Autumn Colour at Saffrons
As a North American, when I look at the English countryside in the autumn I miss the vivid colors of my childhood.
In the far west where I grew up, most of the native trees were conifers. Despite that, the hillsides at higher altitudes were covered with Huckleberry bushes which turn a vivid scarlet in the autumn (and where we picked the fruits for our beloved Huckleberry Pies…!)
In my 20’s I unintentionally… moved to the Eastern seaboard. Except for in Central Park I didn’t see a lot of autumn color in New York City. However when I moved to Pennsylvania I was introduced to the “largest climax deciduous forest in the northern hemisphere”. Well, after all, Pennsylvania means Penn’s woods…
I walked in Beech woods and discovered “Tulip Trees” (liriodendron) and all manner of colorful maples and when I traveled north to New Brunswick in Canada, I drove through the beautiful autumn landscape of New England with its bright yellows and the vivid reds of its Sugar Maples.
Well, it’s pretty difficult to beat the colors of a New England autumn or a Northwestern mountainside, but I did my best when planting the back garden. Years later a lot of the planting has matured and today I look out onto a scene of coral, scarlet and yellow.
As a North American, when I look at the English countryside in the autumn I miss the vivid colors of my childhood.
In the far west where I grew up, most of the native trees were conifers. Despite that, the hillsides at higher altitudes were covered with Huckleberry bushes which turn a vivid scarlet in the autumn (and where we picked the fruits for our beloved Huckleberry Pies…!)
In my 20’s I unintentionally… moved to the Eastern seaboard. Except for in Central Park I didn’t see a lot of autumn color in New York City. However when I moved to Pennsylvania I was introduced to the “largest climax deciduous forest in the northern hemisphere”. Well, after all, Pennsylvania means Penn’s woods…
I walked in Beech woods and discovered “Tulip Trees” (liriodendron) and all manner of colorful maples and when I traveled north to New Brunswick in Canada, I drove through the beautiful autumn landscape of New England with its bright yellows and the vivid reds of its Sugar Maples.
Well, it’s pretty difficult to beat the colors of a New England autumn or a Northwestern mountainside, but I did my best when planting the back garden. Years later a lot of the planting has matured and today I look out onto a scene of coral, scarlet and yellow.
“… and the lingering good yellow color, which must be the result of our past soaking winter, is working on me.”
The Japanese maple in the lawn is doing its usual adagio change of color from green to pumpkin, to light coral and then to deeper coral and scarlet. All against the green of the inner leaves.
It puts on this show every autumn, lasting for weeks, but this year the elm planted behind it is mature enough to provide a warm yellow background that contrasts pleasingly.
I’ve never been especially fond of that elm (Ulmus “Princeton”), one of the supposedly Dutch Elm Beetle resistant cultivars, but this year it is making a bid for my favor…and the lingering good yellow color, which must be the result of our past soaking winter, is working on me.
The Japanese maple in the lawn is doing its usual adagio change of color from green to pumpkin, to light coral and then to deeper coral and scarlet. All against the green of the inner leaves.
It puts on this show every autumn, lasting for weeks, but this year the elm planted behind it is mature enough to provide a warm yellow background that contrasts pleasingly.
I’ve never been especially fond of that elm (Ulmus “Princeton”), one of the supposedly Dutch Elm Beetle resistant cultivars, but this year it is making a bid for my favor…and the lingering good yellow color, which must be the result of our past soaking winter, is working on me.
“They seem to generate their own warm light…delicious.”
The ornamental cherries have had good color this year and are holding their leaves for much longer than usual.
In past years, by the time they had started to color, nearly all the leaves had fallen. It was so disappointing.
This year I open the bedroom draperies and get a welcome blast of vivid saffron yellow from the two Prunus “Accolades”. They seem to generate their own warm light…delicious. And the “Shoegetsue” cherry at the back is glowing.
The ornamental cherries have had good color this year and are holding their leaves for much longer than usual.
In past years, by the time they had started to color, nearly all the leaves had fallen. It was so disappointing.
This year I open the bedroom draperies and get a welcome blast of vivid saffron yellow from the two Prunus “Accolades”. They seem to generate their own warm light…delicious. And the “Shoegetsue” cherry at the back is glowing.
“standing in a puddle of dark coral”
At night in the autumn the streets, lined with mature maples which had turned butter yellow and had pools of yellow at their feet, would glow in the light of the street lamps, yellow and black into the distance…
Leaves are really beginning to fall from all but a few of the trees, covering the lawn with pools of gold. A red Japanese maple in the west border is standing in a puddle of dark coral.
At night in the autumn the streets, lined with mature maples which had turned butter yellow and had pools of yellow at their feet, would glow in the light of the street lamps, yellow and black into the distance…
Leaves are really beginning to fall from all but a few of the trees, covering the lawn with pools of gold. A red Japanese maple in the west border is standing in a puddle of dark coral.
