By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

As surely as the gardener's focus shifts from fall to winter, it shifts from outdoors to indoors. One of my favorite-ever ornamental pot plants is Begonia 'Escargot', which grows as easily for me indoors as (in summer shade) out. The one pictured has been perfectly happy in a corner of our kitchen. Try it, gift it—and keep it away from its namesake.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Fall is my favorite time of year, in part because I love the variety and colors of autumn leaves that color up almost every garden. But I want them to color up the indoors too, so I press them.

My technique is simple: I just put dry leaves in a flower press like the one pictured at right and let them dry still further and flatten out before I arrange them. If you don't have a press, put leaves between the pages of an old book (do they make phone books any more?), or even between layers of newspaper with a book on top.

I've put leaves in a shadow box and framed them to hang on a wall, but one of my favorite designs, which was assembled by April and Annette Shelton, is on a round mirror covered with cut-to-size glass that holds the leaves in place. A candle goes on top, where it makes a perfect seasonal tabletop decoration.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

The forest edges in Japan, southwest coastal Korea, and along the east coast of China are full of Japanese maples that produce wonderful fall pyrotechnics in yellow, orange, red, gold, and deep burgundy. From these, hundreds of named varieties have been selected, named, and marketed over the years. But my favorite is still an old one, Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki', which was introduced in the mid 1800's. Every year it give unfailingly pure autumn color.

Maple expert J. D. Vertrees describes 'Osakazuki' as the "most brilliant of all cultivars for fall color," adding that many people consider this the most intensely colored of all maples. The best color description I've heard for it is "furnace red," which absolutely nails it in certain light. At any time the tree colors up pretty much all at once, and has clean, even pigmentation.

Mine is about 10 years old, and only a dozen feet high. Maximum size at full maturity should be about 25 ft. high and wide.

Vertrees has one more comment that sounds enticing, though I can't vouch for it myself. He says that a Japanese maple called 'Ichigyogi' is as intensely yellow-gold as 'Osakazuki' is red. The two planted together must be stunning. Now is the time to buy these, when you can see the color for yourself.

P.S. 'Osakazuki' has a pretty wide growing range—Sunset climate zones A3, 2-10, 12, 14-24 (in the West, that's everywhere except desert and the coldest mountain zones)—but it is susceptible to sun scorch. Where the sun gets hot, plant it in shade.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Susan Calhoun packs her garden with plants, not because she's a plant geek (though she'd probably admit to a bit of that), but because she's a designer who only specifies plants that she's grown herself. The results are surprisingly pleasing, given the potential for conflict among so many kinds of plants.

To make this work, she starts with generous soil amendment at planting time, then a good mulch to keep weeds down, conserve water, and nourish plants. Apart from that, she never fertilizes—and after four years, the garden still looks great.

All-weather paths made with packed, quarter-minus gravel provide easy garden access all year long, and a beautiful stone staircase transforms one problematic, steep slope into an asset. Apart from some terracing, the garden's other most visible use of stone is around her koi pond, which has a bluestone entry path and surrounding deck.

A big fan of purple foliage, orange flowers, and every shade of green, Calhoun uses a remarkably large palette of plants that go well together.

Her garden is also constantly changing: when she sees an interesting new plant, she replaces or moves existing garden plants to make room for more experimentation.

The garden also has a gazebo at its lower end and a sitting area at the top, so there's plenty of room for relaxing, studying plants, and getting inspiration for her next great design.

Calhoun owns Plantswoman Design, based on Bainbridge Island, Washington (206 842-2453).

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Beautiful peeling bark draws most people to paperbark maple (Acer griseum), but there are more reasons than that to grow it. For starters, this 30-foot tree fits well into even small gardens, and can be kept narrow (to about 15 ft. at maturity) or allowed to spread to 30 ft. if you have the space. Both its open pattern and its peeling bark remind me a little of eucalyptus.

The red-orange fall leaf color (right) makes it an autumn standout, though the leaves are trifoliate (three toothed leaflets) instead of lobed like most other maples, so the tree doesn't really have a maple-like feel.

