Fall color I'm digging

This spring I went on the hunt for Fothergilla gardenii 'Jane Platt,' which was rumored to have the nicest fall color of all the fothergillas. She did not disappoint.

A few weeks ago some of the leaves starting changing, turning a screaming red at the tips.

Now it looks like this.

WHAT. Some of the green is deepening to a dusky purple that looks so nice with the hot carmine leaves.

I love! I read somewhere on the internet that its color can vary from year to year, though I can't find where anymore.

This spring I kept looking for 'Jane Platt' and finding only Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow,' which has the most beautiful blue foliage. I am definitely making room for one of these next. Even if the fall show is half as good as Jane Platt I'll be happy.

Image source: Rick's Custom Nursery

I bought my Jane Platt from Gossler Farms Nursery, if you feel the need to add one to your garden.

I'm also deeply in love with my Spiraea japonica 'Magic Carpet.' In spring it is the most wonderful zinging chartreuse.

It mellows a bit in summer.

And then in the fall it turns every color imaginable.

I hesitated to add this shrub to my garden because it's used so widely in grocery store parking lots here. It's really tough and can take a lot of abuse, though it tends to get sheared into unsightly blobs by landscapers. I will never understand the need by landscaping crews to shear everything into blobs. I know it's fast and easy but it looks terrible.

When I am dictator people will prune with hand pruners until they've been deemed worthy of using tools of mass uglification like hedge trimmers. Anyway. I'm glad I added it to my garden because the color is totally doing it for me.

I just picked up another spirea for the front garden at Xera Plants recently: Spiraea betulifolia var. lucida. I waited until it lost almost all of its leaves to get my act together to take a picture, so this doesn't really show off the kaleidoscope of colors this native boasts. It's stunning.

One of my Epimedium 'Black Sea' went rogue and turned completely red.

. . . While the others look like this. If I could get them all to spread out, bulk up, and turn that blazing red color next to the Hakonechloa grass, I'd be the happiest of campers.

You know what else would make me happy? If I could go back in time and not buy this Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense', AKA "Clown whore sedum."

(Shudder.)

Yard, Garden and Patio show: Foliage First

Dan Hinkley held a packed seminar "Foliage First: Exquisite Hardy Plants with Great Folial Interest" at the Yard Garden and Patio show. This was my first time hearing him speak and I found him totally charming. He started the talk with a joke about flowers where the punch line was, "You have to bend over to enjoy it."

He had a couple of tips, like using lots of self-sown annuals to break up your plantings (they tend to sow themselves where they look good) and using photo editing software to pull the color out of your garden photos. With the color removed you can assess your texture to see what you're missing. Loree explored this idea a while back and the photos are gorgeous. You can see that I have way too much fine foliage. I need big leaves to break everything up.

The talk was mainly plant porn with jokes thrown in. These were my favorites.

Gunnera. It can really only be grown in the U.S. in Northern California and the Pacific NW. Dan said it makes gardeners elsewhere insanely jealous and gardening is all about making other people feel bad about things they can't grow.

Image source: Wikipedia

Musa basjoo. Dan leaves his in the ground for the winter, mulching them well.

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Panicum 'Northwind'.

Darmera peltata, a shade-loving NW native that loves standing water but doesn't necessarily need it.

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Podophyllum pleianthum.

Image source: Dancing Oaks

Chinese fairy bells (Disporum cantoniense), whose new foliage emerges purple.

Melianthus major 'Purple Haze'.

'Purple Haze' Image Source: Far Out Flora

Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue'.

Image source: Dancing Oaks

Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'. I'm getting this, I need this.

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Pittosporum tenuifolium 'County Park Dwarf', which my notes indicate Dan uses as a groundcover.

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Helwingia, a genus whose fruit fuses to the leaves. Super cool.

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Schefflera delavayi.

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I'm trying to figure out where I can fit a Gunnera right now because, come on, giant rhubarb! I need that.