Hi GPODers!
It’s that time of year again! Leaves are falling or trees are already completely bare, temperatures continue to drop, gardens are winding down and prepped for the winter to come, and Garden Photo of the Day submissions are dwindling.
Obviously, I understand why this happens. Just like many of you, I’ve been spending more and more hours indoors as well as investing more time to rest and relaxation in preparation for the always-busy holiday season. However, I also believe this wind-down time is perfect for reflection, getting inspired, and looking forward to the new year ahead. Feeling inspired by Wendy’s garden update yesterday (Wendy’s Fall Garden in the Okanagan Valley), I thought I might spark some inspiration (or at least some feel-good fall vibes) with a trip through autumn GPODs of the past. I’ve selected some of my favorite fall photos I was able to find in the GPOD archives and listed them below with links to the full submission so you can find even more inspo.
First up, we have Carol Verhake in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Carol has shared her garden with us several times in the past (Carefully Chosen Colors Bring a Garden Together, New Spaces in Carol’s Garden, Snow in Carol’s Garden, etc.), but it’s her fall submissions that always stick out to me. The photo below is from 2022: Fall in Carol’s Garden.
The majority of the photos I’m sending are of my woodland garden, which features lots of deciduous trees along with shrubs and perennials that I’ve introduced over the years.
Next up is John Markowski in Kingwood, New Jersey. John has also shared his garden with us several times (Lush Summer Blooms, Revisiting John’s Garden in New Jersey, Overcoming Tough Conditions, Ornamental Beauty, Expressions of Early Fall, etc.), and, again, his garden really comes into its own during the fall. So much so, that we featured his fall garden in print (Dynamic Garden Design Despite Challenging Conditions). The photo below is from last year: Fall in John’s Garden.
Many gardens peak in the spring with a brilliant display of bright flowers, but this garden looks amazing right now in the fall, with each plant taking on a subtly different hue but all working together to end the year beautifully.
Yet another lovely scene comes from Yvonne Tsikata in Northern Virginia. Her garden is full of fantastic flowers (Check it out during peak season here: Yvonne’s New Garden in Virginia, Yvonne’s Garden in Virginia, and Yvonne’s Woodland and Japanese-Inspired Gardens), but foliage starts giving her blooms serious competition in fall. The photo below showcases this in 2022: Yvonne’s Autumn Garden.
At the entry into the woodland garden are European beech hedge (Fagus sylvatica, Zones 4–7) showing its caramel fall color, yellow ‘Hearts of Gold’ redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Hearts of Gold’, Zones 5–9) glowing, red Viburnum dilatatum (Zones 4–7) to the left, Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) in the foreground, and willow oak (Quercus phellos, Zones 5–9) coloring yellow in the background.
While foliage is always fantastic, it is nice to see the blooms that carry us to the end of the season. Bonnie Plikaytis in Big Canoe, Georgia (Spring in North Georgia, Garden Stumperies, A Woodland Garden That Takes Inspiration from Nature, etc.) has an incredible collection of Japanese maples and other beautiful trees and shrubs, but she also grows a lovely array of woodland plants that sport sensational flowers. Below are leopard plants from a post in 2020: Autumn Colors in North Georgia
Leopard plants (Farfugium japonicum giganteum, Zones 7–10) require full shade and are evergreen in mild winters. It seems odd that this tropical-looking plant with leathery kidney-shaped leaves has yellow daisy-shaped flowers on tall stalks in November! The bright yellow flowers are a much-needed delight when few other plants are blooming. The foliage is evergreen to about 20°F and brings a variety of shapes and textures to the garden. The bench was a gift from a dear gardening friend who is a remarkable artist in all his endeavors. He designed and created the bench from a red oak tree that had fallen in his garden.
Of course, the combination of steadfast foliage with late bloomers and fading flowers is the full fall trifecta. May Kald on Vancouver Island, British Columbia has shared many incredible submissions of the years (May’s Garden on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Revisiting May’s Garden in British Columbia, Visitors in May’s Garden in British Columbia, etc.), but the photo below from 2014 is a masterclass in diverse fall interest: Fall in May’s Garden on Vancouver Island.
Part of a front border – central is a white Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Incrediball’, some lower flower clusters are white, the upper ones went brown. This was its first year here and I was hoping it would go pink in the fall like the other white hydrangeas I have. But the summer drought may have caused the brown. The rhododendrons around it weren’t happy to be dry either.
Next is a lovely late fall landscape from Jeanne Cronce’s in Port Orchard, Washington. I dug deep into the archives to find Jeanne’s garden (Jeanne’s Color-Packed Garden in Washington, Fun Hardscape and Plants in Jeanne’s Garden, Scenes from a Great Season, etc.), and it was absolutely worth the extra searching. The photo below is from all the way back in 2013: Jeanne’s Washington Garden in Fall.
The beginning of our cold weather… changes for sure.
We also love when a gardener is a true collector, and chooses to showcase all the varieties of the particular plant they obsess over. Kathy Purdy in Oxford, New York did just that in 2018, when she shared the vast array of gorgeous fall-blooming colchicums she grows: Fabulous Fall Colchicums.
At over a foot tall, ‘World Champion’s Cup’ is the biggest colchicum I grow. It’s surrounded by Primo Black Pearl heuchera, with a ferny bit of mountain fringe for contrast.
This post leans heavily towards colder climates, but that is a consequence of our archive and not of a preference to northern gardens in fall. We tend to get the most submissions from gardens in the Northeast, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions of North America, but we’d love to see more gardens from all across the country and world! Below is a fabulous fall scene from Robin Sams in northeastern North Carolina during 2020: Fall in North Carolina.
Swamp sunflower, Mexican heather (Salvia leucantha, Zones 7–10), gaura (Gaura lindheimeri, Zones 5–9), and pansies (Viola × wittrockiana, cool-season annual).
When fall arrives and I know winter is around the corner, I start hoping to see Cherry Ong’s incredible wreaths and swags (Winter Wreath Making, Wreath Making with Cherry, Making Holiday Decor From the Garden, etc.). However, Cherry’s garden in Richmond, British Columbia is equally as exciting to see, and one fall submission has the best of both worlds. In 2022 she shared this beautiful swag in a particularly lovely slice of her garden: Fall in the Fern Fairway.
I couldn’t resist decorating, so I fashioned a swag out of dried flowers from the garden—mine and Sylvia’s.
I hope you all enjoyed this dive into the GPOD archive! I particularly hope this inspires you to share your fall garden with the blog, whether it’s your first submission or you just haven’t shared your garden in a while. Follow the directions below to share your photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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