fall color

I finally got some pictures together for the 2010 Fall Color Project hosted by Dave at The Home Garden.

Fall has been slow to come to Atlanta. I've waited for the peak of color in my yard and I may have missed it. This is what I do have:

Let's start by looking upward.  The golden leaves of the driveway Japanese maple sparkle with the sun behind them.  Some green Southern Magnolia leaves show to the right, and tall green pines from across the street show through too, but the sky is a wonderful clear autumn blue.

I then looked at the other Japanese maples. The leaves on the umbrella tree directly in front of our house changes straight to a pinkish red. I love the daintiness of the feathery leaves.  

The boys were outside and watched me as I took photos. They climbed under the tree where they were almost hidden to outsiders. I decided to look at their view.  Sitting on the ground, under the six foot tree, gave a perfect rosy glow to the day.  Again, the Southern Magnolia offers green contrast above it.

In my backyard, I have a third Japanese Maple.  I think it may be time for me to learn their proper names, since each is so clearly different from the others.  My favorite is towering well above our two story house.  The red will probably look better next week. Or the leaves could all be on the ground. Who knows?

But for now, this is pretty good.  This photo was taken from the bathroom window. The whole bathroom glows with pink light in the late afternoon. 

The view with the window open, but still from the second floor, shows the color off even better.  The green roof of the playset is slightly visible through behind the tree.  The tree has become naturally espaliered against the back of the house.  It is just open and light enough to be lovely without darkening the house.

Many of the other trees in the yard are still green.  Since we don't have many pines and the green is still deciduous, they'll come around eventually.  As I said, it has been a slow, unusual year for fall color in Atlanta.

I went to great lengths to save this maple.  I'd found the sapling in the middle of my front lawn and transplanted it to the current location on the back.  As I began my terracing project last spring, I was told that the full sized tree could be replaced for less than the cost of working around it.  I solved that problem by doing the work myself.  And I seem to have done well; the tree is still happy and healthy.  And covered in a fresh yellow.

It is hoped that the English ivy, seen behind the tree, will be gone by next year.  I am cautiously optimistic about the project.  Whether or not I build more terracing wall, I'm less sure.  Dang that was hard work!

Enjoy a taste of fall in Atlanta. We generally have a long season. Today the forecast predicted temps in the low seventies, which has been typical. The days are perfect for yard work. But... the last tree, our great oak, will wait another month to drop it's leaves, brown and boring and slow to compost. We generally spend New Year's Day raking the last of the leaves.