I've never been a big fan of little bluestem, Zach, but I've never seen that winter color before either! Very cool! It's interesting that you have the finches eating your Echinacea seeds! They never bother with mine--or the Rudbeckia fulgida, which has a kazillion seedheads! Maybe it's because I have so many feeders out that they just find it easier to go there!

The only Winter Interest I have pics of so far is October Daphne, and I just happened to take a pic of that on Sunday when I was out planting my LAST thing in the ground for this year--the first year I ever got EVERYTHING in--before spring! Here are a few pics! I've never had it get quite this red before! I think possibly it's because it got so dry while I was out trippin', and then it had a really long fall to do its thing! Now it'll gradually turn tan, and unless it gets totally smashed down by snow, it'll be out there the rest of the winter!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eERMqAk1gcK86ktJfDh3padtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6adM8RMoUDj2DJHIYqP3zqdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dMWu9aYU8I0UQGRXMQRhLadtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

This is what it looks like over summer! It wasn't very big yet in this June pic, but it's the only other one I took this summer!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/x1xL5wz7JFzVGr9xDnknuadtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

My Panicum 'Heavy Metal' is lookin' pretty good too, but I don't have any recent pics!

Hey, how about this! It's my new baby Cyclamen hederifolium just starting to grow it's winter leaves! It's summer dormant and then it grows two-tone green leaves that look wonderful over winter--and goes dormant again in spring! I just got this one at Timberline at Kelly's last open house in June, so it really is very small yet--but the leaves are just starting to appear now, so it will definitely be bigger and better over winter when the rest of them grow and get to be full size! This is my second C. h.! I got one years ago at Paulino's that was "supposed to be" pink, but it turned out to be white. When I saw that Kelly had pink ones, I had to get one! Hopefully when it blooms late next summer it really WILL be pink!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-oQozXw28mrNCZvsgSOWSKdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

Anybody else have some good things to look at this winter?

Skybird

All of the snow--outside, with me--inside!!! I need snowshoes to explore any further, just taking the dogs out and semi-keeping up with them in a workout. At least the snow is still soft enough that they fall through as well, when it has a frozen crust they run along on top with me breaking through behind.

Greetings from Oklahoma. We get our first freeze tomorrow and have been watching the storms which are coming our way, we may get snow next week which is not typical for us. People who live around here always listen for news of that first snow in Colorado, its a sign of winter, a kind of annual signal. Snow is supposed to hit the panhandle tonight.

Here's a shot of Little Bluestem I took a couple days ago. Its hands down my favorite grass for winter interest, the red color is a standout and the fluffy seeds sparkle in late afternoon sun (middle of photo). We don't have snow cover here much in winter so it really helps to have the grasses.

I've been googling plants all summer looking for the best plants for winter interest and texture, its my latest garden obsession. Annual gaillardia is a good one with those round fuzzy balls but I've been seriously bit with the native grass bug.

We put out a lot of niger/thistle seed for the finches, Skybird, but they still seem to enjoy eating the seed heads! Just the goldfinches though, not the bigger house finches.

That daphne is really cool! Nice color contrast between the red/blue! All of my succulents are now completely flattened, and look terrible... might bring that up in another thread actually...

My panicum's were looking pretty good, nice red coloring on the tips. but they cured very quickly (like overnight it seems) for some reason and now just look like straw. I hope that is normal and not a sign of bad news come spring. Does that sound typical to you or do you suspect I will be at a loss next year?

Man, TR, your garden still looks so vibrant! After getting squashed by some wet heavy snow, most of mine just looks disheveled sad. Plus, there's still quite a bit of leaf litter out there that I wasn't able to get cleaned up before the snow hit, so that makes it look extra sad. Oh how I WISH snow was a rarity here. You could pass of your yard as mid June rather than mid November. Gaillardias WOULD look great with those pom-poms, but, they are not as "springy" as the grasses, so they just stay flat after getting buried by snow. I guess it's not all bad, it does provide moisture and insulation for the really cold days (not looking forward to the inevitable single-digit high's next month and January...)

