Douglas Justice's blog for November is up at November in the Garden 2022 - UBC Botanical Garden, and as usual, there are lots of good photos there. I got distracted around the food garden, and then my phone (camera) battery died (so glad that happened before my upcoming Honolulu trip, so I have a new battery now), which is to repeat, see the blog for what Douglas says is of interest now. Here are a couple of plants mentioned in the blog. Disanthus cercidifolius has been a favourite for several years, usually with thin little flowers completely hidden under the leaves, but this year, they decided to show off. The fruits are white heart-shaped things, so I don't know what exactly is the white thing in the third photo. Montauk daisy (spelling corrected, as per Ron B's posting), Nipponanthemum nipponicum, in the Asian Garden, has just a few flowers. Back to coloured leaves, I didn't get to walk over to the Liquidambar styraciflua on the main lawn in the North Garden, but these were easy to see. They are common on our city streets and parks. Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Boston ivy, on the trellis next to the food garden, is looking splendid. There are two cultivars listed there, 'Lowii' and 'Veitchii', the latter of which, according to Garden Explorer, has a common name of Japanese ivy, and it doesn't mention Boston ivy as a common name. I don't know which this is; the last photo might show both of them. This was not written up in the blog. Edited: I see that in 2019 I posted this one with the red leaves as the 'Lowii' cultivar, so I must have seen the label then. There is also P. quinquefolia in there as well, still with green leaves. Wow, spellcheck corrected my original spelling of quinquefolia. This might be Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Robusta', on the walkway up to the Garden Pavilion. That's Asimina triloba peeking over the wall under the Parthenocissus in the first photo. I forget what Linda Layne told me - maybe it had a flower, but it did not have any fruits. While I'm doing yellow leaves, here is Celastrus scandens, along the north fence in the North Garden.
@Ron B, thanks for noticing that the spelling should be Montauk daisy. I have corrected it above, and Douglas thanks you and will correct it in the blog.
I mentioned getting distracted in the food garden last week. Here are some Brassicaceae flowers. Diplotaxus tenuifolia, an arugula or wall-rocket with flowers that I didn't recognize for that. Next to these was Brassica oleracea (Alboglabra Group) 'Green Pearl', common name Gai Lan. The other food garden distractions were fruits. Here is Aronia melanocarpa, chokeberry. These were past their prime, but they were still juicy and tasty. It didn't seem that any were missing from the shrub - are birds not at all interested in these? I only found one persimmon on the Diospyros kaki 'Izu', not ripe yet. The other fruits that interested me are not edible - I think this is Ilex verticillata, though I did not find the label this time. I'll end with a spectacular (for colour) Juglans nigra.
I got my chance on November 24, and the sun even came out. This is Liquidambar styraciflua 'Lane Roberts', which never seems to have many fruits. I thought there was only one, but then I did find two more. But it has a beautiful shape and the dense autumn foliage is eye-catching from quite a distance. Liquidambar styraciflua 'Worplesdon' has lost many of its leaves, but it has lots of fruits from this year and still from last year. It has a few new suckers. There were more than one, easier to see with no leaves.
In the October Sorbus thread, I wrote: This was even more spectacular this week, with huge dense fruit clusters standing out against the autumn coloured leaves. Douglas Justice assures me that the two trees growing from the stump are the same species, but one (third photo) had almost no fruits, and the ones it had are gone now. Of course, maybe its fruits were more attractive to birds, but that still doesn't make a case for its being the same species. The yellow leaves to the left belong to Lindera obtusiloba. I've been overwhelmed by how the photo colours have varied today on the same plants. At least in the previous three, the last one was taken 90 minutes after the other two. I tried what I thought was fairly extreme editing, but I can't come close to the impression I had when I was there. Now that I'm into yellow, here is Liriodendron tulipifera, in the Carolinian forest. This tree, same species, looks totally different in habit, leaf shape and autumn colouring. Nearby is Larix laricina. In the Australian section of the E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden (this is a hint to next month's blog) is this young Nothofagus antarctica.
Just a few more to wrap up November. Oxydendrum arboreum was even in the blog this month. I must have been too early on my last visit, as I didn't find them at all. This week, I found one with red leaves, and I didn't realize it even was this species. It has no fruits. The older trees were sort of a dull yellow. But they had a lot of fruits, now dried up. The Franklinia alatamaha is eye-catching, good colour and decorated with white buds. Metasequoia glyptostroboides have coloured up nicely, as have Taxodium distichum. Both are deciduous conifers. The first two photos are the same individual, I think. Euonymus europaeus fruits are so decorative. Here is one more, from the Asian Garden, Enkianthus campanulatus var. sikokianus.
