Bogturtle's Garden - November 1 to 15, 2022

 

Robin takes a selfie. Not part of the amazing hundreds in the flocks that swing, periodically, all Winter, through the property, mainly eating the Holly Berries. 

 To my surprise, yesterday, a little frog was sitting on the piece of floating cedar Today,11/1, is quite a warm day, so wintering in the mud may come later. 

Cardinal takes a selfie. 

Taken with my phone, this gives some idea of how heavily Camellia 'Autumn Moon' has bloomed  

To the left, the Fothergilla 'Mt Airy' does, usually, turn this yellow, being in a good deal of shade. 

Groundhogs are no longer tolerated on this property, as several different crops from the garden were decimated. Even those where they can sneak, somehow, into the fenced off area. A total loss, really. So two were trapped and carried away. Then, yesterday, I saw one at the bird feeder, eating dropped seed. I set the trap there, thinking I would waste time, catching the constant squirrels with the pieces of apple Groundhogs find so inviting. But last night this Possum, many visiting constantly, got trapped. Only a menace if cornered, so I opened the trap and left. Will bait the trap again, and I hope this individual has enough intelligence to not get trapped again, but I have my doubts about that. The animals are so well known as not too bright. Amazing that they are still common.

Viburnum 'Popcorn'.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen'. The classic form of the  Oakleaf Hydrangea, a native somewhere south of NJ. 

Only easy to see when lit by the Sun against the dark pine behind. This American Witch-Hazel is unique in that it sheds its leaves and does not obscure the little, spidery flowers, as happens with the usual forms. So high up, now, with the tree sizeable, that I used the zoom feature on my little camera. Hamamelis virginiana 'Harvest Moon'.

These flowers were caught by the Sun and photographed through the branches of Cornus officianalis, the Japanese Cornel. That has colored nicely with reddish leaves. 

 

Squirrel takes a selfie. Just seems really funny. Nobody wastes more battery power than these, but worse was that one who took 18 bite sized pieces, all over, out of this bench when I first put it there. Filled in and stained with the same silvery driftwood stain chosen for the house, you would not notice the damage now. That is still not funny.

Fothergilla 'Mt Ayrie', but an unusual feature has shown up. Usually this individual shrub is pale yellow because of being in shade, but what is called a sport has shown up. Shade has not hindered this single branch from taking on what is typically the scarlet color this sort of Fothergilla might show in full Sun. Maybe this branch could be cut off and rooted as a named variation to the species, and may always color beautifully in the future. I cannot say, but there are many clones of Fothergilla, so throwing sports may be common. 

Here is the other sort of Fothergilla on the property. Normally a silvery blue-green, and called 'Blue Shadow'. I repeat myself constantly, but this sort was sold as not coloring much in Fall. But given Sun, I have seen beautiful soft oranges. Even this yellow is contrasting nicely with the evergreens it is sited among. 

Still fascinating to me how this Mahonia 'Winter Sun' will launch into blooming at this seemingly inappropriate time of year. Never seems to get old.  A severe, hard frost will just blast the flowers, and that has happened in many Winters, here.  We will see.

Mahonia 'Winter Sun' originated in Ireland, where the climate is wet but not as severe in Winter as in this zone 7A. But there is a lesson about purchasing plants. The USA seller was kind and polite to inform me that they only had one sad, mishappen one left for sale, in the field. Knowing one buys the genetic potential, I bought the pathetic thing anyway. Here it is many years later, and it has been grand since the second season it was here. 

This is the colored bark Dogwood or Cornus. C. sanguinea 'Winter Fire'. Too vigorous, it is moved to where it cannot easily send out suckers and become a grove, which it is so prone to do. Beautiful yellow to red winter bark and the typical white flowers, in Spring, that lack the large, showy bracts that make the most common Dogwoods so attractive. Those are, likely, Cornus florida or Kousa. This will have just a button or boss of little flowers, typical of all the colored bark Dogwoods of many species. Quite showy, at the moment, and the  reddish to yellow little twigs can just about be seen in the photo. A trio of large Witch-Hazels back the shrub, so it has trouble spreading in among them, though it will. And I make sure it doesn't move into the lawn.