Native to central China, it was brought to the west in 1901 by Chinese Wilson, and has made a place for itself as a wonderful small specimen tree. Now, when leaves are colored up, is a good time to buy and plant this.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

There's nothing like a collection fiery dahlias to bring life to an autumn border. The hillside landscape pictured here is in Sherry and Bob Burke's garden on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Designed by Susan Calhoun of Plantswoman Design, also of Bainbridge Island, this part of the Burkes' mixed border is flanked by a silver-leaved eucalyptus (species unknown) on one side, and a red-leafed Japanese maple on the other.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

For 30 years I've been walking through the forest behind my house, which is a mile from Puget Sound in Western Washington. In those walks I see a second forest of invasive garden plants taking root. English laurel, English holly, English ivy, spurge laurel, European mountain ash, myrobalan plum, Himalayan blackberry, and Scotch broom are the principle offenders. I used to pull or cut as many as I could, but it's beyond my power to make much difference now: there are just too many woody weeds back there.

English holly provides a good example of an invasive run amok, so I was surprised to read on the Northwest Holly Growers Association q&a page that "While English holly (Ilex aquifolium) is non-native to North America, it is not clear that it causes any harm to the environment," and that "Holly cannot thrive in our native forests because it is shade intolerant and cannot compete in a dense forest environment."

These assurances don't square with what I see.

On the first point, "it is not clear that it causes any harm to the environment," it is clear that where holly grows, something else doesn't grow. Maybe the holly supplants a western yew, or a red-flowering currant, or a vine maple. Or maybe its shade is too dense to allow trillium or Pacific dewberry to grow underneath. But for every holly, some group of  native plants gets displaced, and I would call that "harm to the environment."

On the second point, "Holly cannot thrive in our native forests because it is shade intolerant and cannot compete in a dense forest environment," I can only say that this was clearly written by somebody who hasn't walked in my woods (see bottom photo). Holly grows perfectly well in both hardwood (maple and alder) parts of the forest, and under mixed conifers (hemlock, western red cedar, Douglas fir, Pacific yew).

After reading the same q&a page, Sunset's garden editor, Kathy Brenzel, asked me whether any other holly besides English holly was invasive. I had to say that I don't know—all I see is English holly—but I thought Fresh Dirt's eagle-eyed readers might shed light on this subject.

If you've personally seen other hollies going feral, please post your observation and your location in the comments that follow this blog.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

A friend of mine is going to the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta this upcoming weekend, and asked if I could recommend an interesting nursery to visit nearby.

Well, that was easy.   Pearson's Gardens & Herb Farm in Vista, of course.  A small nursery hidden in a residential neighbor that grows an amazing variety of herbs.  17 varieties of rosemary, 34 different thymes, 27 oreganos, and 50+--I stopped counting--different kinds of lavender.  Also tons of unusual things like arnica, patchouli, Vietnamese coriander, fenugreek, angelica, and horehound.  A slew of ornamental salvias as well.  Good place to find unusual cultivars such as S. discolor or S. muirii.

You can also get gourmet vegetable starts.  Right now, ready for fall planting, all kinds of field greens including heirloom leaf lettuces, Italian dandelion and chicory, purple and yellow cauliflower, red celery and red pak choi, purple aspargus,and lots, lots more.

Don't live in Southern California?  Pearson's also offers mail order service.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

In the forests of Hokkaido and Korea, crimson glory vine (Vitis coignetiae) climbs to the tops of the tallest trees, stippling them with crimson leaves in fall and bunches of nearly inedible fruit (locals are said to eat the grapes after they've frozen). So if you like or need big, this may be the vine for you.

Only in cultivation for about 135 years, this grape is completely about the leaves. Each grows 6 to 12 inches long and almost as wide. Most are more rounded than lobed, especially with age. Color doesn't always come on all at once, so it can show green, yellow, orange, red, and purple leaves at the same time. And unlike many plants grown for fall color, it still colors up well under 50 percent shade.

Thriving in Sunset climate zones 3–10 and 14–21, this is a good bet nearly everywhere, except where winters are exceptionally cold or exceptionally mild. It also suffers in most desert climates.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Photos by Roger Miller, Homescaper Garden Photography

Looking at Frances Barnes' garden in Portland, Oregon, I'm struck at the part hardscape plays in a garden's design. This hillside garden needed a lot of it, if only to terrace this formerly weed-covered hill.

The project actually started when Barnes planned a major addition behind her classic 80-year-old house. She realized that the resulting walls would make it impossible to get heavy equipment back there after construction, so all major landscape work had to be done before construction.

Designers Anne Marsh & Gary Fear (Marsh Fear Garden Solutions) went above and beyond what was required, installing a gorgeous water feature (below), patio (above), and terraces for edible and ornamental plants.

Outdoor furniture, trellises, fences, and gates complete the package.