As you leave the visitor’s center, you face the bulk of the Main Border from the apple trees on your right to the Pink Section on your left.  The last flowers on the pale yellow Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ are just south of the apples backed by the yellow foliage and yellow fall color on several trees – Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ and our tallest tree, Liriodendron tulipifera ‘Aureomarginatum’.  Just to the left (south) of this tulip tree is the pink flower and foliage of Fallopia japonica ‘Crimson Beauty’ which has become extremely large for a herbaceous perennial, ten feet tall and as wide. 

To the south is the area we call the Pink Section with fall color on the Astilbes and Peonies and a background of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’ and Eupatorium fistulosum ‘Gateway’.  As you walk down the grass slope you go past the Variegated and Saturated Section and reach the Hot Border which is centered on the point where the grass and gravel meet.  At this point, you will see flowers on the Schizostylis coccinea and the burgundy foliage of Plantago major ‘Rubrifolia’ which before going dormant for fall will show a great deal more color as the weather gets colder.  In a normal year, clean up will have begun here and we would have cut back Iris, Euphorbia, Astilbe, and Crocosmia.  Usually a hard rain has beaten them down and we need to give some of the spring perennials, like primroses, a bit more light. 

Up the gravel path is the Yellow, Black and Blue Section – one of our most lively fall displays.  In the background (up slope) is Cornus stolonifera ‘Sunshine’ going pale to yellow from chartreuse in fall along with Miscanthus sinensus ‘Strictus’ or Porcupine Grass.  In front of the grass are the brown seed heads of Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm' and the Golden Creeping Jenny ground cover mixed with Black Mondo Grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’.  There is a nice clump of a late sunflower, Helianthus salicifolius, a hard to find perennial with a faint fragrance of chocolate next to the gravel path. 

Behind you are two large clumps of Pampas Grass.  The short one, a named cultivar, is Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’.  These grasses make for a nice focal point and also an interesting exclamation from a distance; be sure to look back down the path when you reach the north end of the main border. 

 About halfway up the gravel path is one of the latest of the Salvias, S. uliginosa on your right.  This plant looks terrible and weak after a hard winter, but always gives you a good fall show of blue flowers.  Behind this part of the border is a good-sized Acer palmatum ‘Nuresagi’, which will turn a good red color for fall.  A bit further north are two shrubs with purple porcelain-like berries, Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’.  The fruit will stay on these late into the fall with the leaves turning yellow.

 The Aster Border is our last section here with a selection of Asters chosen for mildew resistance and good fall performance.  Your local nursery can help you choose good asters for your site from the varieties available.  Some of our plants were purchased mail order and are no longer commonly available (please see the October walk-through  for names of varieties).  We do propagate from the borders and sell at the NPA Plant Sale (a member’s sale) and at the Bellevue Botanical Garden Plant Sale.  Underneath the large apple trees next to the maintenance yard fence is our “Nursery” with some of our work for those plant sales.  We do divisions and pot up seedlings in the fall and spring, either on special potting class days or on one of our regular second Sunday work crew days.

 Also stored here usually is our large pile of dairy cow manure, which we use as mulch.  It is the only fertilizer we use at this time except for bulb food for the spring bulbs.  We mulch throughout the late fall and winter.  This is a large part of our crew work and part of the general maintenance program as we use it for weed control.

 From here you can follow the hazelnut path into the Double Border.  You will pass several clumps of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ (a tall silver grass just barely showing a bit of color) and enter the interior of the border.  Here are Peonies, Sedums, Hemerocallis, Persicaria amplexicaule ‘Firetail’ and Fuchsias – all going over into dormancy.  We look at the Border at this time of year as a very intense experience of color and process, but also as the beginning of our calendar of stewardship leading to another year of growth.