We had a day of life-giving rain yesterday. That’s the good news. But days of wind, followed by yesterday’s day of rain brought most of our New England fall colors to an end around us. The mighty oaks are attempting to hang on to their russet colored leaves but the bright yellows and butterscotch leaves of maples have fallen.
However I’ve planned for that. I can still be a leaf peeper in our own backyard with our three enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus) shrubs. One is ablaze of crimson shades, one a luminescent amber, and the third is a lovely mix of both shades. What a showstopper they are for us as we gaze from our window.
During the summer, the plants sport blue-green foliage and blend into the landscape, but in the spring we are rewarded with pendants of delicate bell-shaped blooms with red veins as shown in this photo from last spring. If the blooms remind you of andromeda (Pieris), it is in the same family.
These shrubs are young and slow growing. At full growth, they can reach the height of a small understory tree. I have read that they don’t like pruning but I’m hoping to be judicious in training the shrubs as they grow. It’s then they can join our other understory trees, the serviceberry trees (Amelanchier), below, that are giving us lovely orange-red fall color now and offer a profusion of spring blooms, as well.
It is always sad when the wind takes the Fall leaves away too soon. Enjoyed your beautiful photos. I always hate to see Fall disappear.
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The growing season is just so short in New England. I like to squeeze out what little time I have left in the garden before snow flies.
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Your ‘leaf peepers’ are lovely. Over the weekend, I looked out a couple of times, and it looked like it was snowing leaves.
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I can’t see blowing leaves without thinking of you. 🍂
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So true . But I try to see all the different rust, crimson, burnt orange,and yellows that are still there in the oaks and birch leaves. I hate to see the end of color.
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Because we know all too well what comes next!
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Some lovely fall leaves there! I also like the spring photo – what pretty blooms 🙂 We could use some rain here in SoCal. Fingers crossed 😦
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Hope you are not in any wildfire danger. We subscribe to updates as we have friends and family who could be impacted.
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No danger for us – but it’s heartbreaking to watch 😦
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Beautiful bushes spring and fall! I so miss fall colors!!!
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Now that I am reading this, it is November. You got some nice color already. Some of our trees are defoliating without much color, but the sweetgums are holding theirs, so might get some color eventually.
We grew both enkianthus and serviceberry years ago, but discontinued because because there was no demand for them. No one here knew what they are.
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