Fall : A Seaon of Colors

Did you ever wonder how and why a fall leaf changes color? Why a maple leaf turns bright red? Where do the yellows and oranges come from? To answer those questions, we first have to understand what leaves are and what they do.

Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis. A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter. During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll. The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall. Here are some fall colors from our yard.

A lonely spring flower in Fall

Did you know how the plants growing in extreme climates know when its spring & when its winter..?

The trees, shrubs and flowering perennials have adapted themselves in such a way that they can protect themselves in extreme temperatures. Evergreens are the ones which can stay green all through the year. So these trees has leaves which are modified to spikes or scales which has less water loss compared to the leaves. Deciduous trees /shrubs are the ones which lose there leaves in fall. Perennials are the ones which die back to their roots and start growing once the weather is conducive.

As the temperature begins to drop down, all the plants start preparing themselves for the winter. When they are almost ready for the winter and suddenly when the temperature starts rising on the following days, the plants get fooled that spring is arriving. Its the temperature which makes the plants think of the seasons.

This year we have planted a total of 18 trees, lots of evergreens, decicuous shrubs and perennials. Of these one tree got fooled with the temperature ups and downs for one flower. The flowering crabapple which is known for its enormous white blooms in spring had one single bloom. This was very surprising, but also very exciting that one bloom took the initiative to show what it will look like. The flower had 5 petals with milky white color and it was an absolute beauty. We are eagerly waiting to see the tree fully covered with such beautiful blooms in spring.

Corner Berm

Ever wonder what a Berm is..? It is an area which is raised to a mound with the mixture of soil on the flat ground to give a hilly view. This area was created on the SouthWest corner of our front yard. The main aim for this area is to give privacy from the pathways. Ours being a corner lot, berm also adds curb appeal.

The berm has 3 tall evergreen trees called White Fir as the main features. These trees can reach upto 100 feet in height. But, ofcourse it will take decades and decades for that. The shape of the berm is designed in such a way that there is a semicircle shape in alignment with the corner of the lot. This semicircle has an inner row of shrub roses called "Nearly wild" rose. These bushes will have tons and tons of blooms all throughout summer. In front of the roses is a semicircular row of perennials called "Zagreb coreopsis". The coreopsis adds softness due to its light and airy foliage which has continuous bright yellow blooms in summer.

This year the plants are just settling in their places, so did not expect to provide the seasonal interest.

Extended West side bedline

In the L-shaped bedline post I mentioned that the bedline extends all the way on the West side of the fence, crossing the fence and continuing in the front yard.

After the Vanderwolf pines is a flowering crabapple on the outside of fence, surrounded by some lilacs inside and outside the fence. This continues with couple of maiden grass and some sunny border speedwell. The extreme corner of the fence is highlighted with a gracefully arching tree called Honeylocust. This is followed by some tall deciduous shrub called Witchhazels which are known for the earliest spring attraction. The witchhazels are surrounded by some flowering perennials called "Moonshine yarrow" and some deciduous shrub Spirea.

On the outside of the fence, the bedline follows a curve pattern leaving a concave area of grass. Onto the extreme other end there are some Karl Forester grass and some Sea green juniper.

The L-shaped Bedline

This bedline starts on the West side and then makes a turn to follow on the North side (which forms the L-shape). So there comes the NorthWest corner which is a ideal spot to have lots of shade trees. There is some privacy already due to the tall evergreens on our neighbours yard.

This garden is going to be the best spot in our whole yard once all the trees grow and give enough shade. On the NorthWest corner the maple trees are aligned in a triangular pattern. Beneath these trees are SeaGreen Junipers closer to the fence which will give a green background for all the flowering perennials in the front. Beautiful perennials like Russian sage, harvestmoon coneflower, pink coreopsis, speedwell, shasta daisy and black eyed susan are planted in order of their sizes. Taller ones on the back and shorter ones in the front. All these flowers attract butterflies which will enhance the natural beauty of the garden. A deciduous shrub called Spirea is placed in a semicircle pattern between the perennials. This shrub is well known for its four season beauty.

