Fall Color
The Grandmothers loved Autumn and we would drive as a family up into the Cascade Mountains to watch the colors change. We would often bring back big armfuls of Vine Maple leaves to diplay in oversized vases in the family room.
Warm dry days and cold, crisp nights will give you the best color. If it starts raining too soon in the fall, the colors will be dulled.
Autumn is an ideal time to plant trees and shrubs and if you go to the nurseries now, you can find plants with spectacular fall interest such as coloered foliage or bright berries. Many of the berry plants will hang onto their fruit long into the winter. Viburnums, especially are great plants because the birds won't eat the berries until February, when they really need a foodsource. Ths means you get to see the berries longer and you are helping your local bird population survive the winter.

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Franklinia Alatamaha
I'm fairly certain that neither of my grandmothers ever saw this tree, but I know they would have loved it. The Franklinia tree is named after Benjamin Franklin by John and William Bartram, who found this tree growing on the riverbank of the Altamaha River in Georgia. Sadly, none of these trees can be found in the wild anymore and the only surviving trees are now in cultivation.
I love it because it blooms late, oftern when the foliage has already changed to this burnished red.
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