The Last Best Day Of The Year?!

The Bloodgood Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood') is normally a deep maroon during the summer and is quite showy from May thru September. As fall progresses, the fall color becomes increasingly scarlet and really glows with sunlight pouring thru. Japanese maples, while winter hardy here, can be a bit touchy and do benefit from a protected location that minimizes winter winds. The shot above was taken in our Japanese garden today.

We had three volunteers (Shelly, J.C. and Linda) working in our woodland walk garden today. Marianne tidied up, planted bulbs and worked on lights. Marv and Terry decorated with lights all day and put up some displays. Dr. Gredler and Bill spread straw over a large, newly seeded area and Jerry continued pruning and hauling debris. Rick and Tony worked on composting and lights work. We had LP Tree Service (Janesville) come today and help put up some holiday lights in our taller trees. We sure appreciate their help! I ran some cords but mainly bounced around to check on everyone. Great day!

Nice fall color on the smooth witherod viburnum (Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur') to the left. Native to lowlands out East (Connecticut) and down thru Florida and Louisiana, this viburnum has fragrant white flower clusters in spring, summer berries and this wonderful fall color on bold, glossy leaves. This hardy variety only gets 6' tall or so and is a nice specimen in the right place. The straight species (Viburnum nudum) can get 12' tall so this variety is a nice compromise in terms of scale. The hybrid maple to the right was all green three days ago and exploded with this orangey-red color. This is one of those hybrid maple crosses between the Shantung maple (Acer truncatum) and Norway maple (Acer platanoides). The description from J. Frank Schmidt Nursery below is a great description of this wonderful maple. Note the medium size! The picture at the bottom is the nice yellow fall color of the Norway maples this year (better color than most years!).

Pacific Sunset® Maple (Acer truncatum x A. platanoides 'Warrenred' P.P. No. 7433) is a hybrid of Acer truncatum and Acer platanoides that combines the best characteristics of the parents in a medium sized shade tree. Dark glossy leaves, drought resistance, orange to red fall color and a smaller ultimate size are inherited from Shantung Maple (Acer truncatum). The Norway parent (Acer platanoides) contributes faster growth, caliper development at an early age, larger leaves and adaptability to varied growing conditions. Its fine textured branch structure evolves to a rounded crown and a mature height of about 30 feet and a spread of about 25 feet. Hardiness is USDA Zone 4b.