Gardening with Gael -  Autumn colour dazzles

I arrived back from visiting my son just in time for the autumn colours I so love. Just as well because with the rain and temperate conditions the rest of the garden was [and still is] a jungle.

The Liquidambars or American Sweet Gum had been just starting to change colour when I left. I arrived home to enjoy the varied range of colour of the leaves glowing orange, red and magenta. Now, a month later the leaves have all fallen and are piled high around the rhododendrons. There are enough this year to spread them around camellias and azaleas as well.

The Nyssa Salvatica or Tupelo is definitely the showiest of my deciduous trees. The leaves aren’t palmate like the maples and liquidambars, but instead a lot smaller and elliptic to obovate (teardrop) in shape. Even in mild areas the autumn leaves are so bright the red ones almost verge on a dark pink. The intense colours range through yellow, orange and red. They are my favourite deciduous tree.

Greater success can be enjoyed by planting when small. I bought a couple of tall ones for ‘instant ‘ effect and I have regretted it. One died right back one summer and has shot numerous new stems from the roots and another I had to transplant because the situation was too dry. Transplanting is not something they enjoy. They are tolerant of wet feet so a really dry area is something to avoid.

Acers or maples are the most popular tree for autumn colour because there is a size and shape for any garden. I have grown quite large trees at the Block but after visiting several Japanese gardens I am very keen to try some smaller ones. My friend Jan had some beautiful Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’ forming a border down some rock steps in one of her gardens. This is a small weeping maple with long finely dissected leaves which retain their red purplish colour throughout the summer.

The smallest maple I have is called Acer palmatum Red Emperor. The sun shining through the red leaves has me rushing for my camera. So far, no picture has captured the beauty of it. I think I need something more sophisticated than a phone camera!

Lagerstroemia or Crepe Myrtles I have always grown for their flowers, but their autumn colour makes them well worth planting. When the leaves have fallen the beauty of their trunks is exposed. Crepe myrtles are a plant that provides beauty all year round. They require free draining acid soil with no lime. I have grown them successfully at the cottages and at the Block. There are many cultivars ranging from 1.5m to 3.5m in height. They have picturesque branch patterns and my friend Marg often comes to pick the branches and leaves for her ikebana. The leaves are mostly small and almost round. A friend gave me a weeping hybrid with small mauve crepe-like flowers with larger leaves almost the size of a cherry tree leaf. These leaves have held till now and are just changing colour.

Lastly I would like to mention the Ginkgo. Ginkgo biloba or Maiden Hair Tree is reputed to be one of the oldest trees in the world. I arrived home just as the entire tree turned a brilliant yellow. My granddaughters collected, traced around and coloured in all the autumn leaves on the property and it was the gingko leaves that really stood out. Ginkgos make wonderful specimen trees and require a lot of room to develop.

BRILLIANT: The Ginkgo provides an amazing contrast against a bright autumn sky. [PHOTO/treesforcities.org]