Why I Oughta...

With all the #FallPlanting posts running here for a few weeks, I wanted to sneak in a post showing some of the things that are happening in the garden, yard and even on our block as the trees turn from green to yellows, oranges, reds and...well...even browns.  Dormancy is just about here and the garden is putting itself to bed.   Below are a number of photos that I took in late October (25, 26), but this post is going up more than a week later.  Since then, we've had a couple of HARD FROSTS.  Bringing the growing season to a close.   Here's a look around: I'm not sure what to think is going on with all of the Japanese Maples.  Some of them appear to be "just fine".  While others...they...well...could be dying?  And others have been picked at by the (dang!) rabbits.  Starting with the First Ghost Acer palmatum planted back by the firepit.  This one has received the least attention, but seems to be doing fine moisture and sun-exp...

This post is going up on November 15th, but the photos are from earlier this month - on November 3rd.  Thus...for YoY garden diary record keeping, let's call this 'early November'.   Here's a peek at the large red oaks in our backyard - just about a year ago .  They were holding ALL of their leaves and looking good.  By early December, they had dropped *most*, but were still holding some .  Come Spring, they were still bare in early April .   What do they look like this year - in early November 2022?  See below for the photo showing the brown and orange leaves all over our tree canopy. Here's the same tree two years ago .   We had a VERY big wind storm this past week, so the trees look VERY different today.  I'll post an updated photo - showing mid-November - in the coming days.  

The last time I checked in on our compost bins, I was looking after some of the settling that was taking place post a full turn in both bins and our tumbler.  This was in late September when the bin on the right was still 'over full' and the bin on the left was about 1/8th full .  Below, is a photo showing the current state of the same two bins.   The one on the right has settled even further.  The bin on the left has just started to be put to work with the initial pile of leaf mulch piled in that side. The pile on the left will continue to be filled and settled.  I also am planning on insulating the Disneyland Roses with leaf mulch again, so those chicken-wire rings will be full of material this Fall.  Once I get the bins mostly stuffed full, I'll then just simply switch to mulching-in-place the leaves on the lawn.  That's the process I used last year and the material was broken down by the time Spring arrived. I haven't gotten around to adding ...

This dwarf Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea - planted in our backyard - is putting on quite a Fall show.  Deep red, almost purple leaves covering the whole shrub.  Interestingly...it is doing this show by itself - meaning the matching pair is still green.  One of the larger ones - behind this one - is partially red (you can see part of it at the top of the photo below), but otherwise, the balance of the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea quercifolias aren't/haven't gone red just yet.  These are planted in a bed that we can see from our kitchen windows - so for that reason (being able to enjoy this Fall show), I'm really happy with this late-season delight.   Also...of note....I recently covered these hydrangeas when I talked about having to move them to make room for an upright Hicks Yew behind them . 

  I haven't done this in year's past, but I thought it would be useful in terms of tracking the leaves and foliage to track an early November backyard tree canopy.  We have a couple of large Oak trees that have foliar marcescence - or the ability to keep some of their leaves late into the Winter.   You can see some of those trees in the image above.  Oak tree on the right and on the left.  Up high, on the right side, I'm documenting *some* larger Catalpa leaves are still on the limbs.  And the massive hackberry that straddles our fence line on the northside is still flush with dry, brittle leaves.  

Like most 'basic' suburban folks who drive a minivan and have a massive Park District 'activity' bill, we normally doll-up our front porch in the fall with Mums.  Costco has those big ones and Nat usually just makes the move for mums on her own.  They're easy to tend to, usually put on a good show and feel quite seasonal for the fall these days, right?  I'm sure that we'll do them soon. But I also called an audible and picked up an annual on a whim:  these Celosia Intenz.  I had a couple of plastic pots laying around (I think from Mums last year!?!) and planted a pair of these in the pots and put them on the front porch.  Also, for those wanting to dig through the archives, I've posted about mums here on the blog over the years.  Last year, I gave a 'pro-tip' to tie your mums up .   Also, I guess our mums from the Fall of 2011 survived the winter and I ended up planting them in the ground in the Spring of 2012 and *like magic*, they d...

One morning in the past few weeks, I witnessed this weird event:  a tree in the front yard was shedding all of it's leaves at once.  Check out what seems like a shower of leaves falling.  One right after the other.  You can see from the pattern on the ground that this tree was dropping them all in a matter of minutes while the other trees still are holding on to theirs.  You can also notice that there's frost on the roof across the street from us and I *think* that this might have been the first frost?  Could that have set off this reaction? 

On my walk home from the train, I came across this stunner of a Maple tree near the corner of Fairmount and Maple in Downers Grove.  The photo, which....I will tell you has no filter/crank of the saturation/etc hardly does it justice, but you can get a sense for the power of how pink it looks in real life.  I snapped this photo and then hurried home to see what we had in our #newoldbackyard that could compare.  Unfortunately....we have lots of greens back there.  And some yellows.  And a few browns.  But no oranges or pinks or reds. For now. Nat brought it up and she's right:  Seems like something we need to add a tree or two to the backyard arboretum this coming Spring (in addition to the Frans Fontaine Hornbeams that I posted about yesterday along the northern border ) that puts on a nice show in the fall. A quick look on Web shows me that some prime targets might be Sugar Maples, Red Maples or maybe even a Bald Cyprus all of which give some...

Down in the bowels of Union Station these days you'll find this hourglass and floor/wall takeover from Travel Wisconsin encouraging all of us to get up to 'see the fall color before the leaves fall' .  The hourglass is clever and in terms of size it is pretty big and grabs your attention as you leave the Great Hall and head to your platforms, so it seems like a nice placement. Really seems like Wisconsin is trying to horn in on the whole Pure Michigan thing, right?  Now that I'm not a Michigander any longer (or Michigander by lake house), I'm rooting for Wisconsin.  Cute campaign all around

Everyday for the past week or so, we've had this Black Squirrel visiting our yard where he is gorging himself on the acorns from our Oak trees and the big green/black walnuts from our Walnut trees.   He usually isn't alone so when you see him in contrast to the normal grey squirrels, he really stands out.  Grey Squirrels I see all over.  But a Black Squirrel?  From Wikipedia: The overall population of black squirrels is small when compared to that of the gray squirrel. The black fur color can occur naturally as a mutation in populations of gray squirrels, but it is rare. The rarity of the black squirrel has caused many people to admire them, and the black squirrels enjoy great affection in some places as mascots.  According to this story on DNAinfo , they're about 1 in 10,000.   I also just submitted an observation to ProjectSquirrel.org  and noted all the nut-bearing trees we have on the property.  Right now, Black Squirrel......

Compare those stands of trees to the west (to the right in this photo) of the Pritzker Pavillion in all their red glory to what they looked like just 3ish weeks ago in this post . It won't be long before they're barren and covered in ice.

The trees are starting to turn.  Look at the ones just southwest of the end of the Pritzker Pavillion lawn.  They're red!  Well, some of them are.  But, looking back in the archives, I found this post from Halloween of last year that shows that same stand of trees being all bright red .  So, the best is yet to come. There's also a bit of post-Chicago Marathon clean-up happening here with the tents and what-have-you in the parks and around Buckingham Fountain.  Fall splendor, not quite.  But a quick look at the transition point between summer and fall from the 64th floor of the Aon Center.

Peeking out the window of my office this week was a treat with the brilliant reds and oranges from the trees in Grant Park and Millenium Park.   It was less than a month ago that I posted this same view that heralded in the beginning of Autumn . You can see the other seasons that I've documented out this same view here from earlier this year starting with the gloomy early Spring with NFL DraftTown.