An end-of-the-line summer bloom, a fall bloom, some fall color, and a few promising spring buds make up today’s six. I’ll begin with the blooms.
On the left below is the last hurrah for a few stalks of obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), a native perennial in the mint family. On the right is another native, striped gentian (Gentiana villosa). This wildflower is characterized by its tightly closed petals.
Some leaf color comes next. First is mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), followed by oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). Both are small, deciduous native shrubs that sport abundant white cluster-blooms—the mapleleaf in spring, oakleaf in early summer. As is clear in the photo below, mapleleaf viburnum also produces clusters of deep purple berries in the fall, which might be tasty to birds but are judiciously avoided by humans. The rich, rust-red color of the oakleaf hydrangea is highlighted by the backlight of the November afternoon sun in the featured image.
The first of the two budding shrubs is Camellia japonica ‘Grace Albritton’. It will have lovely, tight, soft pink flowers sometime about February. This, of course, is not a North American native—although it would be hard to convince many Deep South Southerners of that,.
My final selection, though, is not just a North American native, it is an Alabama native (Rhododendron alabamense). Although I have several native azaleas in the garden that were in the landscape long before I started tending it, this one I purchased three-and-half years ago at a Master Gardener Conference on the promise that the blooms would be yellow. This is the first time it has produced buds. We’ll see about the yellow this spring if all goes well.
One tiny extra photo: Gabby behind the mapleleaf viburnum. She said Xena made it in last week with the ginkgo tree, and what is good for one Aussiedoodle is good for her sister. For more garden visits and guidelines for joining in this SoS community, check Jim Stephens’ site, Garden Ruminations.
Thanks for the fall color. My oakleaf is producing some fine color. I particularly like the photo with the low sunlight filtering through the leaves.
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