How did I miss these beauties?

I clearly only wandered through a narrow swath of the garden before I posted my November report on Monday. Don't know how I missed these beauties.

You may not think this image of Peony foliage is anything special. But this is the first time I remember having a Peony whose foliage is still green, upright and disease free in November. Amazing.

Not far away I discovered my Helleborus niger, aka Christmas rose, was up and blooming. I've been growing this plant for a dozen years and it surprises me every time. Its partner across the path is barely visible so I just buried it under a pile of leaves. I don't think it will make a show before spring.

This Larch (Larix laricina) is so blindingly bright that it seems impossible to not see it from everywhere in the garden. I think it must have just turned color quickly because I know I could not have walked past it without seeing it.

On the downside this autumn:

Our paperbark maple which is the last tree to turn color — an intense red — just lost all its leaves in the last two days without seriously coloring up. 

In my sunnier beds, the Alliums I planted in 2022 are popping up and growing as a result of our hot/cold/warm weather conditions. I think this means they will not flower come next spring. They put on a nice show this year so I decided not to add any more bulbs in that area. We'll see what happens come June.

Comments

[Old Lady Gardener]

Wanna see new and exciting things? Walk the same path you walked yesterday.
There's been a lot of "strange" going on with trees, leaf color (or lack of), and leaf drop this fall. Its a bit unnerving frankly! As is perennial blooms out of season.

[Kristin]

I love it that our gardens can still surprise us! I recently planted some autumn crocus for next year, but they are already blooming now! What a surprise and treat!

[Elizabeth]

Those hellebores are beautiful! What a nice treat for the eyes. Isn't it amazing how fast things can change? I can't imagine you missing the color change of the larch either -- it's practically fluorescent. I meant to comment the other day that witch hazel blossoms look like fireworks. Very going out with a bang of it. Hope you're enjoying the end of your autumn.

[Linda Brazill]

OHG and KRISTIN — I just looked at our ten day weather forecast and the highs are in the 50°s and 60°s with overnight lows in the 40s. Nice weather if you are able to ignore that it's climate change staring you in the face.

[Linda Brazill]

ELIZABETH — It's hard to enjoy as much as I'd like because the temps are way too warm for this time of year and there is no rain in the forecast. If my garden up and died overnight, I would be pretty depressed but it's not my livelihood. When you live in the richest (soil wise) growing area in the state, you are too aware of the weather-related farm crisis this year from the drought. Very disturbing weather. 
I realized that the Larch was hidden by the Dawn Redwood. Once it lost its needles, the Larch came into view from far away. 

[Susie at pbmGarden]

Lovely surprises. My peony foliage lasted longer than usual this year but has never made it through the summer without turning brown. Nice to see hellebores again.

[danger garden]

My Instagram feed is full of larch photos right now, everybody's loving that bright color. BTW, your blog is showing up again in my blog reader feed, yay!

[Chavli]

Your Helleborus niger is so lovely!
I counted 20 varieties of Helleborus in my Seattle garden. TWENTY!
Not one of them is blooming right now... maybe I still don't have the right one for early blooms :-)

[Jerry]

I had forgotten about H. niger and how beautiful it can be. Not one that I encounter very often in nurseries. I've tried a few hellebores, but the one that seems happiest so far is H. foetidus. We finally got a decent bit of rain here in western Oregon, but I feel a bit on edge from the forecasts predicting a dry winter.

[Linda Brazill]

CHAVLI — I'm sure I have at least as many Hellebores as you. But only H. niger blooms now. I found one of that variety on PDN's website and planted it two years ago but hasn't bloomed at all as of yet. That variety doesn't seem to be offered very much. 

[Linda Brazill]

JERRY — Still very dry here and no rain in the 10 day forecast. Instead we are having highs in the 50s and 60s and my Alliums are up a foot. Poor garden doesn't know what's happening. Not that any of us do either!