Fabulous Fall

Recent weather has made me yearn for the return of autumn. With its cools days, crisp air and wonderful colors marking the end of the growing season, fall is easily my favorite time of year. Though historically in poetry and literature Autumn has been a time of year which authors and poets consider to be melancholy, it beckons me outside more than any other time of year. Yard work once again becomes enjoyable, neighborhood walks become a symphony of crisp leaves crunching under your feet. I become mesmerized by the orange glow of sugar maples and serviceberry’s, the russet hues of prairie grasses, and the bright reds of Virginia sweetspires, oaks and maples – all in their final glory before the long winter hibernation. I believe we treasure autumn as we know what dreary weather awaits us in the coming months. It is a small reprieve between the hot, humid days of summer and the cold gray days of winter. We know we must take advantage of this break in weather while we can, after we have been imprisoned in air conditioned houses during the intense heat of the summer and before we cozy up in front of a warm fire during the winter months.

Some of my favorite plants for fall color are:

Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple)
Acer ginnala (Amur Maple)
Acer rubrum (Red Maple)
Acer miyabeii (State Street Maple)
Amelanchier grandifolia (Serviceberry)
Itea virginica (Virginia Sweetspire)
Hamamelis vernalis ‘Autumn Embers’ (Witchhazel)
Aesculus glabra (Ohio Buckeye)
Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’ (Chokeberry)
Bouteloa curtipendula (Sideoats Grama)
Geranium maculatum (Cranes-bill)
Panicum sp. (Switchgrass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem)