Off Season

I recently visited The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins, Colorado, and was enthralled by the beautiful, rich colors of the late season edibles. The foliage of the artichokes was lush and full, and still wearing its silver patina, although the vegetables are now in a strictly ornamental mode.

Strawberry foliage in hues of garnet and ruby.

A few golden delicious apples clung to the espaliered trees (Note the wonderful demonstration kitchen in the background!)

My favorite: a giant array of silvery green and purple kale. The various foliage textures in the low afternoon sunlight really made this planting sing.

The adjacent garden plot was planted in a cover crop of annual rye grass. There is a good article on selecting and using cover crops as "green manure," in the December issue of Fine Gardening magazine, if you'd like to learn more about this beneficial gardening practice.