Autumn Color, Part Deux

It's raining like crazy at the moment, and is expected to continue this way through tomorrow, so I'm sure all of the beautiful autumn leaves will be lying on the ground by Wednesday morning.  For the time being, though, it's still looking great outside the window.

Here's one of Japanese Maple "Crimson Queen" yesterday at the Big House.  The laceleaf is really fabulous against the very sharp angles of that stone pillar.

Here is that same Crimson Queen next to another (obviously much larger) Japanese Maple.  The contrast in color is pretty awesome in my mind. 

Plain old Nandina is showing off her stuff at this time of year, as well! 

The fruits of Crataegus "Winter King" against the brown of a Dawn Redwood ready to drop it's summer outfit. 

This container has three different examples of the same plant.  Used to be called "Korean Mum," with "Sheffield" being the most commonly available cultivar.  For some reason it is now Dendrathema rubella, and tends to cross-pollinate like crazy.  What I love about this is that all of the offspring tend to be different shades of the same color family, so they blend together beautifully.  When they go out of bloom, I'll put them into the garden, where they usually live happily for years, and continue to develop into larger mounds.  They are very drought tolerant and bloom for several weeks in the fall. 

Ivy topiary with "Antique Shades" pansies.  In this particular case, it's really all about the Italian terra cotta container. 

So far I am loving Camellia x "Winter's Star," which is going bonkers right now.  What I find most impressive is that this hedge is in full Western sun, and seems to be just fine!  Since it was such a long hot summer this year, I can't wait to see it mature and fill in more.