‘Old Blush’

 

'Old Blush' rose is prolific this year with orange hips, the perfect seasonal color for Halloween.

Ascocentrum miniatum

 

Ascocentrum miniatum is pretty easy and tiny for a vandaceous species. It only gets 6-8 inches across (as opposed to 2-3 feet across), although it will eventually form a bigger clump. Cultural needs are similar to most vandaceous species. It needs high light (it can even take direct morning sn), air movement around the roots, daily water on both leaves and roots, drying out by the end of the day, high humidity and regular feeding. I can't remember how long I've had this guy. More than ten years though.

‘Huntington Rose’

 

'Huntington Rose' is not a cutting rose. It doesn't have long stems to fit in a vase. The flowers don't last very long even if used for cutting, but it does bloom fairly constantly through the summer.  It grows as a graceful shrub that has garden presence. Cutting roses grow long stems with a flower at the end, which is perfect for cutting, but frankly not very attractive in the garden. When not in bloom, they are a bunch of prickly sticks. You could, of course, cut the flowers of 'Huntington Rose' and place them in water in the house. You just wouldn't cut them with long stems, and you would not expect the display to last very long.

‘’Bolero’

 

‘Bolero’ was one of the first roses that I put in the garden. I planted it in a raised bed backed by rosemary, and the combination initially looked great, the rosemary was a dark background to show off the white flowers in front. ‘Bolero’ produced lovely fragrant flowers. But the raised bed with sandy-rocky soil drained too well and water just ran through. I tried adjusting the irrigation emitters, the timing, the frequency, the duration. I tried digging in clay and organic material. The rosemary grew and began to crowd the roses and was a much better water scavenger than the roses. This year, ‘Bolero’ has looked horrible. So either the rosemary or ‘Bolero’ will have to go. Since it has always been ‘Bolero’ that has struggled in this location, it is the one that will go. It is very sad, but part of the evolution of the garden. 

Platycodon fall color

 

Trees are not the only plants whose leaves get colorful in the fall. Every year my Platycodon (Balloon flower) turns a striking lemon yellow. The peonies also turn yellow. The dwarf plumbago turns a rich red. Some Amsonias turn a glowing yellow but mine don’t. Hardy geraniums often turn a confetti of color, red, orange and yellow among the green. The benefit of all of these, is of course the seasonality which includes beautiful flowers. 

Hippeastrum ‘Ferrari Red’

 I’m not sure why Hippeastrum ‘Ferrari Red’ decided to bloom right now. It might not bloom in the spring after this. It’s funny that the standard large blooming hippies don’t like the climate here. I’ve tried a number of them, but they don’t seem to want to grow leaves. ‘Ferrari Red’ is no exception. The cybister types seem to be fine, and so was species H. papilio. 

‘Windermere’

 

I bought ‘Windermere’ as a substitute for ‘Jude the Obscure’. Although Jude’s fragrance is one of the best I’ve ever smelled, Jude did not want to grow or bloom.  The yellow flowers also didn’t go with my color scheme. ‘Windermere’ was said to have a similar but lighter fragrance, and people on the rose forums described it as blooming a lot. It also had a creamy white color that would go better with my color scheme. I was still hesitant about it because people said that the flowers lasted only a very short time (a couple of days at most) and was susceptible to thrips. It was also only available grafted, and I only grow own-root roses. This suggested that it wasn’t a strong grower on its own roots. I decided not to grow this rose for many years because of those reviews, but this year I saw that it was becoming very rare. None of the big mail order rose companies, and none of the specialty rose growers produced this rose. It was only sold by its creator, David Austin Roses, and there was a suggestion that this would be the last year it was offered. So I went for it. In its first year it has not been particularly vigorous, but has grown more than Jude did for me. It has had many blooms lasting about 3 days, and it does have Jude’s fragrance albeit not as strong. I was not very impressed with the color and appearance of the flowers over the summer, but these fall flowers of apricot tinted creamy white cabbages have been very beautiful. 

Dance of the Western Sand Cherries

The sand cherry that I was so impressed by last year has a different color this year. It is more orange, and a more typical sand cherry color. The color is also more orange here in the late afternoon sun. We shall see what happens over the next few days, as the color might change more, but I doubt it. I think it is more related to the conditions of the year. I've named it 'Sunset Ridge', which seems to be an appropriate name, since the color is changeable. 

My little cuttings aren't coloring up fully yet. Whether it is because my garden is warmer, or that they get more water, or just that they are young, I'm not sure. The color on them seems to be more of the color I remember rather than the color that the mother plant is this year.

 

Last year, 'Sunset Ridge' was more like this one (above), which is a little further down the road. It is a more purplish red than orange. This one just glows in the late afternoon sun and forms a nice contrast to the Quercus gambelii behind it. 

