I returned home from Japan and Indonesia on late Thursday evening to find my main display garden ablaze in color, what a nice welcome home! Although the colors are beautiful, they are not quite at their peak… yet. Probably next week or the week after they should be even better.

Most people think the cold temperatures bring on the autumn colors of deciduous species. However, the onset of dormancy actually begins on June 21^st when the daylight decreases. Although the diminishing light is not immediately apparent to humans, the plants can detect the reduced light. This stimulates the onset of dormancy, but the cooler weather in September is more apparent to people. Sometimes after a hard frost or freeze colors intensify.

It’s interesting that some species always turn a certain color in autumn, like the Ginkgo which always turns clear yellow. Burning bush, Euonymus alatus, always turns red to…