A Get Growing reader emailed me that he was the proud owner of two new trees. He got them after reading my post on fall color.

I thought I'd show you a few more autumn happenings in my garden.

This is beautyberry, aka Callicarpa. It has the most amazing (inedible) berries I've ever seen on a plant: metallic purple. It's incredible. I have two in my garden. They seem to like water more than my other shrubs do. The one I have planted in partial shade does much better than the one I have in full sun. The rest of the year it's rather inconspicuous but that changes comes fall.

This is sedum 'Autumn Joy.' There are several similar varieties on the market, all closely resembling each other. The leaves are grey-green and fleshy. It only grows about a foot high and makes a good front of the border choice when planted in a group.

I showed a branch of this tree, the stewartia pseudocamellia, in my last post. The tree has since turned a full crimson. It's spectacular. Can't reccommend this four-season tree enough.

This is a two-in-one. The foreground tree is a witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia). I have the red flowering variety 'Diane.' Right now the leaves are almost all bright yellow. These trees stay small and are the first to bloom (right after New Year's) with spidery red flowers. Looks fabulous when backlit.

In the background is a paperbark maple (Acer griseum). This is another great four-season tree. As you can see it has wonderful fall color. But it also its trademark flaky brown bark in winter and wonderful little green tri-tipped leaves in spring and summer.

Get out of the house this weekend and check out fall color whether it's in a nursery or just in the yards and forests of Puget Sound.

This is the height of the fall color season in the Pacific Northwest. Though we can't match New England's display there's an appreciable amount of color in our region from both native and non-native shrubs and trees.

Trouble is, gas prices make leaf-peeping tours a bit hard to finance.

The answer: create your backyard kaleidoscope of colors. Not only is this a great time of year to plant (yes, shrubs and trees do fantastically when planted in fall and you don't have to worry about watering them) but you can see what your future garden residents look like wearing their yellows, oranges and reds.

Take a trip to your favorite nursery or visit a new one. You'll have the opportunity to see exactly what your new shrub or tree will look like every autumn.

One thing to keep in mind: you'll get better color results from plants in full sun.

Here's a few from my garden:

This is a branch of my Stewartia pseudocamillia tree. This remains one of my favorite small trees. It has lovely dogwood-like blossoms in spring, shiny green leaves in summer, an interesting form in winter and you can see the fall color for yourself.

This is the smoke tree (or bush) otherwise known as Cotinus coggygria. I have two 'Royal Purple' varieties in my yard. The summer foliage is indeed a dark purple but turns brick red in fall. There are also green leaved and golden leaved varieties out there though I'm not sure what their fall colors look like.

My last example is a less common tree but gaining in popularity in our area. It's a Parrotia persica also known as Persian Ironwood. I don't know if it has super strong wood but its original home must be Iran. It has a nice form and great fall color as you can see. In winter it has an interesting bark pattern similar to the the Psudocamillia.

There are countless other great varieties of fall color choices out there. Go find them and make your own leaf-peeper's paradise.

Mushrooms, yellow leaves, rose hips. We all have images in our mind when it comes to fall in the garden.

One of mine is spider webs. I almost smacked face first into this one when I went to check on my tomatoes this morning. Its owner was nowhere to be seen but I left it undisturbed in case she was still using it.

And besides, who could destroy such a thing of beauty?

If you’re looking for remodeling ideas, you’ll find them in abundance at this weekend’s 11th Annual Tour of Remodeled Homes, sponsored by the Master Builders Association of Pierce County.

A total of 15 homes will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $15 in advance at Harborstone Credit Union or $20 on the day of the tour. Proceeds benefit the Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital Helping Hands Fund.

You can tour as many or as few projects as you wish, in any order. You’ll find a remodeled kitchen in Puyallup, an outdoor living room in Milton, a whole-house remodel in Lakewood and a few kitchen/living room combinations in Tacoma, along with many other projects.

You can get a sneak preview of each remodeling effort, along with details about the project and driving directions to the home, on the tour Web site, www.mba-tour.com.

For more information, call 253-272-2112 or check the tour Web site.

An interesting story on the McClatchy-Tribune wire today about kids mowing the lawn. What age should they start?

I do most of the yard work (which explains why my yard is so haphazard, haha), but I do pay a neighbor kid (thanks Jake!) to cut the lawn every week. My son is 7. In three years, I imagine he'll be putting Jake out of business.

Your thoughts on how old kids should be when taking over the lawn mowing duties? E-mail a comment or post here:

The story from MCT:

You’re ready for the kids to mow, but are they?

By Brian McTavish
McClatchy Newspapers

Whether seen as a rite of passage or merely a seasonal chore, one thing’s for sure: There’s still time to cut the grass, kids.

But at what age can youngsters safely mow the lawn?

“There are kids mature enough to handle it by 9 or 10,” said lawn disciple Jerry Moore, senior manager of the local Grass Pad Warehouse chain.

Moore’s father taught him to mow at an even earlier age.
“The first season or two, Dad had to start the lawn mower and I had to push it,” he said. “And the next year I had to start it.”

What motivated him to keep mowing?
“It was Economics 101,” Moore said. “If I wanted money in my pocket to buy candy or go see the county fair or take Lulu to the movie, I had to earn it by mowing the lawn.”

Besides being physically able to perform the job, a clear sign of mowing readiness is how a child responsibly maneuvers a bicycle. That’s how Moore decided his two daughters were prepared.

“When they rode their bike and they were poised and confident and cautious — and not just totally fearless of all bodily injury — then I put them on the riding lawn mower,” Moore said.

Learning how to mow isn’t only about the lawn. It can also be a life lesson.