My panicums went to dormant straw color this year too. Usually I get some nice color first that comes on gradually but this year they went from green to dried up looking, skipping the color change altogether.

The best grass color I get is from 'Blue Heaven' Little bluestem, the praises they sing on this one are not exaggerated and I think it would stand up best in snow, it'll stay standing with good color even in too much shade.. I really like it planted close to the yellowish-green blue grama, makes for good colors together and good texture contrast too.

I got good deep red color from my one and only 'Red October' Big Blue. I ordered 6 more this fall because I was so impressed, they color up early--those are as advertised, I don't think they hype the photos online.

What kind of panicum do you have? I don't have a single good panicum for red color. Rothstalhbusch (spelling?) has never turned even remotely red in 4 years (or is it 5 now?). I'm seriously eyeing 'Hot Rod' but also like Cheyenne Sky. The 'Northwinds' turn bright yellow, usually that is. 'Heavy Metal' is not so colorful.

Hey, Ive got "red and blue" too, course not the nice effect it has on the same plant, like your daphne, Skybird!

This is my first year with most of these plants, just put in my "xeric" bed this spring/summer. So far none of my grasses really get totally knocked down flat, well, at least not permanently. They usually spring back to their nice upright position once the snow melts. Course, after several months of getting bent over, more and more stems break which DONT come back up. But, they should keep nice form for a good part of the winter. Then they will all get chopped down to just a few inches in early spring, on a nice day March. I believe the LBS I have is 'The Blues' which was the only one I could find for sale around here. The blue color gets kind of "lost" with everything else in the summer, mostly just giving height and texture to the landscaping in that bed.

I have "Shenandoah" P. virgatum. Only the tips of the leaves turn red, the rest is green. It's not a brick red, either more of a dark maroon/burgundy color. It's much less vibrant right now than it is before the leaves completely dry, but here's sort of what I mean.

I have a lot of BBS seed, which I am hoping to find a place to plant some, though, these are just plain, wild-type seed, they will probably be more less the same fall color as the LBS rather than the truly bright red of the 'Red October'. I just look up some pictures of that on the internet...WOW!

Muhlenbergia 'Pink Flamingo'

Skybird, I ordered that big pink M. 'Flamingo' grass at HCG three years ago & I just got 3 'Autumn Fire' Sedum, mostly for the winter interest from Santa Rosa Gardens earlier this fall. A piece broke off one and now I have 4 plants, it roots fast. You're right, I think it'll look good with grasses too, I saw it in winter mode online and ordered it especially with that in mind, I planted them by a mass planting of LBS on a dry hill out back in a mostly greys and blue foliage garden I've been working on the last couple years. Does the s. seiboldii have seed stalks like the Autumn kinds? I love the foliage.

Zach, what is the blue leaved plant by the LBS grass? I like that combination of the red with blue very much.

I just ordered several more LBS 'Blue Heaven' from Santa Rosa Gardens, they sent me an email of fall plants with super mark down prices, $2.95 each. These are usually very high priced online so it seemed like a real bargain and there is no place local that sells "prairie grass" like common LBS, not in Oklahoma, most people wouldn't understand that at all and I doubt they'd sell many. The shipment is scheduled for mid March & I couldn't resist the price along with a $5 off coupon. I also got 3 Schizachyrium 'Carousel' to try out, its a shorter, more compact type.

I sent starts of the P. rotstrahlbusch to a friend in NM, I'll ask if it turned red up there in the mountains where she lives just outside Albuquerque. I like the smaller size of it so I'm keeping it, red or no. Its starts putting up seed stalks earlier than Northwind or Heavy Metal and the plants are very dense.

