If you look around Saratoga Springs or anywhere in the northeast this time of year you are bound to see many gorgeous red leaved trees  The vast majority are Red Maple (Acer rubrum).  Those found in suburban plantings (like the one in my front yard shown at right) tend to be named varieties like ‘Autumn Flame’, ‘October Glory’ or ‘Red Sunset’ because they are bred to have consistently good red fall color. Many "red" maples found in native landscapes (like the one in my backyard at left) vary year to year and this year are a brilliant yellow.  Huh?  but it’s a red maple.  Remember a name can refer to more than one thing – and in the case of Acer rubrum, this tree also has reddish buds, red flowers, in spring the emerging leaves are tinged red, the fruit is reddish most years, and leaf color varies from greenish yellow, yellow to brilliant red.  So if you definitely want a red maple in your yard for the red fall color, you must choose a named variety to guarantee that result..

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus ‘Compactus)’ has to be one of the most common landscape plants in America – and on my list of plants I seldom utilize in designs.  Why?  It’s so popular it must be great. Right?  Here’s my perspective: I admit the overall branching structure can be interesting in winter when ice and snow accumulate on its corky horizontal limbs, but only if it is pruned well.  Otherwise, it’s a wintery disaster of lopped off branches.  The fall color is spectacular – a pinkish red turning fire engine – but don’t blink – the leaves always seem to be the most incredible red on Monday and by Tuesday they’re on the ground.  Does it flower?  Yes – but they are tiny and hard to see and the fruiting red capsules are easily missed.  As a designer, I cringe at the site of plants hiding the entrance to a building as in the photo.  These plants are too big, uninteresting 50 plus weeks of the year and would be better utilized on a campus or park setting where they can be minimally pruned and maximize their potential as a screening plant.  If you scroll back in the blog two weeks you will see a beautiful shrub (‘Shasta’ Viburnum) with red leaves that persist much longer. 

October is a great month for showcasing a collection of ornamental grasses. As a group they are low maintenance through the summer and then they reward us with lush green foliage and beautiful blooms dancing in the crisp fall air.  This is a variety of Miscanthus sinensis (Maiden Hair Grass) called ‘Gracillimus’ which will grow about 5′ high each season.  This one is at the roadside and appears to tolerate salt and snow compaction rather well as I have watched it get more beautiful through the years. This plant can be gorgeous in winter as ice  and snow cling to the plumes.  In spring before the new growth starts is when you cut the dried leaves to within a few inches of the ground.

Starting a few weeks ago red oak (Quercus rubra)branches started raining down all over my backyard.  The leaves were still green and they were in clumps with about 6 inches of branch attached.  My neighbor noticed the same thing happening with her oaks.  After a call to Cornell Cooperative Extension, I confirmed that the culprits are the squirrels.  In the fall, they eat off the ends of the oak branches and wait for them to dry out and them use them for their nests.  If this year’s supply of building materials is any indicator of the type of insulation they are hoping to create, we are in for a long and very cold winter. 

Viburnums in general are some of my favorite shrubs in the landscape.  And the Doublefile Viburnums are a particular favorite.  This is Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum “Mariesii’. In late spring flat white flowers cover the horizontal branches.  In summer, bright red berries emerge and are usually quickly gobbled up by the birds.  In autumn, the leaves are a dependable reddish purple.  And in winter it has a very handsome horizontal branching structure.  Dr. Michael Dirr describes Doublefile Viburnums as “possibly the most elegant of flowering shrubs” and when in bloom is “without equal”.  Such a great plant – I have found the foliage looks great even through a hot, dry summer, very winter hardy, flowers are magnificent, fairly fast grower, and I have never witnessed any disease or pest problem. In upstate New York it would be the perfect Mother’s day gift as it always blooms after the actual holiday and can be fully enjoyed even in the first year.

October is one of the most colorful months in my garden and not just because of the leaves. In front is a Spiraea that first blooms in June. After most of the flowers are past I prune the spent flowers and by late September it’s a nice show again.  Behind it is a favorite variety of mine ‘Chocolate’ Eupatorium rugosumor “Joe-Pye Weed”.  All summer if has beautiful dark purple stems and leaves and in September shows off its white flowers. In the background is the hint of the russet colored blooms of a fall favorite, Sedum x ‘Autumn Joy’ (right) which has been carefree and shown beautiful fleshy green leaves all summer long.

Every year someone asks me what is wrong with their pine trees.  “They were looking so healthy and now the needles are turning yellow.” is the usual description.  Well, even though pine trees are considered “evergreens” because they hold their needles through the winter, they also annually shed their older leaves in autumn like their deciduous cousins.  Most eastern white pines, like those pictured here, shed their needles on a three year cycle, so the needles changing color and falling were the new leaves in the spring of 2006.  The tell-tale sign those yellow needles are only doing what nature intended is to look closely at the branches and the outer needles are green while the inner needles are the ones turning color.