November Foliage

Thanks to the Pam Penick at Digging blog for hosting "Foliage Follow Up"!

Japanese Maple Leaf
Here, we get nothing like the spectacular fall foliage color of New England.  If we get the merest touch of red or yellow, it's cause for notice.  This year our Japanese Maple had a touch of autumn red for the very first time since we planted it about ten years ago. 
Japanese Maple Leaf
It's been a colder than normal November.  Even the blueberry plants have a touch of color for the first time:
Blueberry fall foliage
A few plants here are reliably red or gold. Ginkgo foliage turns gold every year, a gold that holds on the trees for weeks.  Parthenocissus tricuspidata turns red most years in sunny locations:
Parthenocissus leaf

But I am perfectly content to see green all winter, and not feel the bite of frost.  The grasses here are tawny from lack of rain, not frost.  Muhlenbergia rigens:
Photobucket

Some Aloes will develop red foliage in cooler weather.  Aloe dorotheae does:
Aloe Dorotheae

Echeverias change according to light rather than temperature, unless the temperature gets cold enough to turn them to mush.  :(
 Echeveria damage
 Luckily, that is even more rare than fall color on the Japanese maples  Light is what effects Echeveria color.  My plants get more sun in the cooler weather of winter, and some develop intense lavender color, something I look forward to every year. 

Clockwise from noon, E. colorata, E. unknown, E. cante, E. lilacina, and E. secunda(?): 
five Echeverias

Yeah baby!
Echeveria colorata

Not that Maples are so bad...
Acer Palmatium 'Oshio Bene'




Comments

  1. Lovely foliage giving glorious colour! I love the Muhlenbergia rigens ... looks lovely!

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  2. Had to bring my succulents in for the winter. Any tips on indoor care. Minature jade, E.cante, and Senecio 'little blue" I think. currently in southern exposure window.

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  3. nice foliage. Had to bring my succulents in for the winter. I swear the concrete pot and plants weighed 100 pounds. Any tips on indoor plant care, E.cutens, jade plant, and Senicio little blue(i think).

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  4. Thanks Barbie & Christine!

    greggo, the main things to avoid are insufficient light, over watering, and spider mites. As much light as you can possibly provide, watch it on the water (once monthly or every six weeks may be plenty), and mist the plants with water to discourage spider mites.

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  5. So glad you're getting a bit of the only thing that makes fall-into-winter bearable for me. Our 5-year-old Japanese maple is lovely this year for the first time, too. Your succulents are just glowing!

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  6. I hope your winter is not too grey, MulchMaid. How about we take a good bit of your rain, and give you some of our sun? If only it worked that way...

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  7. Nice scenes...I also am content to avoid frost and just see things stay green. Your succulents always amaze! We are a bit cooler than usual, and drier, too.

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  8. I love the change in color of succulents also. In that group photo of echeveria's the one in the bottom left I am pretty sure is Echeveria 'After glow'. One of my favorites.

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  9. Hi Candy, I enjoyed looking through your blog and seeing your wonderful collection of succulents.

    The Echeveria in the bottom left is E. cante, which is one of the parents of 'After Glow'--also one of my very favorites.

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