Fall Foliage Envy

I've been enviously admiring all the wonderful fall foliage photos posted by other bloggers over the past month.  The color changes that accompany colder weather and shorter daylight hours in northern areas aren't as prevalent in southern California.  However, as I sat on a stationary bike running through my morning exercise routine earlier this week, a mirror in the room caught the reflection of colored leaves outside.  I'd almost forgotten that, in addition to colorful fruit, the persimmon trees on the northwest side of the house produced rather pretty fall foliage.

This is Persimmon 'Fuyu':

The leaves on Persimmon 'Hachiya' are running a little behind 'Fuyu' but the color changes are just as pretty.

The foliage on our Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku') is rapidly turning from yellow to brown.

The ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana) is just beginning to take on some color but there's little in the way of leaf drop yet.

The toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is also producing masses of bright red berries, another hallmark of fall here.  This tall evergreen shrub, also known as California holly, was designated as the official plant of Los Angeles last year.  Yes, Los Angeles has its own official plant (as you can read about here).  We lost one toyon as collateral damage when the Eucalyptus tree was removed from the side yard earlier this year but there's another very tall specimen at the border of our property.

I also found some small-scale color changes:

'Bountiful Blue' blueberry

The color change on this Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' may be due to transplant shock rather than a seasonal change but it's pretty nonetheless

Trachelospermum jasminoides

This is fall, southern California style.

Foliage Follow-up

This is my first Foliage Follow-up post.  For my non-garden obsessed friends, Foliage Follow-up is a monthly event hosted on the 16th of each month by Pam of Digging garden blog fame.  It provides an opportunity to highlight the foliage that adds so much to gardens but usually takes a back-seat to showier flowering plants.

Since moving to our current 1/2 acre lot, I've gained a much greater appreciation for foliage.  After initial plantings of flash-in-the-pan flowers, I'm now concentrating more on plants with a sustained presence in the garden.  As I like to buy my plants in the smallest sizes available to conserve on expenses and to allow roots to establish a firm footing, many of my new additions are still quite puny.  I'm not the most patient person so giving these plants the time they need to fill out naturally without crowding them with other plants is hard for me but I'm trying...

Without further preamble, here are the foliage plants I'd like to highlight:

Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt"

I fell in love with this Acacia the first time I touched it but I was only able to find it in large pots at $40 a pop.  Then I tripped over it (almost literally) in a 1-gallon container for $12 at Sperlings Nursery in Calabasas, which I visit occasionally after trips to see my elderly mother.  I bought 2 and wish I'd purchased at least 1 more.  In addition to its beautiful foliage, it's drought tolerant and takes partial shade!  It's also supposed to produce pale yellow flowers but I'll be happy with it even if it never flowers.

Acanthus spinosus

This Acanthus, along with 2 others, was sold to me as mollis but it and 1 other are almost certainly spinosus.  It appears to have a less upright posture than mollis and it bloomed much later, in summer rather than spring, than mollis did in my old garden.  I thought about pulling it out to replace it with mollis but I've decided  that I rather like the more serrated leaves.

Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'

Okay, I bought 'Plum Hussey' in part because of its name but also because of its wonderful leave variation.  As temperatures dropped the foliage has become a deeper plum with less variation but I suspect the leaf variation will return with new growth when the temperatures warm up a bit.

Duranta erecta 'Gold Mound'

I bought a number of these lower-growing Duranta to complement the Agapanthus in place all over this property.  As usual, most of the plants I purchased were small - 6-inch pots when I could find them.  As the weather cooled, the first season they were in the ground, the foliage unexpectedly turned from gold to a dark, purplish green.  I checked on-line sources and local nursery experts on this but no one commented on a weather-related change in this plant.  In any case, as the weather warmed, the gold color returned.  'Gold Mound' produces small blue flowers in summer but it's the foliage that makes the statement.

Erysium linifolium 'Variegatum'

I put these Erysium in my back border to echo the foliage color of the Hebe speciosa 'Variegata' I planted soon after moving in.  It's a good, no fuss plant (and, as shown in the picture above, it's already beginning to bud).

Eupatorium corymbosa

None of the pictures I take do service to the beauty of this plant, which I purchased by mail order from Annie's Annuals.  In bloom, it immediately attracts everyone's attention in my yard but I think its purple-tinged foliage is also wonderful.

Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-Star'

I bought 'Texas Tri-Star' for its leaf variation.  In warmer weather, there's much more green and cream color to the leaves than shown above.  I have a dozen of these plants (all still small!) in 3 different areas of the garden.  This one, set with 2 others close to the house, was the last to take on the reddish tones it shows above.

My final foliage all-stars for this first Foliage Follow-up post are pictured without commentary below.  See Pam's Digging blog to find links to foliage selections in other gardens.

Hibiscus acetosella 'Haight Ashbury'

Leucadendron discolor

Loropetalum chinense 'Shang-hi'

Pelargonium tomentusum

Trachelospermum jasminoides