The only thing I envy about my fellow bonsai artists from up North is the fall color they get to enjoy on their deciduous trees. In the Deep South we typically don’t get a lot of fall color. When we do, it arrives suddenly – this weekend for 2015, to be precise – then the leaves all fall within a few days and winter ugliness begins. I was pleased this year to see a little fall color in my garden, and wanted to share a couple of trees with you.
Here’s the sweetgum I recently posted for sale. One reason I love sweetgum is that it’s one of only a few species that will actually produce reds and purples in fall down here. We mostly get yellows and browns, which are certainly attractive in their own right but you just can’t beat the reds and purples in my opinion.
Here’s my “root around cypress knees” water-elm. It’s in need of a trim, but I wanted to show it before pulling out the shears since I knew I’d knock off a lot of the leaves in the process. This is typical water-elm fall color. I sometimes get it, but most of the time don’t.
And after a quick shearing. These remaining leaves may hang on for a few days; but for now, they look really nice.