2009 Fall Color Project Wrap-up

As the official date of the beginning of winter is almost upon us it’s time to say farewell to fall! What better way to say good bye to the fall of 2009 than by taking a look back at all the wonderful posts that our fellow bloggers have written about fall foliage. The weather was an issue for many who participated in the project with its effects either improving the colors or completely confusing the colors! Whatever the case, the Fall Color Project participants did a fantastic job of showing off the fall foliage around them. Let’s take one more look back to see what Autumn 2009 was all about.

(Please note that all the text below is from the original summaries of the individual fall color posts. I’m happy to add anyone who may have missed the 2009 Fall Color Project at any point in the future. Just take a look at this post to see what to do!)

2009 Fall Foliage From the United Kingdom

Joco was concerned a couple weeks ago that there would be very little fall color in the UK due to the unusual weather but thankfully for us and our leaf peeping enjoyment the fall colors have arrived! The gorgeous reds of the Japanese Glory Vine (Vitis coignetiae) make it easy to see how it may have come by its name. I think I will have to be adding it to my list of plants to add to my garden. Go pay a visit to the UK and see Joco’s fall color show!

Without this world of blogging there are so many places I would never have seen or even known about. Thanks to VP at Veg Plotting I’ve just learned of one more place that if I’m ever in England I would have to visit. Go read about VP’s trip to the Westonbirt Arboretum and view some of the photos she took.  The first photo is a classic fall shot if I’ve ever seen one! You might also want to stop by and see the fiery fall photo VP posted for Garden Bloggers’ Bloomday, it’s most definitely worth a look!

 
2009 Fall Color From Canada

Helen at Toronto Gardens is treating us with a blast from last year’s fall foliage past. The palette of colors along the hillside is nothing short of stunning. The pictures are taken from Leaside bridge and offer a nearly bird’s eye view of the leaf landscape. Hopefully the leaves will be on the trees when Helen gets back home so that we may feast our eyes upon another Toronto treat!

It’s been a difficult year for many of use to get the optimum fall color shots since rains seem to be perpetual but Garden Lily has managed some very cool shots of her Canadian landscape! Cascading Japanese maples, beautyberry bushes, and burning bushes all provide some unique fall color in different ways. Go check out Garden Lily’s Flowers and Weeds for some awesome fall colour!

I always look forward to what Nancy at Soliloquy has posted. Not only is she a great photographer but she has a definite talent for poetry as well, and we are lucky to be treated to both!

Sarah Laurence offers us up a treat of two seasons. I say two seasons since snow in our area is almost exclusively a winter event. Did I say snow? Wow snow! Pictures of frosted red maple leaves and a dusting of snow covering everything are the icing on the fall color cake!

If you haven’t been to Blithewold lately you are missing out on a bunch of beautiful fall foliage! Kris just recently put a post up with all sorts of foliage perfection but it’s the Katsura photo that has me trying to figure out where to put one in our yard! Full moon Japanese maples, sourwood, and even large leaved hostas get into the autumn act.

Monica the Garden Faerie has posted some fantabulous fall foliage! She also happens to have many of my favorite shrubs in her garden including fothergilla, Red Twig Dogwood, viburnums, and smokebush. I would be right at home in her garden, except or the whole Michigan cold weather thing! Go pay Monica a visit and see some of the great autumn foliage her garden has to offer.

Up in Michigan Joey has posted some really cool collages for the Fall Color Project. The colors from the maples and other trees around her town couldn’t have been painted more vividly with any paintbrush. It’s a palette of autumn color that awaits you at The Village Voice!

Tatyana took a walk through her town in Washington to bring us fall color. Along the way she found some spectacular images of fall in the Pacific Northwest. I envy their ability to grow Japanese maples so successfully in that region. Birches, maples, evergreens and the Olympic Mountains all have their place in Tatyana’s fall photos!

The first stop today is to see a canopy of golden foliage at Catherine’s garden. On her blog, A Gardener in Progress, her maple trees are shining with some of the greatest colors I’ve seen in a tree. I really think you could match it, but never beat it! The last picture is a classic one of fall, arching branches laden with golden leaves and a blue sky in the background.

Our friend TC has his fall color post up and you don’t want to miss it! Pennsylvania fall colors are some of the best I’ve seen (OK I’m a little biased since I grew up there but you have to admit that Western PA is gorgeous in the fall!) TC takes us around with his both his camera phone and camera to show us what fall is like on the roads of the Keystone State. Scarlet colored maple foliage mixed with gold and the newly turning green leaves create a spectacular scene! 

Today we can also take another trip to the Keystone State with Nancy Ondra, garden writer and blogger for Gardening Gone Wild and Hayefield. While the rains may have dampened some of the fall foliage fun we can still view some great gratuitous leaf color! Nancy plays with the camera and Lake Nockamixon to give sus some reflections of fall and brings us to her own garden where I was stunned by the blazing red of her Itea virginica (Sweet Spire). There’s lots to see ~ just don’t ever plant the Toxicodendron radicans, no matter how much you like its fall color!