The 'Pawnee Buttes' form is the one that is typically available in nurseries. It is a prostrate form, so can be used as a ground cover. Although it's a nice plant, and the fall color is nice, it isn't the glowing pinkish red color that I like the most. I think that this bronzy orange color doesn't stand out much in the brown New Mexico landscape unless with careful placement among companion plants. I hope my cuttings don't turn out to have this color. If so, I'll have to try again with the one further down the road. Maybe I'd have to call it 'Further Down', but that's not so great a name.

 

Salvia pachyphylla

 

Although the Salvia pachyphylla mostly blooms in June, this year it has continued to put out a few flowers almost continuously since the first flush was over. Interestingly, although the bracts are the same color, the flowers have changed from blue to pink. 

Leaves around the ‘hood

 We seem to be having a good year for leaf color. Here are a few shots. More to come.

Chinese Pistache

Aspen

Aspen

Three color forms of three-leaf sumac (Rhus trilobata). Orange, yellow and red. Lime green four-wing saltbush on the right.

Ash

This "Boston Ivy" will get brighter as the color develops.

Desert olive (Forestiera), isn't as bright yellow this year...yet.

Sumac

 

Fall leaves starting

 

Around Albuquerque the leaves are turning, like this Prunus bessyi (above). There are also the ash trees in burgundy and orange (‘Raywood’) and yellows, the Chinese pistache, the Boston Ivy. I don’t have ash or pistache or the ivy though. I didn’t think that I had much for autumn leaves, but looking around, I have aspen, the Shangtung maple and desert olive which are starting. The ‘Juliet’ cherry is producing a kaleidoscope of colors. 

My own Sand cherry (Prunus bessyi) ‘Pawnee Buttes’ is turning rusty orange-red. I like the combination with seafoam sage (Artemesia versicolor) which contrasts in both color and leaf form, but similar low habit. I will have to take more pictures when I have time. 

Last of the season for Abe and Sonia

 

These last blooms of Abraham Darby and his progeny Sonia Rykiel have been particularly large in the cooler weather this year. They measure nearly 4 inches across! It’s probably due to the chicken fertilizer and the extra moisture. The colors seem to be a bit faded compared to earlier in the season. I prefer these colors anyway. 

Crocus speciosus

 

As a last hurrah before cold weather arrives, I’m always excited when the blooms of Crocus speciosus appear. They bloom for way longer (up to two weeks) than the spring blooming crocuses (usually 2 days, sometimes 3). The color is beautiful and blends well with all the colors of autumn. Those bowls of lavender seem to capture the sun. 

Rose cutting comparison

 It's so funny how different roses are. When taking cuttings, they can take very different amounts of time to root, and some don't root at all. 

Abraham Darby is very easy to root. I struck (started) the cutting on 9/2/2021. By 10/1/2021 there was a root coming through the drainage hole. 

In contrast, this rose was struck on 7/23/2021 and showed a root on the exact same day as Abe. When potting it up, there were far fewer roots. Perhaps this is why this rose is only sold as grafted. I don't know how it will grow own-root. It might need the roots of another rose to grow adequately. I'm going to find out.

My friend Ginger's rose completely failed the first time I tried cuttings. On this try, only two of the six cuttings I took grew roots, and it took more than 2 months for the roots to grow. 

’Munstead Wood’

 

‘Munstead Wood’ looks and smells best in the spring and fall. In the summer, the dark color absorbs too much of the sun’s heat and the petals quickly become crispy. In cooler weather and lower sun intensity, the flowers are deep purple-red, and can be almost black. The scent is that of blackberry jam with a hint of wine. I may remove this rose this winter because of the poor summer heat tolerance. I need more than just a few flowers a year. 

Raydon’s Favorite aster

 

The morning sun lights up the flowers of ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ aster. I planted this aster a few years ago when I was looking for some purple to color the fall landscape, and as an homage to the weedy looking but briefly beautiful local purple aster. I planted ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ along with New England aster ‘Purple Dome’ and New York aster ‘Professor Anton Kippenberg’ and Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’. The professor was my favorite for color, but quickly succumbed to wilt, to my great disappointment. ‘Purple Dome’ is still in my garden although I’m not fond of the color or its very brief bloom season. ‘Monch’ is by far the longest blooming of those I tried, blooming from June to frost. ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ is the most evocative of the native asters but with a less weedy appearance, reliably perennial (the local aster is biennial or short-lived perennial), with similar color and bloom season. It took me a while to discover that Raydon is Texas horticulturalist Raydon Alexander, who was instrumental in making this variety commercially available. His research suggests that this variety originated in Tennessee. https://gardenrant.com/2016/03/when-the-aster-hitched-a-ride.html

Last of the gladiolus

 My records say that the first bloom was September 5. So almost a month of flowers. Not bad! 

Addendum: The second plant was still producing flowers, so this extended the flowers for another two weeks!

Rock stacking

 I tried my hand at rock stacking yesterday.