Energetic Fall Color

It's getting down into the 30s overnight again this week, but there is still a lot of color in my garden. My 'Vodka' wax begonias are still going strong, as are the tiny blue flowers of the borage. A handful of nasturtiums, pathetically down to just a set or two of leaves, are still sporting multiple bright red flowers. 'Paprika' yarrow is blooming, and so is one of my two 'Matrona' sedums.

Grasses are flaunting a range of color from buff to dark red, and the spears of Siberian iris foliage are turning bright yellow. Most of fall's color seems to be warm and tonal, but there are a few more energetic combinations in my yard as well.

The 'Flashback' mixed calendula that I whacked back to one set of leaves in early September is adding apricot and bright orange shades to an area of garden that also sports the bright red foliage of fall blueberry bushes and 'Dragon's Blood' sedum, bright silver 'Newe Ya'ar' salvia, and the bold 'Rhubard' chard.

On the other end of the hot/cold color spectrum, electric-yellow tones of an unnamed hosta provide a shocking contrast to the silver foliage of 'Powis Castle' artemisia and the cool purple of the small 'Regina' heuchera. The tan fallen leaves of the neighbor's beech tone down the wattage, but just slightly so. This is not a combination that I would want to see in my garden year-round, quite frankly, but at this point in autumn it's knocking me out in a good way!