Diagonal to the center Maple tree is a magnificent Oak tree. This Oak tree has already captured our hearts because of its beautiful shape and also being the tallest feature in the backyard.

On the West side we have planted 3 Vanderwolf Pine which will provide privacy from the pathway. This curve keeps extending crossing the fence and going into the front yard ( which will be explained in a different post :-) )

On the North side we have planted couple of Double Knock out roses, which are absolutely stunning when in full bloom. The vibrant red color of the flower can attract your attention just in a moment. Roses follow with a deciduous shrub called Burning Bush, which is well know for its burning red fall color. This is the one and only old plant from our yard which is moved to a new spot. Next to Burning bush follows 3 evergreen Black Hills spruce which is the privacy factor on the North side.

All trees, shrubs, evergreens, roses and flowering perennials are planted in the exact locations as per the landscape plan. Winter has already set in this year and all plants have gone to dormancy leaving a long wait until Spring (April). And once again, we go to a relaxation mode from gardening chores and put into patience mode.

Our vegetable patch

We were very much interested to grow some vegetables in our backyard. Chicago weather with its ups and downs in temperatures made our job little harder. We can expect warmer days to begin only by June which will last for 3-4 months. In early March I sowed some tomato and chilli seeds indoors. All seeds responded well and I had couple of seedlings to put on ground.

There were too many fluctuations in weather this time. Even by mid June it was too cold. Tomatoes and chillies are warm season plants, so they cannot tolerate cold temperatures. I planted all my seedlings outdoors by end of June. Then, we were enjoying the vegetable garden grow.

Very soon we could see them bloom and turning into tomatoes and chillies. We could harvest some for this season. The whole feeling of homegrown produce was amazing. A fruit of our labor :-)

Flowing bedlines

Landscaping our yard is such a beautiful experience. Our neighbour is a Landscape designer who is helping us with such a beautiful design for our yard. She is guiding us nicely through each and every step of our landscaping projects.

She introduced the concept of flowing bedlines and we were amazed with her design. If you happen to look at our yard from aeriel view, you can see all the bedlines flow with each other. And if you happen to walk by our yard, you can experience the garden with so many variations of plants and flowers, beautiful colors and so many different textures. This ensures that there is some kind of activity in the garden throughout the year.

The main focal point on the front side of the house is River birch tree. It has a beautiful exfoliating bark which looks pretty in the winter. The outline curve is defined with junipers and the inside has a wide area of purple coneflowers. On the back there is a row of daylilies and some pincushion flowers on the outer edge. On the side of the bedline is a deciduous shrub called Weigela, which has tons and tons of red trumpet shaped flowers which attracts hummingbirds. The curve flows back into our backyard crossing the fence with an outer edge of evergreen boxwoods. This area has a flowering crabapple as a focal point surrounded by blue iris flowers.

Garage side walk garden

Near our garage there is a sidewalk that goes to our backyard. This garden adds beauty as well as privacy to the sidewalk area. This was the first area to have a tree in the design. The main focal point is Three flowered maple (Acer triflorum). It is an ornamental tree with beautiful fall color. The peeling bark adds winter interest.

The kallay juniper defines the bedline and purple coneflower fills the space surrounding the tree. The seed heads of purple coneflowers are favorite food for the birds, especially goldfinch.

This area was planted in Fall 2006. Winter had too many snowy and windy days which might be little hard for the newly planted trees. In spring new leaves sprouted and filled the tree in couple of days. But fluctuating weather and spring snow freezes caused little damage to the new leaves. So the tree is not dense enough. Probably in few years this tree would be dense and beautiful.

Lamp post garden

Every garden has some kind of focal point. Here, lamp post becomes the point of attraction. The garden looks pretty in night when soft light falls on the plants.

We started this project in late summer of 2006. This garden bed had 3 different plants in the design. An outer edge of evergreens to define the bedline curve and inner rows of flowering perennials.

Kallay juniper forms a good evergreen groundcover. It has a cascading layer effect which softens the garden. White swan coneflower and Moonbeam coreopsis have repeated blooms throughout the summer.