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Planning Ahead for the Late Show

'Spring Gold' purple beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma) in fall color [October 11, 2011]; Nancy J. Ondra at Hayefield

It’s time for snowdrops and hellebores, and fresh new shoots of other early bloomers poking out of the soil–so who wants to contemplate the end of the gardening season when the new one has hardly begun? The thing is, having interesting things to look at in fall requires some forethought. It can take a while to track down some of the gems of the autumn garden, because they’re often not readily available in garden centers during the usual spring shopping frenzy. And if you wait until fall to plant them, then you’ve missed out their other interesting features earlier on. But if you start hunting for them now, and get them into the ground in the next few months, they’ll have plenty of time to get settled in and make a good show for you as the growing season draws to a close.

I have so many fall favorites that it’s tough to whittle down the list, but I’ve done my best to select some that you may not have considered before. To give you a head start, I’ve supplied a couple of online sources for each, based on the results of a Google search. I don’t have any connection to or personal experience with any of these nurseries. (I suggest checking out any potential source on Garden Watchdog before ordering.) Continue reading Planning Ahead for the Late Show

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The Fall Color Project 2013

Fall leaves from Hayefield 2013

It’s that time again: time for The Fall Color Project, hosted by Dave at Growing The Home Garden. I’ve been participating for six years now, and it’s been interesting to look back and see what’s different and what’s pretty much the same from year to year.  The biggest difference, I think, is that I no longer have to set foot outside of Hayefield to find fall color from some nice deciduous trees and shrubs.

Continue reading The Fall Color Project 2013

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The Fall Color Project 2012 – Hayefield Style

Fall color at Hayefield

It’s that time of year again: time for the Fall Color Project, hosted by Dave at Growing the Home Garden. This is my fifth year participating in this event. Compared to some other years, this season’s fall colors in my part of southeastern Pennsylvania haven’t been the most spectacular. In fact, until about a week ago, I was wondering how I could possibly scrape up enough decent photos for a whole post.

Continue reading The Fall Color Project 2012 – Hayefield Style