My Fall Garden

As promised, here are some pictures of my yard in the fall, long after the flowers have faded. I use to chop everything down as soon as it was done blooming, but I stopped doing this for a couple of reasons. First, there was nothing to look at but dirt and wood chips, and I found that the foliage was far more beautiful than dirt and woodchips. Secondly, its a lot less work in the spring, because over the winter it decays alot on its own, leaving a lot less to chop down. Third, the birds really like the seed. And finally, the foilage provides extra protection during our harsh Wisconsin winters. Now a lot of gardeners would disagree with me on these points. They feel if you leave the foilage up all winter your asking for disease and insect problems, and you'll get 'little seedlings' everywhere if you let your plants go to seed. Well, living in the country, I have disease, insect and ANIMAL problems, no matter what I do, as far as seedlings go, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. My garden is close to 2 acreas and is very difficult to keep up with. I've learned to let things grow as Mother Nature wants them to grow, its a lot less work. My garden, although well-maintened and weeded, is very much a 'natural garden.'

Here is a picture of one of my Mums nestled in a furry Lambs Ear.

I finally got an 'Autumn Blaze' maple growing well in our yard. When we first bought our property, it only had one type of tree, the maple tree that drops those little helicopter all over the place. Ugh! And to make it worse, they have almost no seasonal changes. There is nothing in the spring or fall to look forward too. Their fall color is a very dull yellow, some years they can look pretty (like this year), but other years the leaves just turn a nasty brown, wither up and die. Anyhow, we have been gradually chopping these trees down as the need for firewood arise, and replacing them with other trees with more visual interest and less clean up: like crabapple trees, red maples, honeylocust etc.

This is a picture of my yard with the same view as the photo behind my blog title at the top of the page; except this is the fall view, and the other picture is what this same area of the yard looks like in the spring.

Another picture of a beautiful fall mum. What would I do without this fall plant to color my garden in the fall?

Most of my crabapple trees bear gorgous fruit like this. All winter, long after the leaves are gone, the bright red berries color my yard. In the spring, when the robins arrive, they eat EVERY berry off this tree. One time, I counted 20 robins at once in my tree. Within an hour, every berry was gone. It was so sad. The berries were so pretty. But I know the robins need the food.

A view from the road driving up to my house. I love the ornamental grass and how it captures the sunlight in its 'flowers'. Its so pretty on a windy day especially. That is my garden shed in the background.

This is a view from my front porch and kitchen window. I designed it specifically this way, so when I looked out my kitchen window while doing dishes, I'd have something beautiful to look at.

I hope you enjoyed my fall garden tour. I have fall pictures of beautiful Buffalo County that I will be sharing soon also. I will post more garden pictures as the season changes. Next up: Winter Garden Pictures! The yard is still pretty, even when blanketed with snow!

Till tomorrow, Amy