CACOPHONY OF COLOR AND TEXTURE AS AUTUMN ARRIVES

I remember trying to learn that last layer of knowledge about the fall color of plants to incorporate into my landscape plans and struggling to keep spring, summer, fall and winter in my mind for each plant.  I now think that just about any fall color mixture is what Mother Nature intended. Fall color is here for such a short while, so focusing on leaf texture, plant shape and size plays more of a roll when final choices are made. Above are the leaves of our native Dogwood and Redbud embracing a jaunty Yellowwood reaching for the sun. 

In my gardens in the woodland I like it better to be utterly surprised and enthralled when the magic of the coloring leaves visits the senses every year.  I walked under the Sassafras on the upper right of the picture and didn't even notice it until I was turned around coming back on the same path. I love how it dangles above the big Canna Banana leaves in the foreground. 

If it's possible to back light a particularly vibrant fall leaf, go for it.  But, don't fret if you can't always do what the design books tell you. Here huge Paw Paw leaves face the southern sun opening in the trees. 

I took a turn around the woodland two days ago and saw colors I had forgotten about. I think the light of the sky was just right for me to see these beauties in my woods and at the edges dancing to the gentle southeastern breezes that bring such pleasurable weather to North Carolina in October. Starting from the driveway I was drawn toward the 4 year old Acer 'Bihou' shining against an evergreen background and the Honey Locust, Sumac combination on the right. 

Below are two shots from different angles of those trees. 

Cardinal Vine grounds this picture as it drapes over a quince. Below is the young Acer 'Bihou'

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Turning around, the now 20' tall Coralbark Maple, is set against the sun and cradled in the arms of a China Fir. 

That streak of light coming in from the upper right corner is a spider's silk thread.  The foreground is filled with Abelia chinensis. 

Native Grapevine hangs with a spirit man leaf on a Winged Elm. Finely cut leaves catch the light in a chartreusey puff on a Vitex Tree and the creamy buff color of giant Solomon Seal leaves adds to the experience as they droop over the path. 

There is an abundance of early yellows in the air along with flaming orange and deep crimsons. 

Flaming vines, like torches, show themselves 30-40' in the air. 

A majestic Cornus florida with berries alongside the turning leaves. 

I get to enjoy the full display of a Winged Elm at the edge of my neighbor's west facing woodland edge. 

Looking up I see Tulip Poplar, Witch-hazel,  and Mulberry doing 'their own thing'. 

The show has just begun so I leave you with this southern edge picture of pastel perfection combining on their own and taking a very deep bow: Dog Fennel, a Sumac sucker and the very foreign Heptacodium myconoides, with the pink bracts hanging on to the curtain.  

After thought....

Those of you in the mountains... Zone 6.... Heptacodium bracts take on a deep red color. 

HANDY OUTDOOR STORAGE FOR THE GARDEN

I consider my front porch as an important part of the entrance garden in my woodland. As you can see walking into the front courtyard the broken concrete path curves to the right leading to the front door under the roof elbow and situated to the left of the long narrow cavelike porch that tucks into the house. 

It faces east looking into a verdant woodland scene unlike the ancient caves at Bandelier National Monument that face west to capture the much needed warmth of New Mexico's winter sun. 

But, I digress a bit now to talk about the ongoing need for dry storage in the garden. This is one solution for a 7' X 2' X 4'1/2" cabinet that houses handy tools and seasonal decorations outside. 

Our house did not come with a detached garage, carport or storage building but it did have the 6' wide front porch tucked into the roof line. The depth accommodates a couple of rocking chairs.  At one end there was sort of a dead space between the kitchen window and end wall. 

I decided to build a rustic armoire to fill the space reminding me of a trip ( in my 20's) to New Mexico. I came upon 100 year old doors from a post office and began to build. The doors were made of Oak and the wood had become hard as iron with age, almost petrified ( I saw the Petrified Forest on that trip west, too.) The doors I used had the original hand forged hardware which added great character to the piece. 

All the joining had to be done with pilot holes and screws as the hard aged wood long since denied the penetration of nails. To keep it water tight and somewhat weather tight it was caulked inside with a silicone seal. 

My brother, nephew and I lfinished building and painting this beauty in a weekend. Now all I need is "Help in the Garden". 

ON THE NORTH SIDE ...... A new garden

         BEFORE.                 AFTER

Woodland Garden edges sometimes demand attention. The before and after picture of a small wedge shaped entrance garden, seen above off my gravel driveway, is nestled in the north facing 1/2 shade of the woods. 

It was time to transplant a few somewhat mature root bound evergreens out of containers that had given me pleasure for at least 5 years. 

And even though I had placed an unusual Hinoki Cypress as the sentinel into the main front courtyard, after twenty years it was blocking the view to the entrance of the house.  So, out it came. 

On one side of the gravel path to the courtyard Selaginella and Strawberry Begonia had made a happy home encroaching and narrowing the path by a good 18" over a two year period. 

I thought this band could be transplanted to make a great skirt to edge the newly cleared bed at the top of the wedge. Loosening it's roots was easy. I cut the inside edge to where the original path edge was and slipped my shovel underneath the growing roots. Then I began to role up sections to transfer. 

Marcus supervised. 

