Seasons Of Change

3 Really Cool Plants

In B.C., fall/autumn is my favourite season. It even tops spring IMO.

I mean, summer is alright but I’ve never really enjoyed wearing a bathing suit and just hanging out at the beach isn’t my thing.

Winter is nice. The snow offers fun outdoor activities and Christmas rocks.

Fall though…is such a great mix of all the best things.

I basically live for the days between September 1 to January 2 so anytime in that range is acceptable, really.

The weather is refreshing, it’s often the perfect temperature to do the stuff I like doing outdoors and it’s harvest season. Comfort foods, baking, Christmas on the horizon, end of summer sales, less expensive travel all make this season a top fav. One of the most unique offerings of fall is viewing the amazing changes in plant colours.

It’s hard to miss the vibrant tones and on a walk this morning, I noticed again how stunning certain plants and tree leaves were as they change at this time of year.

Thinking about it more, there are a few shrubs/trees/flowers out there that are super cool when it comes to the way they change colour or the ability we have to change it for them.

• 1.)- Burning Bush (euonymus alatus) This one is at its peak of self-alteration right now. From green to red this shrub changes colour quite quickly and like in the photo, is as bright red/pink as anything could get.
• 2.)- Hydrangea

A neat thing about the hydrangea (which I didn’t know until recently) is that if you aren’t stoked on whatever colour it is, by altering the pH in the soil, voila! — you get purple or red or blue ones instead. Isn’t that cool? Who knew? (I certainly didn’t).

• 3.)- Confederate Rose (hibiscus mutabilis)

As gardeningknowhow.com shares, “the Confederate Rose is famous for its dramatic colour changes, with flowers that can go from white to pink to deep red within one day.”

Even faster than the burning bush, this flower has moodring-type behaviours and goes from one shade to another as quickly as dawn to dusk.

Whelp, there’s some useless information for ya’ on this (Canadian) Thanksgiving Friday.

-Becky