"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower." - Albert CamusThe season is turning, and while we are still a few weeks away from the glorious golden, amber and scarlet days of autumn colour, my thoughts have been towards them for many months.
It has been over a year now since D and I ditched our initial plan of having two rows of medium sized trees lining a central path that would lead from the entry of our front verandah towards the street, deciding instead to plant one central (yet spectacular) giant tree. You know, the 'feature tree', the beating heart of our garden.
Our house faces west, so the trees practical purpose is to shield some of the blazing hot afternoon sun in summer, but of course we want it to be deciduous so that we can enjoy as much light and warmth from the winter sun as possible. And if we are going to have a deciduous tree, before it drops its leaves each year, I figure it may as well dazzle us for a few weeks beforehand with a brilliant display of autumn colour.
So, after D giving me a few practical guiding specs I started a short list, researched and googled, spied out 'special' trees in the neighbourhood, and after a few months found the one. I found it when passing through Minmi en-route to my sister's house last autumn. It was a glowing show of vibrant colour, spring and autumn all in the one moment, the tree holding the most vivid lime green leaves while at the same time displaying intense reds and oranges (not to mention a tidy pyramidal growth habit) I was sold - but what was it? Desperate to know, I pulled over and placed a little note in the corresponding letterbox reading "Hey, I love your tree, what is it?" including my mobile number in the hope they would get back to me - and they did.
Its name: Black Tupelo. Its beauty: second to none. Its growth rate: slooow (cringe). Its appropriateness for our site: incompatible (humph).
Of course I was totally bummed, and though I searched for an alternative of equal appeal I just couldn't find anything as special - in fact nothing came close.
So last Saturday, off to Heritage Gardens I went in the hope that maybe, in person, another tree would prove a worthy substitute.
Standing in the pouring rain under the canopy of my umbrella I walked through aisles and aisles of newly stocked 'autumn colour' trees. Maples, Acers, Liquidambars and very advanced (slightly tempting) London Plane Trees. Though all beautiful trees they didn't quite do it for me; they were all still very green, and very generic looking. And then, a little further down the path I spotted shades of brilliant reddy-orange, and of course there before me was the Black Tupelo.
Painfully aware that nothing else was going to cut it, I called in the help of the onsite horticulturalist to discus the suitability of the tree for our site and was reassured that if I was willing to give it a little extra care I could make it work. And work I will if it means I don't have to settle for second best.
So 'yay', our feature tree has now been purchased! In the coming weeks, once it's fully dormant we will plant it and hope for the best. If it survives and thrives, the front yard (in about 20 years) will have a centre piece that looks a lot like this - how divine!
(picture taken from arborday.org)
