Happy Friday GPODers!
Fall is officially in full swing, and Allyson Levy from Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden is back to enlighten us on some underrated and under-appreciated plants that are spectacular for autumn interest.
In case you missed her first submission, (which you should absolutely go check out here: Growing Pawpaws at Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Garden) Allyson and her partner Scott Serrano are co-founders and executive directors of a 21-acre arboretum and botanical garden in Stone Ridge, New York with a mission to sustain native, unusual and historic plant life while welcoming and educating the public in their incredible space. We’re so lucky that Allyson is willing to not only share beautiful photos of the amazing plants growing at Hortus Arboretum, but to share their wealth of knowledge on these botanical wonders.
As morning and evening temperatures cool down and daytime temperatures become more long-sleeved, there is still plenty to do in the garden. I think one of the highlights of doing clean-up chores in the fall is appreciating another season of plant beauty as spent flower seeds produce interestingly shaped seed pods. Berry-producing shrubs and vines continue to offer up decorative and edible fruits with lingering pigmentations. Foliage begins to change into a display of autumnal colors as the chemistry of the leaves reacts to the shortening photosynthesizing time, and the myriads of trees and shrubs that are proven winners for their fall flowers give us a last hurrah. A sort of a thumbing your nose at mother nature- we’re not done here yet, as we harvest corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and the usual edible suspects that most gardeners have nourished and tended to the past summer.
The garden I work in is an arboretum, a place where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for ornamental and educational purposes. As one of its founding directors, I have wide discretion for growing and trialing a large diversity of plants, some beloved and frequently encountered in many gardeners’ backyards, like; Chinese dogwoods (Cornus kousa, Zones 5–8), oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia, Zones 5–9) and summersweet (Clethra spp., Zones 4–9). These plants have become popular because they offer beautiful flowers from mid-spring to late summer, amazing leaf color changes, fruit displays, and seedpods. Yet that is just a tiny fraction of plants on a long list of both ornamental and edible woody plants that extend the seasonal interest well into fall.
Chinese Dogwood is a widely appreciated tree that offers up amazing fall color display as shown here on the arboretum’s cultivar ‘Satomi’ (Cornus kousa ‘Satomi’, Zones 5–8).
For those adventurous enough to plant a tree or shrub that is a little less known there are also many plants that are available at nurseries with a better selection. The Seven-Son Flower Tree (Heptacodium miconidoes, Zones 5–9) is a good candidate. Considered endangered in China its place of origin, it has been cultivated for the last forty years and planted more widely by landscapers in the know over the past two decades. This beautiful, small tree (often multi-limbed) grows to around 20’ tall and 10’ wide, is low maintenance, and has blooms of white flowers in August in New York’s Hudson Valley, much appreciated by later season pollinators. In the fall the remaining flower parts (the sepals), turn bright deep pink, and even burgundy and are often mistaken for the flowers. The brightly colored sepals persist on the tree for a long time, extending the tree’s fall color. If the stunning fall color wasn’t enough, it has white and buff colored bark that exfoliates in long strips, often producing white and coral under bark, which gives this spectacular tree 4-seasons of interest. If you live in planting zones 5-9 find a place for it where you will see it daily, in either a full sun or part-shade environment.
The naturally peeling bark of the seven-son flower tree is different for all trees and creates another layer of visual interest. The bright, dark pink remaining flower parts (sepals) create an extended floral display.
Witch Alder (Fothergilla spp., Zones 5–8) is a Southeastern native genus that contains several different species of shrubs ranging in size from 3’-10’ (or more), making it very adaptable to different garden situations with varying degrees of hardiness from zone 4 to zone 9. These slow-growing shrubs with zig-zag branching give the plant a dense look. It can be tucked in along a flower border, along a foundation planting, or used along a woodland edge either in mass or as a single specimen. At the arboretum, we have it planted in both a full-shaded aspect among our wooded areas as well as in a part-shaded one. We have even planted it for others in full-sun environments where it has done well. These wonderfully adaptable natives bloom before their greenish-blue leaves fully emerge, with small white bottlebrush inflorescences that persist for three weeks in the spring, which are beneficial for early pollinators. The flowers have no petals but are clusters of stamens with creamy-white filaments with yellow anthers. But for me, the real charm is in the fall when its leaf colors offer up a kaleidoscope of reds, yellows, oranges, and even pinks, all on the same leaf! The degree of coloration is affected by sunlight, moisture levels, temperature, as well as genetics, so some years are better than others, but regardless, Witch Alder is a choice plant that deserves a place in more home gardens.
The kaleidoscopic autumnal colors vibrate off of witch alders stems and continually showcase multiple hues that continue to change as the season progresses. While their bottlebrush floral display with its sweetly-scented fragrance begins before the foliage emerges.
For those wanting to plant a fruiting tree, I highly recommend planting a long-lived, self-fertile tree called Medlar (Mespilus germanica, Zones 5–8). This ancient but little-known fruiting tree originated from the Anatolia region where it is still widely grown and is somewhat better known in Europe than in the United States. This unique and beautiful tree is in the rose family and is related to the better-known pome trees like apple and hawthorne. Many visitors to the garden mistake the relatively short (to 20’), crookedly growing tree as being an apple! However, at the arboretum, we have found it to have none of the pest issues that apple trees have in our area. In the spring, they arguably have even more beautiful blooms than apples do and the flowers might be mistaken for small white camellias! In summer, tawny-colored fruits begin to grow bigger, and in the fall the medlar fruits ripen as the temperatures start to dip. The largish dark green, tropical-looking foliage gives way to a butter-yellow color in the fall heightening the overall effect of ornamentation against the fruits. The fruits themselves begin to ripen and turn russet-red after a few frost-kissed days and when fully ripe (called “bletting”), have the consistency and taste akin to applesauce with a hint of cinnamon. For us gardeners, this is one of the few fruits that can be picked and eaten in the dead of winter. Even if you don’t care for the medlar fruits themselves, they give the tree another season of interest since they persist on the branches through winter offering food to wildlife of all types.
The rich yellow of the large leaves of the medlar tree creates an eye-catching backdrop for the nearly russet-red colored fruit. And as many deciduous trees lose their fall leaves, the color of a mature medlar in early Autumn is even more prominently on view.
Thank you for sharing all of these beautiful photos and plants, Allyson! I’ve heard of seven-son flower and witch adler before, but medlar is completely new to me and now I’m dying to give one of those pretty little fruits a try. Already looking forward to what we’ll learn in your next submission 🙂
Hope everyone has a lovely fall weekend. If you spot some plants with some particularly wonderful color, blooms, or fruit, be sure to snap some pictures and send them in by following the directions below.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
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