In a little under three hours I had a new shade garden entrance. see the edging along the bottom of the picture? It's a great time of year to transplant......the cooling weather, the moisture, the plants crying out for a change of scenery..... HA

FALL MAGIC or Why I love Autumn Gardens in Woodlands

Apart from pushing spider webs out of the way when walking the woodland paths and sweeping them from the house eaves, at this time of year, be on the look out for magical visual gifts in the early morning lit up by the slanting sun. 

I saw this silvery floating disk from my kitchen window as I was washing up the breakfast dishes. 

There it was....a floating alien space ship looking to land in my woods. 

I knew I had to get outside quickly to capture it's glowing placement before the sun rose a little higher in the sky.  I keep my IPhone at the ready. 

Try as I might, I couldn't get a clear image of Mrs. Spider in her leafy shelter resting above the web attached by a single strand of silk. 

15 minutes later the web disappeared in shadow as the sun moved on for the day. 

What better reason to live on the woods than to experience moments like this. 

POEMS POP INTO MY HEAD WHEN AUTUMN ARRIVES

Patient and tempered in Summer's heat the forest floor holds its wonders in warm beds that silently never rest.

When golden canopies catch popping pine cones falling from soaring needled branches, we wander cooled for hours in Autumn's air. 

Life breathes along paths and moss carpets tucked into secret rooms where fairies ring recklessly around roots and stumps.

Leftover leaves crunch under Winter's footsteps in mosaic music mustering mulch while protecting precious sleeping pretties. 

Sun strokes strengthen and ferns freely fiddle about trails and trunks reveling Spring's arrival to the gardens in woodlands. 

Suzanne S. Edney   2010

NON LIVING FEATURES FOCUS A WOODLAND RAMBLE

Whether they are tucked in the foliage or out in the open sculpture is a powerful element of the garden experience. 

Thoughts of India and a long time friend greet me at the end of my driveway each day with the placement of this ornate metal turquoise chair filled with exotic plants. 

For visitors who have a difficult time seeing 'the forest for the trees' I use a fair amount of non living objects or artistic sculptures throughout my gardens that I think are essential for enriching the garden  experience and anchoring each destination. 

Some pieces can be so different, seeming out of place in a woodland. What will deem a sculpture's appropriateness is it's shape, color, size, material and most importantly the story behind why it was chosen and where it is positioned.  In my gardens every  piece reminds me of a another person, place or experience.  I strive to enhance the plants and spaces by careful placement along paths, in garden rooms or as focal points and destinations. Above is a living 'Bottle Tree' whose story origins go back to Africa. Placed at the beginning of a garden path it catches 'The Haints' (any bad spirits) that might try to enter. 

Some pieces allow the subconscious to 'kick in'

This little 6" jazz band sits at the edge of a mossy memorial space. It reminds us of one of our fathers who has passed on and played in a jazz band during a great part of his adult life. 

Whimsical at 6'6" tall, when we come upon this sinuous beauty I am always reminded to tell a story about the geographical history of this property. 

The mermaid is not out of place....she is marking the edge of an ancient lake now about 10 miles west my garden.  Any ideas for a name?

What of this red gazing ball? Edith Eddelman comes to mind as a friend and fantastic plants woman I met when I first started studying landscape design. Edith designed and put in place one of the first long perennial borders in the Southeastern United States modeled after English Designer Gertrude Jekyll's color principals. The border is 18' deep and over 300' long and is a progressive color study as you walk it's length at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh NC. Edith in her whimsical way reintroduced victorian gazing balls to Raleigh over 30 years ago and they are still popular all these years later. 

Gardens over the centuries have been created to remind their owners of how wonderful they felt in a place and the experience they had when they were away from home. It's like that spoon collection or box of post cards that your mom or grandma had to remind them of their collected memories of travels.  I consider this path to be 'sculptural' as the crew that installed it surely were artisans. Using concrete to impart a prehistoric feeling I had in a garden in the Strybing Arboretum in SanFrancisco, CA was a cost effective way to create the effect of very old large stones that draw company to my front door through an experience that I want to share. 

Dado (a copy of a Notre Dame Cathedral gargoyle ) guards the entrance... A friend gave him to us. 

This laughing Buddha was also a gift and sits beside a meditation bench of stacked stone. 

Ceramic sculptures in my garden range from beautiful pots to figurative sculptures. Can you tell that I would love to visit Japan some day? I love the malleable yet durable art of clay and here are a few more pieces created by local artists that I have incorporated in to the gardens. 

A grouping of 'Garden Eyes'  I call "The Artist and Her Admirers' floating above a watery looking cascade of Hosta. 

This guy is listening to the nestlings that have taken up temporary residence in his head!

'Lady in the Bath' crafted by local
sculptress Frances Alvarino sits in an oversized birdbath. 

Above a metal cutout of a curious boy stands on polka dotted septic tank covers.  Below, a twirled  copper snail and recycled rooftop pig sign flesh out a portion of the many items to enjoy. 

'Miss Bumps' marks a slight berm in the gravel driveway. 

Above, to the left, growing through a blanket of Lamium maculatum is Tetrapanax. On the right is an impressive life sized replica of the leaf in cement crafted by Lasting Impressions of Raleigh, NC. If you are able to add a number of meaningful objects along side the connecting paths and garden rooms of your woodlands it can help guests to pause, focus and 'reboot' their brains as they ramble through. Start your own collection of memories soon.