-Tooth Maple (Acer saccharum grandidentatum). Around Silver City you will find some exotics that really extend the season. Two of my favorite trees are the Bradford Flowering Pear (Pyrus calleryana) with its white spring blooms and incredible red fall foliage and the 'Prairiefire' Crabapple (Malus) that has magenta flowers in spring and orange, yellow and red fall color. The Ashes you see are the wine red  Raywood Ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa) and the golden yellow Arizona Ash (Fraxinus velutina). The best Arizona Ash for our area is 'Berrinda' since it is the native variety. The non-native Red Oak (Quercus rubra) turns the color its name implies. Some shrubs that go orange to red are the Dwarf Burning Bush (Euonymus alata 'Compacta'), Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica), Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), Spiraea and Viburnum. Some of the species in the Salvia genus provide color in the form of flowers in the fall. Autumn Sage (S. greggii) blooms spring, summer but most abundantly in fall in a variety of hues. Pineapple Sage (S. elegans) with its red flowers and Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha) with its velvety purple blooms are both herbaceous perennials that die to the ground in the winter but will regrow in zone 7 in the spring. Neither of these Salvias should be planted on a north side. This is a short list of some things to add to your landscape so that you have color in the fall. Keep them in mind and come and see us in the spring as we will have all of these plants and many more.

If you have any plant questions please feel free to hit the 'Comments' tab and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.