The end of the summer doesn't have to mean the end of your colorful garden. There are plenty of options for your garden with fall-blooming flowers to create a landscape just as colorful and bright as the falling leaves around you.
Naturally the mum is the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks "fall flowers." The mum, or chrysanthemum, is perhaps the quintessential plant of the autumn season and is available in an array of colors and varieties that will immediately brighten up any garden. You can choose from a variety of flowers ranging across the spectrum from mums with long, narrow petals, to wider and more compact flowers, in many shades of yellow, pink, red, orange, purple, bronze and white.
There are plenty of options in plants besides the mum to bring color to your garden. The aster is considered the other classic autumn flower. Asters work well as a border in a garden because of the magnitude of color they offer when purchased in large quantities and planted in dramatic arcs. They come in such colors as white, lavender, blue, bright pink, purple with a yellow eye, and medium blue. Like the mum, the aster is a perennial that will come back and flower in the fall if cared for correctly. Together, mums and asters can form the backbone of an enduring, brilliant autumn garden to look forward to every year.
The tough little pansy is another great choice for a fall garden and will be left blooming after all the other flowers in your garden have died off. It will also be amongst the first to bloom again come spring. A lot of pansy varieties are biennial, and they will flower all fall into some of the winter and then bloom early the next spring. Pansies have been bred in a rainbow of colors, ranging from gold and orange though to purple, violet, and a blue so deep as to be almost black. They are quite a hardy plant, growing well in sunny or partially sunny positions.
Though these are the three most common flowers for the fall, there are still a variety of other kinds of flowers and plants available to light up the garden. For flowers in a variety of colors to add to your garden consider softly-hued Japanese Anemones (think whites, pinks, and reds), petite yellow-petaled Coreopsis (also available in deep burgundy and white), and Ceratostigma, a variety of Plumbago with lovely clusters of small flowers and shiny dark green leaves that turn red later on in the fall. For less traditional-looking blooms, there is Cimicifuga, with its tall slender dark stems and tiny creamy white flowers, Perovskia, more commonly known as Russian Sage, an herb but with stand-out deeply colored purplish to bluish flowers, and Sedum which offers unique, small star-shaped flower clusters in neutral white, yellow, pink, and burgundy tones. Sedum also works well as a ground cover.
Possibilities for an autumn garden do not merely include flowers. Think about incorporating tall, wispy ornamental grasses whose neutral colors serve as a nice contrast to the vivid colors of the flowers. Decorative peppers also bring a nice variety to a garden, and come in bright shades of yellow, red, and orange. Other vegetables that give your fall garden a unique look are ornamental cabbages and kales.
Preparing a garden of fall perennials is worth the work and investment as it will last you year after year. As the weather cools off it's an ideal chance to get outside and work in your garden, and it's also an important time to prepare your plants for the winter and begin thinking ahead about your spring gardening.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Why Leaves Change Color
Why Leaves Change Color
A green leaf is green because of the presence of a group of pigments known as Chlorophylls. When they are abundant in the leaf's cells, as they are during the growing season, the chlorophylls' green color dominates and masks out the colors of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf. Thus the leaves of summer are characteristically green.
The chlorophylls have a vital function: they capture some of the sun's energy and utilize it in the manufacture of the plant's food- simple sugars which are produced from water and carbon dioxide. These sugars are the basis of the plant's nourishment- the sole source of the carbohydrates needed for growth and development.
In their food-manufacturing process, the chlorophylls themselves break down and thus are being continually "used up." During the growing season, however, the plant replenishes the chlorophyll so that the supply remains high and the leaves stay green.
But as autumn approaches, certain influences both inside and outside the plant cause the chlorophylls to be replaced at a slower rate than they are being used up. During this period, with the total supply of chlorophylls gradually dwindling, the "masking" effect slowly fades away. Then other pigments that have been present (along with the chlorophylls) in the cells all during the leaf's life begin to show through. These are the carotenoids; they give us colorations of yellow, brown, orange, and the many hues in between.
The reds, the purples, and their blended combinations that decorate autumn foliage come from another group of pigments in the cells called anthocyanins. These pigments are not present in the leaf throughout the growing season as are the carotenoids. They develop in late summer in the sap of the cells of the leaf, and this development is the result of complex interactions of many influences- both inside and outside the plant. Their formation depends on the breakdown of sugars in the presence of bright light as the level of a certain chemical (phosphate) in the leaf is reduced.
During the summer growing season, phosphate is at a high level. It has a vital role in the breakdown of the sugars manufactured by chlorophyll.