Ranger, the S. sieboldii is the October Daphne I linked above. In my first post there's three pics of it the way it looks right now and one of it in summer before it's blooming, and in my last post I added a pic of it near the end of winter last year, a pic of it when it was starting to grow last spring, and a couple pics of it blooming. It's like the "upright" sedum you have, in terms of adding winter interest, but it stays low with a very "curving" form. Check out the pics above. I think you'll like it--pretty round, blue leaves, with pretty "round" flowers, on a nice little round plant!

If you like the "upright" sedums (they used to all be S. spectabile, but most of them just have "Sedum" and the variety name these days! I still prefer to add the spectabile!), you might want to try some of the ones with the "dark" leaves! They're the same as your 'Autumn Fire', but instead of plain green leaves they have purple/red/brown leaves, depending on the variety. Here's a couple I have.

The first one is 'Purple Emperor'. Starting to grow in spring - then a pic of it when it's blooming - then a pic of the flowers. I don't have any "good" pics of it in winter 'cause mine doesn't get enough sun and gets too much water so I have to "tie it up," and by the time it gets to winter it doesn't usually look very good! Would look much better, like your current upright sedum, in full sun with little water!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PE2axSNtllq22y-07b7T0cgpuXoZ4V6bITlOUXLO-H0?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bA0c4JcEQufGIQJD7V7s5AX9MxwOZmSrWFKwU5Jr3u8?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/v0FcjH4-Lb-_n-jfuqRJt6dtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

The second one is 'Postman's Pride', the darkest leaf one I have. Starting to grow - and the best pic I have of it when it's getting bigger, but before it's blooming.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J7GXg2xl4y9b5byTg_ivOMgpuXoZ4V6bITlOUXLO-H0?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Nw0Wm89LXSHUs5DfeJkOsqdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

The dark foliage can add some really nice accents, especially if you have a lot of blue and/or silver things. Consider getting one or two to try!

The Muhlenbergia is really pretty--but it's zone 6! "Might" grow here--but might not! That's too bad! I really like the grasses with the "airy" seedheads, and that pink is way cool!

You might want to consider getting addicted to Hen & chicks, Sempervivum! They'd look good tucked in here and there among all your other xeric stuff! I have 37 different varieties by now! Truly addicted! They come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors--actually, the best color is in spring to early summer! By mid summer into fall most of them look pretty much just green! This thread goes all the way back to '09 when I was just getting started! Now I can't stop! Too bad you don't live closer to Denver--I give starts away at our swaps!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2135209/hen-and-chicks-addiction?n=14

Skybird

It's mostly the
goldfinches that eat the thistle seeds here, too. I have seen a house finch on
the the thistle feeder on rare occasion and also a chickadee even more rarely.
But we must have stolen your birds, because we have goldfinches coming out of
our ears almost all year long.

I feel better about my grass now thanks you both confirming that it is somewhat
normal. Well, I did expect it to dry out and cure, that's what grasses do, it
just seemed like it happened so quickly I was concerned. The heavy snow in
spring is usually what does my feather reed's in, too. They are a big pile of
sticks come march, usually just in time to cut them down for the new growth.
This year they will be divided, they are starting to look like doughnuts.

Blue fescue is another one I love as well, Skybird (Of course mine is covered
completely by snow still.) And, unfortunately, so do the rabbits. That, and my
blue grama are their favorite of my plants. Not the big 'Blonde Ambition' blue
grama, they will only eat the small "wild type" ones I grew from
seed.

I DID get all the leaves cleaned up yesterday because all the snow has been
melted off that bed for a few days now and they were dry enough to hit with the
leaf blower/sucker, plus it was such a nice day, I hated the thought of being
inside. Now, the trees are bare and the bed is 98% leaf free! So, hopefully it
will be good for the rest of the season.