Rhoda Mauer knows photography! Even though her blog is quite young there are some fantastic nature shots beyond her post for the Fall Color Project. And her fall color photo is pretty nice too! Dancing maples await you at Listening to Nature in southeastern Pennsylvania.

How about a fall foliage trip to Bethlehem? Bethlehem, PA that is! Yet another example of fine Pennsylvania foliage is on display with photos taken from Penn’s Peak by Marie at Garden in Bethlehem PA. Oaks, maples, locusts and all kinds of other trees are coating the hills like paint on a canvas.

Our first walk begins with Teresa in Ohio. She takes us along with her through the magic of her digital camera to see blazing maples, wild berries, Canada geese, and all kinds of great scenes. She is quite fortunate to have a park like George Bible Park nearby!  So go visit Teresa at The Cottage on the Corner to see some Ohio fall color.

Kylee of Our Little Acre has fall colors. In her Ohio garden all sorts of beautiful displays of the season have emerged from maples, crabapples, and dogwoods to one of my favorite plants: viburnums! You also get a look at some pretty cool cats out and about on a fall day. I’ll bet they are thankful they got away from their close encounter!

Mr. McGregor’s Daughter takes us to our third park of the day in Northern Illinois. Her photos allow us to travel with her along the boardwalk of Cuba Marsh where the colors were not quite as good as what she had in mind. Then she takes us to her own garden, Squirrel Haven, to prove that sometimes the best things are close to home!

Sometimes we trap ourselves into thinking one notion and stereotype things accordingly. We tend to think of fall color as a time of changing leaves, which it is, but often we leave out the perennials and shrubbery that provide us with color throughout the fall. Asters, fall crocus, and eupatorium seed heads grant us readers a different perspective from the leaves at The Deep Middle!

In my opinion you can never have enough fall color! Jan just posted more for us to look at and I highly recommend that you do. Photos of fall reflecting across water with hues of red, orange, and yellow blending in a perfect autumn tapestry is what you will find.  Fall is here at Thanks For 2 Day!

Tina at In the Garden is the first in Tennessee to show off her fall colors! Dogwoods, camellias, and a really neat Korean maple have begun the fall leaf change in her garden. Bradford pears are turning bright red while her serviceberry (which is a good replacement for Bradford Pears) is turning a beautiful golden yellow. Come see what fall color is like here in Tennessee!

The colors have officially reached their peak here in Tennessee. Over at Clay and Limestone Gail took some fantastic fall photos from her garden and from Percy Warner Park. Carpets of golden leaves, golden shagbark hickory trees, and sassafras are all showcasing a bright display of autumn color. The colors will soon fade to leave behind bare branches. Better look while you can!

The fall colors have been peaking here in Tennessee for the last several days and you can see why I like fall in Tennessee from Elizabeth’s photos. Classic fall color trees like maples, sweet gum, and tulip poplars are on display turning an Autumn day into a virtual museum of art which definitely makes Life Worth Living!

This time we’ll venture out to East Tennessee to see what fall color Frances finds! Colorful maples among arborvitae, Euonymous europaeus, and Muhlenbergia capillaris are all showing resplendent fall colors whether through foliage or fruit. I find it impossible not to stop to observe the peeling bark of a river birch whenever I pass by and maybe you will too at FaireGarden!

Here’s a look at some of my fall foliage!

As yesterday we saw more and more fall color from the south in Virginia and Tennessee today brings us more proof that fall is here in the Southern U.S.. SC Gardener has fall foliage that is well worth a look! One post entitled Fall Color Isn’t Just for Trees: Shrubs With Fall Leaf Color gives us a look at the fall color of several of my favorite shrubs like Oak Leaf Hydrangea, Fothergilla, and various viburnums! For a group of links to other Fall Color Spots in South Carolina check out Fall Color in South Carolina.

Sometimes the weather makes stops our plans, sometimes it changes them, and sometimes we just don’t let it stop us! Such was the case for Healing Magic Hands who braved the rain to bring us fall color. Japanese maples, American cranberry bushes, and many other fall foliage plants enticed her out of her house and into her garden while the rain fell for fall foliage photos!

Let’s join up with Town Mouse to see what California has to offer for fall color. While hiking at the Montebello Open Space Preserve Town Mouse took several pictures of autumn foliage including the infamous poison plants, ivy and oak, as well as the California big leaf maple. I’ve always been a fan of maples and this one is impressive! Head on out to California and pay a visit to Town Mouse and Country Mouse!

Contrary to popular belief California does have fall color, and it’s pretty good too! Birches, maples, and crape myrtles all are displaying their fall show in Rebecca Sweet’s garden. The view of her ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud really makes me wish the fall webworms hadn’t munched on mine. Take a trip to the Bay area of California to see what color is at Rebecca’s blog Gossip in the Garden!