The Smoky Mountains in late Fall

A friend and I met in the Smoky Mountains over the Veterans Day weekend hoping to catch the tail end of the fall foliage peak. We were about a week or two too late. According to The Foliage Network, the leaves hit their peak around October 28th and were past peak by November 8th. Leaf drop was high in the Smokies, but my drive up through Alabama and Tennessee was really gorgeous. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Perennial Corner

In the old house, I had a great little perennial bed with rose, shasta daisy, echinacea, daylilly, and gladiolus. I loved that bed because it brightened up the whole front yard. I wanted to do the same thing in the flower bed here at the new house, but there wasn't a good place to do it. The randomly placed junipers in the front bed made everything difficult. Over the past few months I've dug and moved 5 or 6 junipers to one corner of the garden. If you've ever tried to move a mature juniper plant, you know how difficult it is. Every Saturday my arms would look terrible. All red and patchy where they stuck me. I moved the last two junipers on Saturday morning to make room for a perennial bed! I'd already placed the shasta daisy and one echinacea in April. I moved the other plants out of the way, and here is the new bed.


Back row (circled in yellow) : two Russian Sage

Middle row (circled in red) : two Shasta Daisy

Front row, from left to right ( circled in blue) : Echinacea Sundown, Echinacea Twilight, Echinacea Ruby Giant

This is what they'll look like all together. Beautiful! I can't wait until next spring!