I have been furiously raking every single week that I could. Well, I had to be
on the roof cleaning out gutters once a week anyways so I figured I might as
well clean up all the leaves while I was at it. So, for the most part, my yard
has been fairly leaf free at several points this fall. Of course, the 80'
cottonwood made sure to prevent any long lasting effects. But, now all the
leaves are finally off it as well so here's hoping "until next fall"
with that chore.

I was eyeing Muhlenbergia this year myself...it's a shame it's
not reliably hardy here. I was also reading or someone told me, that if we have
an early cold snap, as we often do, you wont get to see the pink seed heads
even if it does survive the winters, I guess it's something of a "late
bloomer."

TR, the blue plant in front of the LBS
is Salvia pachyphylla, Mojave or rose sage. It should look
amazing...eventually. They were just teeny-tiny little starts about 3-4"
tall when I put them in this year, hopefully I get a few flowers next
spring.

I pulled this from some 2012 shots, LBS 'Blue Heaven' and Panicum 'Northwind showing fall colors the first year. This year, the panicum didn't have anything remotely close to this color, it went straight from deep olive green to tan, sad because I really liked the yellow. But, even more I like the deep olive in summer for good contrast. I bet it would look nice to have a grouping of them next to a grouping of some red type.

I grew Dallas Blue this year for the first time. It was almost completely browned up by the end of summer except for the very top. I'm wondering if the late summer drought played a part in fall color? Its a bigger leaved, coarser looking grass and at first I didn't like it at all but I've decided the larger leaves spaced wider add interest, its strongly upright and one that maturity will make a difference on but I probably need a wetter spot. I've done more trial and error on grasses trying to get the hang of how they do best than any other type of plant I've grown over the years. I'm discovering that massing them in is the trick to avoid a look of chaos. You know, like nature does it.

Skybird, I've never had hints of red like yours in 'Heavy Metal' but my plants have never needed staking or tying up either. The only Panicum I've grown that needed staking was a 'Prairie Sky' I bought locally years ago which is long gone now.

Zach, I can't grow that salvia here. I chumped off and bought one last spring, a waste of money but then I figured it would be because sooner or later a wet period will get it here and this year that came early with an abnormally wet spring with flooding rains.

Winter Interest! Taken today while it was snowing!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qklsge83JTT1V-ier1BJ96dtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

Here are pics of it after our first snow and really cold temps. The "blue" in the leaves has faded to tan, but the red persists. Even now, when the snow melts off again, there will still be red. Because of our long fall this year the whole plant had sufficient time to "cure" and I expect it to stay in pretty much the same condition all--or at least most--of the winter.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/amTAw5cTdUAIZVMvq4lKyqdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4P_fo7bcSUMGcxs0HrYJzKdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yh32W9R5MJVy4Kfo621Jc6dtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

And here's a pic taken down into the center of the plant showing how it's already developing the rosettes for the new growth for next summer. I'll see if I can get a few more small starts of it the for the spring swap so little by little everyone can get one going!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GuDfDGN5eDyO5Q_bhPxQuadtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

Looking down my main perennial bed at the back of the yard. This year I left the Rudbeckia fulgida standing for the Juncos, and while some of the stems are being bent over by the birds, the seedheads do provide some "interesting" winter interest! It also shows my Panicum by the fence, and the blue fescue past the Panicum.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/z3_dRkHdDGLrNVZg2C7k76dtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

More winter interest--taken a couple days after our first snow! I love the way they "pop up" thru the snow!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/s0YWTy93pP2iF4wJADyvvqdtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

Skybird

That sedum sure has some sturdy stems and looks great! I find a few pieces of my 'blue spruce' sedum scattered on the ground every time the snow melts, and while it was upright all summer, it's now flat.

What I did with all my seedheads after they got broken by the snow, was cut them down and tie them to the feeder! The goldfinches love the H. maximiliani and will eat that while they are waiting their turn at the nyjer feeder. Take a look at the bird thread I've got a picture or two of them eating the seed heads tied to the feeder pole.

Great pictures of some great plants! Love it!