A Bit of Fall in Santa Fe
Fall mornings I wake up to see the neighbor's aspen on fire outside the bedroom sliding glass door.
In Connecticut I used to love to see the maple outside my bedroom window. It colored later, in mid November, and the sight of frost on the window and magnolia leaves framing a scarlet bonfire was stunning.
Here fall is mostly yellow from all the aspens, although some ash trees in town have beautiful red color that pops.
We lack New England's variety of reds and russets and oranges and the sheer mass of brilliant color. What we do have is an achingly blue sky to set the aspens off, and breezes that make the fluttering aspen leaves glint like gold coins.
I was anticipating the rich reds of the Virginia Creeper along the fence line to complement the yellow aspens standing above it -- that would have looked nice, and in early October the vine was beginning to turn a complex dark red.
But we had one night where the temperature went down to 31.9 on my thermometer, and the reds of the vine all turned to crispy brown. Yuck. Pleasant weather and warm days returned after that one cold night, but the damage was done.
I'm going to plant perennials along the bottom of the fence, where that pot stands now, reaching out to the right, and curving around the big stepping stones. The fence line needs something to break up the expanse, and that strip is calling out to me to get some plants in there.
I can plant in fall, although the season's getting late. But I'll wait until spring to dig up that area so I can spend the winter planning what I want to put in there. That's half the fun.
In Connecticut I used to love to see the maple outside my bedroom window. It colored later, in mid November, and the sight of frost on the window and magnolia leaves framing a scarlet bonfire was stunning.
Here fall is mostly yellow from all the aspens, although some ash trees in town have beautiful red color that pops.
We lack New England's variety of reds and russets and oranges and the sheer mass of brilliant color. What we do have is an achingly blue sky to set the aspens off, and breezes that make the fluttering aspen leaves glint like gold coins.
I was anticipating the rich reds of the Virginia Creeper along the fence line to complement the yellow aspens standing above it -- that would have looked nice, and in early October the vine was beginning to turn a complex dark red.
But we had one night where the temperature went down to 31.9 on my thermometer, and the reds of the vine all turned to crispy brown. Yuck. Pleasant weather and warm days returned after that one cold night, but the damage was done.
I'm going to plant perennials along the bottom of the fence, where that pot stands now, reaching out to the right, and curving around the big stepping stones. The fence line needs something to break up the expanse, and that strip is calling out to me to get some plants in there.
I can plant in fall, although the season's getting late. But I'll wait until spring to dig up that area so I can spend the winter planning what I want to put in there. That's half the fun.
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