Tuesday, November 03, 2009

November: Oh yeah, plants

In the midst of the excitement of tearing off parts of our house and grading a genetics exam, I haven't been reporting on the plants.  The garden has been put to bed, McHouse-style, meaning hubby mowed the leaves up and dumped them onto the prairie garden, and I cut back the perennials that were in the way of the concrete guys.

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Viburnum opulus, fall color

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Calycanthus floridus, Carolina allspice, one of my favorite shrubs, has wonderful fall color.  It has developed its first and only fruit, a fig-like capsule that should persist all winter.  I'll cut it open in the spring and see what's inside.

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My witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is blooming.  American witch hazels have such cool flowers but I usually forget to look for them since they bloom at an odd time of year.  They tend to have low seed set, something like 1%.  I haven't found any capsules from last year's flowers.

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I have two strawberry plants running wild in the lawn. I'm told that this is a bad thing but we have such a hard time keeping grass back there, any successful green plant is okay in my book! Until I start smooshing red berries onto my clothes, that is.  We'll see if they survive the winter.

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Foley dozes in the November sunshine.  She's definitely an autumn; the earth tones suit her.

7 comments:

garden girl said...

Your viburnum is so pretty! Foley looks very happy to be enjoying some rare sunshine. I can relate.

Garden Lily said...

Grass is overrated - I love the strawberries you have running through the lawn. The berries look small enough that it shouldn't be too messy.

Ramble on Rose said...

I like the calycanthus--how much sun does it need? Or rather, how much shade can it tolerate? Glad to see the repairs on the house are going well! That stuff is always stressful and ends up messier/more complicated/more expensive than originally planned!

Diane said...

I have the Calycanthus in full sun but it can tolerate part shade. It has lovely glossy leaves and unusual reddish-brown, strawlike flowers. I need to start pruning it for size next year because I don't want it much bigger than it is right now!

MrBrownThumb @ Chicago Garden said...

I agree with Linda, the viburnum is really pretty.

The witch hazel is so cool. Every year when I see them on garden bloggers I tell myself to get one.

Maybe next year.

Nell Jean said...

I found you on Blotanical. What caught my eye was the calycanthus. I thought to look at mine the other day to see if there were seed pods, which there were not.

I never worry about seeds, since it suckers nicely, with plenty of little plants around it.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I love my Calycanthus. Remind me next year not to deadhead every single one of the seedheads.