Seeds, Grasses, Color and Fruit: The Early Autumn Garden

As many of you know, the nursery where I work, Joy Creek Nursery in Scappoose, announced early last week that it will be closing. Forever. An integral part of the horticulture world for nearly 30 years, this news came with shock, love and sadness. The co-owners Maurice and Mike simply wish to retire. That event overshadowed any extracurricular activities for me as we have naturally been incredibly overwhelmed by visitors shopping for the last time. I plan on writing a tribute post for Joy Creek soon, but for now I wish to push this little post out of the gate.

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As summer wound down, a little pang of sadness overcame me. It goes by so quickly. As far as garden tasks, I feel like I didn't do half of what I wanted to and had even less time to enjoy the garden. The constant watering took care of that. But, the sweetness of autumn eases me into what will inevitably be winter with its remnants of summer flowers now dark with age and the transformation of green into golds and reds. Seeds of grasses, berries and fruits are the flowers of autumn and I must admit that I love them just the same as if they were flowers. This is a transition period, the full-blown autumn color is a whole separate post. Come with me now and enjoy a little early autumn color at Chickadee Gardens.

Vitis vinifera that produced dark, sweet and delicious grapes just a couple of weeks ago turn rich red against a sea of Helianthus angustifolius, which is about to bloom in mid-October.

Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'

Echinacea purpurea flowers left standing for songbirds to gorge on their seeds.

The last of the Erynguim giganteum forest. I have since cut it back so we may once again have access to our driveway. They were self-sown in gravel and were beautiful all summer.

Rosa glauca is a favorite for its rich ruby hips. Other roses for great hips include R. pomifera and R. moyesii.

Looking suspiciously like echinacea, Rudbeckia hirta flowers are also left standing all winter for their seeds that will feed many goldfinches and other small birds.

We have about seven apple trees, all a young tender age of just 5 years old that produced well for us this year. Nothing like a fresh, sweet 'Honeycrisp' straight from the tree.

Viburnum trilobum berries, our native viburnum. The leaves are beginning to turn rich yellows and reds too these days.

Pennisetum spathiolatum flowers are very elegant.

Acer circinatum, our native vine maple putting on a lovely show this year.

View of the edge of the orchard with early autumn light.

Sedum 'Matrona' - it was an interesting year for upright sedums, they grew fine but the flowers were not as showy this year as in years past. A few actually flopped open. too, something that has not ever happened in this garden.

Baptisia australis seeds add a bit of drama to the autumn garden.

The fig tree had a pretty good year. Earlier this summer there were a few ripe fruits which, in a word, were divine. 

Corn stalks backed by castor bean plant.

Phlomis russelliana seed heads. These will stand through all manner of inclement weather and look pretty cool in the winter garden.

Muhlenbergia rigens backed by Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'

Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow' is a good deciduous shrub for autumn color.

The undersides of Quercus hypoleucoides, silver oak. While this is not autumn color, it is an amazing tree that sets off surrounding golds and reds.

This shot was taken while standing in the orchard with the veggie garden in the background.

Stipa gigantea inflorescences

Second Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' two weeks ago

Same tree a week later

Pennisetum 'Karly Rose' inflorescences with Teucrium fruticans in the foreground.

Juncus effusus inflorescences

Echinacea purpurea with Asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed.

Panicum 'Northwind'

Cotinus flower

A giant sunflower, sown by the birds, thus I do not know the variety. You can see where the seeds have been eaten away, a favorite among blue jays, goldfinches and chickadees. We have many birds in the veggie garden right now as they hang out and clean out seeds and I'm sure all manner of insects.

Pie pumpkins, 'Winter Luxury' curing in the hoophouse. Oooh, they make great pies!

Onions and shallots also curing in the hoophouse. We'll go through all of these by February, I bet.

As are the delicata squash - honeyboat delicata, I believe. Amazing flavor and just the right size.

A lot to see in this transition period of the past two weeks, plus there is so much more to see right now, so much autumn color that I will share soon. It's been amazing this year, I suspect due to the heat dome of summer. All that stress and now a cool, wet autumn are likely the culprits. Also, as I mentioned at the beginning, stay tuned for a tribute post to Joy Creek Nursery. Lots coming down the line, especially as I'll have more time now that the nursery is closing.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you! Happy autumn gardening one and all. Oh, and if you subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens, look for us in the November issue! Cheers!