A Better Sense of Place
2015 October 23 (Fri)
Fall color
Woot! It's fall, the usual weird mix of warm, humid days and refreshing cool fronts. I decided a while back to make sure I have native plants with strong fall color. It's taking a while for things to mature, of course, but this is the first fall where there's a good hint of what's to come in the future.
This here is Virginia sweetspire, a shrub. I planted two and put the birdbath nearby. This is definitely in the Top 3 of Fall Leaf Color.
This is the first year I get swamp sunflower gracing the rain garden. Even though the rain garden is bone dry because of minimal rainfall this summer and fall, this plant is balls to the wall.
Mostly called boneset around these parts, this lateflowering thoroughwort is incredible. The white of its flowers is very crisp.
Bees are in love with goldenrod. This is a major Baton Rouge native right here.
Turk's cap is wrapping up with the flowering, popping out some plump fruit.
Here's a brand new shrub: possumhaw viburnum. Dark fruit and red leaves are in my fall future.
Blue mistflower, with its lavender flowers, are bringing the funk in October.
Those lanky, thin-leaved weeds in my yard? Yeah, those are willowleaf aster. I bet you didn't see that coming.
I have yet to see my oakleaf hydrangea having a good year, but this newest member of the family is showing some good leaf coloration.
It's not the best year for Virginia creeper leaf color, but it's not so bad.
The American beautyberry fruit is bright purple as always.
I'm excited about my two winged sumac because they have bright red folliage in the fall, as you can see in this picture.
So if you ever wonder what native Baton Rouge plants have to offer for fall, here you go. There's no need to make your annual trip to the nursery to buy chrysanthemum and crotons. If you just bother to get the right natives, you're good to go year after year.
