Fall at Centennial Park

This past weekend was probably the peak for fall foliage at Centennial Park in Howard County, Maryland. We stopped at the boat launch area first - and a Great Blue Heron flew up and stood for some moments on a pile of rocks! After that start to the hike, we began the 2+ mile loop around the lake. Enjoy the fall scenes in the slide show below: red dogwood leaves, the reflections of trees in the water, water droplets on a grass seed head, a boat on the water, cattails, Canadian geese taking of, lady fingers, faded lily pads distorting the reflection of lots of yellow trees, a frost damaged poke weed, and the lake through an oak curtain…..the scenes of fall at Centennial Park.

The Beauties of Early Fall

As we walked around the Smithsonian Mall and the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC, the plantings were representative of ones that are truly at their best in this area just before the leaves turn and then fall. The roses like the cooler weather. The grasses have full seed heads. The asters show their blue and purple color liberally. The dogwoods lead the color change and the winterberry has bright red berries that contrasts with the green leaves still on the bush. There may not be as many butterflies but the ones that are still around may be easier to see because they don’t flutter as rapidly in the cooler temperatures. Enjoy the slide show of these beauties of early fall and celebrate fall!

Monarch butterfly

Grass

Dogwood

Persimmon

Winterberry

Aster

Rose

Flower glow illusion

Brookside Gardens in September

Brookside Gardens in September is making the transition to fall. We went first thing in the morning; the temperature was decidedly cool. Here are the highpoints of what we saw: 

• Red magnolia seeds
• Fall crocus
• Coleus - some in bloom
• Dogwoods turning and one already in full fall reds
• Roses - they always get a second wind as the temperatures get a little cooler
• A walking stick on the ‘switch grass’ sign 

Enjoy the slide show!

Dogwoods

Dogwoods are a tree I associate with living in the Mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast. They existed in east Texas - near enough to where I grew up - but I must not have been there when they were blooming. So I really didn’t see dogwoods at all until I was in my 30s. Now they are one of my favorite trees.

The native dogwoods have creamy flowers that have a hint of pink; some popular hybrids have more than a hint.  This year those hybrids were the ones that caught my eye the most at the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. Dogwood leaves have a gentle shape and branches are so flexible that they and the flowers seem to float in the understory of the forest trees. The pictures below are from this past week.

In the fall the seeds are reddish orange and the leaves turn early to a deep red. They are a standout tree in the fall although you have to be close enough to the forest to see them hiding under the tulip poplars and oaks.

There was a disease that killed off some of the dogwoods in the forests near us and all the way to Shenandoah. Enough survived that they now seem to be coming back. I see more healthy ones every year. They are relatively slow growing trees so it is unusual to see large ones. I tend to think of those large ones as being forest treasures tht are particularly visible in spring and fall.

Brookside in Early April

There was a Camellia Show at Brookside Gardens this past Saturday. I enjoyed walking through it and taking pictures. There are a number of aspects to the flowers that I was trying to capture: many yellow stamens, vein patterns in their petals, varying colors of the petals, and the slight variations of the petals themselves.

Many of the ferns had already unfurled with the earlier warmth this spring but there were still a few fiddleheads.

The tulips are also most their prime so I found myself looking at the color variations in their petals - like the purple and white below. And then there are other springtime flowers - Jack-in-the-Pulpits, wisteria, dogwood, azaleas and other bulbs. Spring has sprung!