Here in Florida we don't get the gorgeous leaf turning thing. But not that the calendar ha officially turned and Mabon (the Fall Equinox) is past the signs will become more and more apparent... The Curcuma gingers are starting to lapse into natural dormancy; the Hedychium gingers that got pollinated are throwing down seed; Plumeria are starting to jettison some leaves; Camellias are starting to bloom. What's up in your autumn yard?

Fall is my favorite season. After the riotous blooms of summer (and the dry parchness of late summer), it seems to me that all the plants kind of tone down and get along with one another. In my region, the leaves of decidous trees and shrubs all turn lovely shades of yellow to scarlet, set off by our evergreens, and even those plants that don't have a distinct fall display also take on a golden or russet hue. The late bloomers (asters, garden mums) are in subdues shades that blend well with the changing leaves. Even the fallen fruit (apples, plums, pears) blend in. My plant world in fall is simply golden.

We had a freeze last night...24F!

Cottonwood leaves are starting to fall, days are getting much shorter, not much humidity.

JHeirloomSeeds said:We had a freeze last night...24F!

WHAT??????? How is this possible?
We don't even get a day below 80F generally until sometime in November.

Things are seeding here. Schomburghkia Gingers, Amorphophallus...

no fall, still very hot outside, about 92-95 F, only at night a little bit cooler, about 80 F.

Summer birds are gone.

sangel said:no fall, still very hot outside, about 92-95 F, only at night a little bit cooler, about 80 F.

here too. We are 90's day about 75 night

RpR said:Summer birds are gone.

Maybe they came here!

Crepe Myrtle and Chinese Tallow tree leaves are yellowing and falling. Constant clearing out leaves that block the fountain. Leaf clean up has begun. The licoris are blooming.

Yes we live on 5 acres of land in what is called the Hardwood Hammock in Florida. Its a mix of deciduous and non-deciduous trees, areas of bog interspersed with dry forest bad...all the leaves are definitely coming down for first leaf fall. We have a second fall later. But its weekly leaf blowing from now on for a while! And almost time to cover the pool because my husband is resistant to having a screen enclosure

All the trees are showing fall color. Fall my fav time of year. Hate the battle of the leaves ...I pack em all in a large planter area by next year they are gone as new growth in the garden grows up next spring ya never know that a whole winters leaves were packed in...recycling at it easiest...beats burning leaves...eww stinky!

Here's some fall blooms and color changing in paperbirch trees.

Heavenly bamboo colors



Autumn Crocus -harvesting saffron


Paper birch trees fall color


Monkshood aconitum finally blooming


Amaranthus kinda strange form there ....?

Gorgeous!

Thanks Gina. Slowly it will all disappear. Then a break for the holidays. They just announced on the news that there's 91 days til X-Mas. Yikes !

I'm not really a Christmas celebrator (non-enthusiastic at best LOL its WAYYYY to commercial for me now) but if I am getting something this year I want orchids for my greenhouse. Winter is strange here. We don't usually get any frost until late November, sometimes not until January. Or we can have a hard freeze our of the blue for a single night. I take 'prophylactic' action before any cold comes...once things that have a natural dormancy period start to decline I go on and cut them down. (Curcuma, ZIngibers) but I leave the Hedychiums up until they freeze. Every day they are up they are giving energy to the rhizome for all those great new blooms next Spring!

Gina1960 said:I'm not really a Christmas celebrator (non-enthusiastic at best LOL its WAYYYY to commercial for me now) but if I am getting something this year I want orchids for my greenhouse. Winter is strange here. We don't usually get any frost until late November, sometimes not until January. Or we can have a hard freeze our of the blue for a single night. I take 'prophylactic' action before any cold comes...once things that have a natural dormancy period start to decline I go on and cut them down. (Curcuma, ZIngibers) but I leave the Hedychiums up until they freeze. Every day they are up they are giving energy to the rhizome for all those great new blooms next Spring!

We have barely a day or 2 of frost every year, usually with snow, that last several days. Last year we has no frost, but snow of about half inch that lasted a night, and was already melted in the morning And up to start of January we had temperatures of about 80 F in the middle of a day. People were sun tanning on the beach in the middle of December.

sangel said:

We have barely a day or 2 of frost every year, usually with snow, that last several days. Last year we has no frost, but snow of about half inch that lasted a night, and was already melted in the morning And up to start of January we had temperatures of about 80 F in the middle of a day. People were sun tanning on the beach in the middle of December.

Ha yeah I have been hanging out poolside in 80F on Christmas day here barbecuing Christmas dinner. But every year is different. I have to say that in recent years it seems warmer and warmer each winter

here not warmer but stranger
about 6-7 years ago we had a snow in April, this year we had a flooding in May, and even rain in August. Usually after Passover there no rain at all, till end of October. And also this winter airport of Eilat was flooded in January, this is strange because Eilat sitting on the Red sea, in the desert , and usually there is maximum of 3-4 inches of rain for all year. Past winter we has twice amount in less that a hour.

Definitely, all of the signs are there... kids have been back @ school for a while, the pool is closed, spider lilies are blooming & about finished in most patches, stores are full of orange pumpkin-ish stuff, baseball is in playoffs, ...and 10-day forecast predicts a cool-off to the much more pleasant range of 85°-89°.

Oh, and pecan trees are starting to drop their leaves.