“A parent has the opportunity to instill in the child a sense of pride in completing a task,” he said. “That’s what you have to teach them.”

Do his girls still look forward to the task?

“Well, my girls are now 18 and 21 and in college, and I have relegated myself back to lawn mowing,” Moore said.

“So parents should take advantage. Once your children drive and discover the opposite sex, lawn mowing is a little harder to enforce.”

I still haven't seen Heath Ledger's final performance in "Batman" but I thought of him and my niece, Heather, when I shot this photo.

This is my heath and heather garden. A single heath or heather by itself isn't impressive and even a patch of the same variety doesn't have much impact. But, if you have the space, a group of them with contrasting foliage color makes a painter's palette.

In this collection I have a blue star juniper growing in the middle to add even more color.

In order to really be effective you need a hillside or an elevated spot to view it though I shot this photo from ground level.

We sometimes report on the green-thumb setbacks of Stacey Mulick, our newsroom crime diva girl. Today? She reports success. We applaud her gynormous tomatoes (Don't get me started on how fugly mine are. Yellow, small, and... pathetic).

Tomato news from Stacey:

It’s not been the best of summers for tomatoes, especially with last week’s more fall-like clouds and temperatures.

But I must say, my two tomato plants are growing wildly. We planted two varieties of grape tomatoes that we bought in May at the Puyallup Farmers Market.

The tag on one said it was for smaller spaces. The other one has completely outgrown the spiral wire support that initially helped provide some stability. Now, I’ve got branches going along the grass line and into the other tomato plant. It’s crazy but promising. (I’m glad I talked my husband out of trying three tomato starts. We would not have had the room.)

The only thing I did differently with my tomatoes this year is fertilize them once in July, I believe, with a tomato fertilizer.

Up until now, though, we’ve only had a handful of ripened tomatoes to pluck off. And they were pretty teeny at that.

I’ve got several dozen green tomatoes ripening on the vines right now and more yellow flowers still blooming. I only hope enough sunshine will bless the South Sound for the remainder of the summer to get a bountiful crop before the weather turns for good.

Here, a photo, see for yourself.

If you can't get over to Vashon or Sequim for lavender, there is a closer option.

Stringtown Farms and Winery in Eatonville will open for U-cut lavender tomorrow. Details from the farm's press release:

Open: Beginning Saturday, July 19, 2008, until about mid-August (depending on the weather).

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Bloom Report: The early blooming Purple Bouquet and Ana Luisa (English lavenders) will be at their p eak for opening day. The later lavenders, including Grosso and Edelweiss (white), should reach their full bloom later in July.

Plants: Both field grown lavender plants and small nursery plants in the various lavender varieties will be available for sale.

Stringtown Farms/Stringtown Cellars
9121 Stringtown Road
Eatonville, Washington 98328
360.832.4743
stringtownfarm@aol.com
www.stringtownfarms.com

Cynthia Johnson bought her farm, Fox Farm, on Vashon for a respite from her busy day job as an obstetrician. The lavender obsession came later after a trip to France and a landscaping project hooked her.

She remembers a moment one morning in her garden that changed her from just a gardener to a lavender horticulturist and farmer. “The sun was just coming up. I saw these bees sleeping on the lavender blooms. As the sun warmed it up, it was magic. I just fell in love with it. Now when I go out to pick, I just can’t stop picking.”

She started propagating lavender, even coming up with her own kinda sorta variety (she and other Vashon lavender growers aren’t sure what it is, so she calls it ‘fox farm,’ named after her farm). She grows dozens of different varieties. Her farm is one of three opening Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Vashon Lavender Farm Tour (see info box for details).

Johnson classifies four categories of her favorite lavenders: Lavandula angustifolia; L. x intermedia. Lavandula stoechas and Lavandula dentata. Click the "read more" box below to see how she explains the two kinds she primarily grows and sells, angustifolias and intermedias.

The Vashon Lavender Farm Tour
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Three Vashon farms, Fox Farm (17232 107th S.W.), Lavender Sister’s Farm (16335 Crescent Drive S.W.) and Lavender Hill Farm (10425 S.W. 238th St.)
Cost: $5 (free for children 18 and younger). Tickets available at the farms. Proceeds benefit the Vashon Youth Council.
Transportation: A free shuttle bus will offer transportation for the 9:15 a.m. ferry at the north ferry dock that goes to the three farms and the Tahlequah ferry dock. For ferry schedules, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.
Information: www.vashonlavender.com or call 206-463-3115

The Sequim Lavender Festival
There is another lavender festival this weekend in addition to the Vashon lavender festival. Here are details:
What: Sequim Lavender Festival
When: Friday through Sunday
Where: Various farms and locations in and around Sequim
Tickets: $15 (12 and younger admitted free)
Info: www.lavenderfestival.com or 1-877-681-3035

Here is a pretty picture of lavender taken in Craig Sailor's North Tacoma garden.

=> Read more!

News Tribune artist Fred Matamoros is our number one Get Growing blog groupie. He reads us religiously (let that be a lesson to you readers, if you read us regularly, we will post about you prolifically).

He read my post asking where locals find beautiful hostas and emailed me a few pics of the hostas growing in his Lacey yard. He also gave a hosta nursery tip. He bought his at Springhill Nursery.

Says Fred:

Normally mail order plants arrive wimpy or dead-looking. I bought these during one of their “9 for $29.99” sales and they arrive as tubers. They were slow to establish but after much babying they seem to be doing great. I will be dividing them this fall.

Watch for Jean Parietti's hosta story in the July 12 Home&Garden section.

Here, enjoy Fred's pics: