Gold is the color of the moment

Gold is the color of the moment.  It warms me up, thrills me and comforts me.  The moment is now.  The season is about to get serious.  I saw the first hints weeks ago, but this is the moment.  Now.  As I gaze out my window, the native ash trees in the background are blazing...nearly crackling with heat...the dark firs and spruce modify the scene nicely, like the andirons in the fireplace...stalwart, dark and cool, holding the heat at bay. I do so love my vista.  I can no longer see every plant and rock and path, as the garden has grown and morphed and presented so far from my window, but there are still direct views to my favorite things...I suppose I should now call them "my vistas," plural.  I do so love my vistas.  

Yes.

The view from my desk...today's color is gold

Cornus sericea 'Midwinter Fire' has been blazing for more than four weeks...imagine that.  It's lost a few leaves, and the color is beginning to fade,  but the stems are beginning to redden in anticipation of the cold...like my nose.  I got the courage to coppice it last winter, but feared the result.  Well, I need not have feared.  It is more lush and more vigorous than before.  I will probably thin a few branches in January or February and see what happens next.  In its anchor spot on the lower second terrace, I think it will continue to be a lovely introduction to the woodland garden.

up close

c.s. 'Midwinter Fire'

C. alternifolia, slightly above it on the same terrace, is finally beginning to turn golden.  The tips of the leaves went to burgundy two weeks ago, and now the leaves are richly colored burgundy, gold and the remnants of green.  (Like many other shrubs and trees, the color begins closest to the trunk, and radiates outward, like warmth.)  Above all, I treasure this tree for its four season vitality.  After the leaves complete their cycle and fall, the bare mahogany smooth branches will reveal themselves, graceful layers of arms to produce a different kind of balance to the terrace in winter months. Spring and summer have their delights too, with delicate upright flower umbels and shiny black berries for the birds.

betula nigra 'Heritage'

The birches are gold now, too.  The river birch peeks through the trees at the head of the iris garden, but the b. nigra 'Heritage' in front of the garden shed is putting on a party...yellows, golds of several hues, some burgundy and brown mixed in, against the nearly black branches and white trunk.  A happy decision to site it in front of the chartreuse garden shed...they compliment one another.

Acer palmatum 'Utsu semi' is brilliantly turning from chartreuse to gold right at its feet...nice.

a.p. 'Utsu semi'

 Acer palmatum 'Sango kaku', in the chinese pot near the deck, is running interference with the disanthus cercidifolium.  They are both singing the same song right now...gold.  I'll have to move this to a more appropriate spot next season so that they can both bask in the spotlight and sing their arias.

This is the time to finesse the fall show.  The "lights" and "action" for the stage sets are in play...each fall, those in containers get to move around or claim their space as best supports their role in the play.

Those already planted validate their positions, or not.  Cornus s. 'Aurea', and soon cornus s. 'Hedgerow's Gold' will lose their places , having proven to be too rangy and sunburn prone where planted.  Hopefully, their new homes will be more to their liking...damper and shadier.  I will still labor to prune them for a graceful shape...they are still awkward teenagers.

Right here on the deck a glorious fellow is seducing me.  What seems fairly ordinary in another season, has taken on a stunning coat of the moment.   Stachyurus praecox, still in a nursery pot while I ponder his best presentation and aspect, considering the marvelous tassels he produces on his recumbent branches, is pleading his case for a prominent berth in the fall show.  I didn't know.  But now he has my attention.  (How do I determine who is a "he" or a "she"?).  The elegant leaves are turning dizzily from forest green to burgundy, orange, crimson, and...yes, of course! ...gold!

libertia peregrinans

The libertia peregrinans in the long bed is throwing up sparklers of delight between the stalwart heathers and lavandulas.  I must keep them in mind, however, if the winter takes a turn to frigid...they need a little protection, being New Zealanders, after all. 

cercidyphyllum japonica 'Pendula'  This shot was taken last year, two weeks from now...I cheated, it's so wonderful!

The japanese forest grass ( hakonechloa 'Aureola'.) in the same bed has a blondish  frosting now, having seeded, and begun its decline, yet it still provides a lovely froth of ...gold...cascading down the terraces like a river to enhance the weeping katsura (cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula') and the viburnum davidii, which always needs a little accessorizing.

The north bed won't be missed now, either.  All it takes is one show off at the moment.  So gold is the color of the day?  A charming little orphan with no name other than its field number found its way into my garden and like any tough little orphan, demands attention.

Acer shirasawanum '6910'

My "Gold Tour" took me to the front garden, where I knew the gingkoes were doing their thing.  They never disappoint, so ancient in their lineage, survivors of millennia, symbols of longevity that they are.  Mine are petite, slowly gaining character in the Zen garden.  Their moment is also now.

The Zen courtyard...serenely...golden gingko biloba dwarf in the foreground pot, styrax obassia in the background

We know all this excitement is a normal, natural part of the cycle of life, replete with scientific explanations for what we see, yet every season is "new" again to experience, like a favorite book, or a  favorite memory, or a long-cherished relationship.  The fleeting nature of the experience makes it all the more priceless.  Gold...the color of the moment.