But in the fall, phosphate, along with the other chemicals and nutrients, moves out of the leaf into the stem of the plant. When this happens, the sugar-breakdown process changes, leading to the production of anthocyanin pigments. The brighter the light during this period, the greater the production of anthocyanins and the more brilliant the resulting color display we see. When the days of autumn are bright and cool, and the nights chilly but not freezing, the brightest colorations usually develop.
Anothocyanins temporarily color the edges of some of the very young leaves as they unfold from the buds in early spring. They also give the familiar color to such common fruits as cranberries, red apples, purple grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums.
In our autumn forests they show up vividly in the maples, oaks, sourwood, sweetgum, dogwood, tupelo, black gum, and persimmon. These same pigments often combine with the carotenoids' colors to give us the deeper orange, fiery reds, and bronzes typical of many hardwood species.
The carotenoids occur, along with the chlorophyll pigments, in tiny structures - called plastids - within the cells of leaves. Sometimes they are in such abundance in the leaf that they give a plant a yellow-green color, even during the summer; but usually we become aware of their presence for the first time in autumn, when the leaves begin to lose their chlorophyll.
Carotenoids are common in many living things, giving characteristic color to carrots, corn, canaries and daffodils, as well as egg yolks, rutabagas, buttercups and bananas. Their brilliant yellow and oranges tint the leaves of such hardwood species as hickories, ash, maple, yellow poplar, aspen, birch, black cherry, sycamore, cottonwood, sassafras, and alder.
A green leaf is green because of the presence of a group of pigments known as Chlorophylls. When they are abundant in the leaf's cells, as they are during the growing season, the chlorophylls' green color dominates and masks out the colors of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf. Thus the leaves of summer are characteristically green.
The chlorophylls have a vital function: they capture some of the sun's energy and utilize it in the manufacture of the plant's food- simple sugars which are produced from water and carbon dioxide. These sugars are the basis of the plant's nourishment- the sole source of the carbohydrates needed for growth and development.
In their food-manufacturing process, the chlorophylls themselves break down and thus are being continually "used up." During the growing season, however, the plant replenishes the chlorophyll so that the supply remains high and the leaves stay green.
But as autumn approaches, certain influences both inside and outside the plant cause the chlorophylls to be replaced at a slower rate than they are being used up. During this period, with the total supply of chlorophylls gradually dwindling, the "masking" effect slowly fades away. Then other pigments that have been present (along with the chlorophylls) in the cells all during the leaf's life begin to show through. These are the carotenoids; they give us colorations of yellow, brown, orange, and the many hues in between.
The reds, the purples, and their blended combinations that decorate autumn foliage come from another group of pigments in the cells called anthocyanins. These pigments are not present in the leaf throughout the growing season as are the carotenoids. They develop in late summer in the sap of the cells of the leaf, and this development is the result of complex interactions of many influences- both inside and outside the plant. Their formation depends on the breakdown of sugars in the presence of bright light as the level of a certain chemical (phosphate) in the leaf is reduced.
During the summer growing season, phosphate is at a high level. It has a vital role in the breakdown of the sugars manufactured by chlorophyll.
But in the fall, phosphate, along with the other chemicals and nutrients, moves out of the leaf into the stem of the plant. When this happens, the sugar-breakdown process changes, leading to the production of anthocyanin pigments. The brighter the light during this period, the greater the production of anthocyanins and the more brilliant the resulting color display we see. When the days of autumn are bright and cool, and the nights chilly but not freezing, the brightest colorations usually develop.
Anothocyanins temporarily color the edges of some of the very young leaves as they unfold from the buds in early spring. They also give the familiar color to such common fruits as cranberries, red apples, purple grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums.
In our autumn forests they show up vividly in the maples, oaks, sourwood, sweetgum, dogwood, tupelo, black gum, and persimmon. These same pigments often combine with the carotenoids' colors to give us the deeper orange, fiery reds, and bronzes typical of many hardwood species.
The carotenoids occur, along with the chlorophyll pigments, in tiny structures - called plastids - within the cells of leaves. Sometimes they are in such abundance in the leaf that they give a plant a yellow-green color, even during the summer; but usually we become aware of their presence for the first time in autumn, when the leaves begin to lose their chlorophyll.
Carotenoids are common in many living things, giving characteristic color to carrots, corn, canaries and daffodils, as well as egg yolks, rutabagas, buttercups and bananas. Their brilliant yellow and oranges tint the leaves of such hardwood species as hickories, ash, maple, yellow poplar, aspen, birch, black cherry, sycamore, cottonwood, sassafras, and alder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)