Avante Garden
by Derek Fell
One of the great pleasures of living in Bucks County is the dramatic change of seasons—cool in spring with mint-green leaves unfurling from tall deciduous trees; lush woodland in summer with sparkling streams tumbling among fern-fringed boulders; russet colors of fall setting the countryside ablaze; and then wintry branch silhouettes against apricot sunsets. But of all the seasons, I believe that fall in Bucks County is the most enchanting, when country lanes blaze with vibrant reds and yellows and many farms and garden centers feature whimsical pumpkin displays.
It’s fun designing a garden to take advantage of the dramatic colors that many trees and shrubs provide, and that is exactly what we have done at Cedaridge Farm, carefully placing majestic deciduous trees like Japanese maples among low, compact shrubs like burning bush and wispy ornamental grasses like black fountain grass so that there is not only a mosaic of autumn hues but also a contrast of shapes and textures. Some good places to observe the change of seasons in the area are along the Tohickon Creek at Tohickon Park, Point Pleasant and along the Delaware Canal Towpath, especially at the palisades north of Upper Black Eddy. Peak coloring depends on a number of factors including the first frost (which hastens the display), but usually the last week of October can be the best time to be a ‘leaf peeper’.
Many of our native trees and shrubs are worth incorporating into a home garden, particularly the tulip poplar that can look like a beacon of gold, and the ‘Heritage’ form of river birch. Wild stands grow along all the streams of Bucks County, but ‘Heritage’ is a mutation that displays honey-colored peeling bark and buttery-yellow leaves. Some reference books list ‘Heritage’ as a hybrid, but DNA analysis has proven it to be a natural mutation. Our native dogwood also makes a spectacular fall display, the leaves turning molten red. But surely the woody plant that outshines even our native sugar maples is the Japanese maple, notably the cut-leaf, low, spreading weeping variety called ‘Waterfall’ (which displays golden leaves in fall) and the taller red-leaf Japanese maple known as ‘Bloodgood’ after the Pennsylvania nursery that introduced it. We have three of each, the ‘Bloodgoods’ more than 60 years old, and after a bleak winter we always look forward to admiring its purple spring foliage that turns dark, dusky red on outstretched branches in fall.
Wherever you place a tall tree for fall color, consider planting beneath it a shrub with fall interest so that you have a rich canopy and an understory of color to contrast or harmonize. The native American oak-leaf hydrangea is a favorite understory plant because the leaves turn a glowing purple, and in summer there is the bonus of large white flower panicles. Another good native is the winterberry. Its leaves turn orange in company with bright red berries that cluster along all the stems, also providing winter food for songbirds like cardinals and bluebirds, which do not migrate south during winter. Although not a native, I also favor the burning bush because there is nothing quite like it to add an extravagant splash of red to the landscape. Its branches produce such a dense knit that it makes a very attractive hedge. Another good berry-bearing shrub for fall is the native beauty berry, with gleaming purple berries clustered along the stems.
My wife, Carolyn is a farmer’s daughter from Ohio and when we visit relatives during weddings and holidays we often visit one of Ohio’s premier public gardens, the Stan Hywet Estate, Youngstown, which is just across the Pennsylvania border. Laid out like an English park, it has a particularly beautiful walled garden with a nymph stature as a centerpiece, and in fall chrysanthemums displayed around a formal pool in containers. On the way we often visit Fallingwater, the magnificent Frank Lloyd Wright residence near Pittsburgh that extends over a waterfall against a background of sugar maples that turn orange fall.
At my own home, Cedaridge Farm the best display of fall color is around a water feature composed of a stream and waterfalls. Here we have placed three ‘Waterfall’ Japanese maples along the stream, and around the waterfalls added an assortment of ornamental maiden grasses, winterberry, and oak-leaf hydrangea. These complement the taller stands of hickory, sugar maple, pin-oak and the odd evergreen juniper or spruce to complete a diverse color palette. On a visit to Japan I noticed how the Japanese landscape designers are fond of combining woody plants, rocks and water and so I gave this area of waterfalls a slightly Japanese aura by using a Japanese-style lantern as a focal point. It is now our favorite theme area to sit and read or simply listen to the music of the water as it splashes over rocks.
A strategically-placed gazebo is a good structure from which to admire a fall foliage display. Bridges also make good decorative structures for fall gardens, and at Cedaridge we have three - all painted barn red to complement the colors of fall.
Derek Fell is the author of numerous garden books and also editor of the Avant Gardener online full color newsletter. To view a sample issue visit www.avantgardener.info. His wife, Carolyn is a landscape designer.