Autumn joy: gather fall leaves to decorate your home

Sunset, Oct, 2003 by Bud Stuckey, Sharon Cohoon

When trees are freshly painted in their burnished fall hues, take advantage of their splendor. Harvest some leaves or branch clippings to create wreaths or swags for hanging on gates, doors, or mantels. Or, for a quick update on your porch, fill a pot or window box with the colors of the season.

Gathering fallen leaves makes a great family activity, and it's a fun thing to do during a Sunday walk with friends or on a picnic in the country, If you grow trees whose foliage colors up in fall you can clip small branches, leaving leaves attached.

Make a window box Flame-colored foliage adds just the right touch on the mantel of this outdoor fireplace. The arrangement, made of 8- to 12-inch stems of berries and leaves, fills a window box that's 24 inches long, 8 inches wide, and 6 1/2 inches deep. Pin oak, liquidambar, and snowball viburnum clippings are arranged with stern ends in moist florist's foam; clusters of bright red pyracantha berries spill over the box's edges.

HOW-TO: Soak three blocks of florist's foam in a bucket of water, then set them on plastic trays inside the window box. Poke the clippings into the foam. Plastic trays and florist's foam are available at craft stores; window boxes are sold at nurseries and garden centers.

Make a wreath

Bunches of Chinese pistache leaves cover an 8-inch-diameter straw wreath base (about $10 at craft stores) to make this festive wreath. It takes slightly longer to assemble than the other projects, but the method is easy. If you wish, substitute other fall leaves, such as pin oak, or blend together several kinds.

How- to, After you have collected clippings of the leaves you wish to use, gather stems into bunches of four or five. Pin the first bunch to the wreath base with a U-shaped floral pin (available at craft stores) as shown below, with leaf tips facing clockwise. Place a second bunch on the base, overlapping the first slightly to cover the pins. Continue, working counterclockwise, until the base is covered.

Make a swag

This gracefully curving swag creates a leafy half-moon on a garden gate. Japanese maple clippings and liquidambar leaves are tucked into a base of twiggy stems. If you have a birch or similar tree that drops wispy branches, you can gather several into a bunch and tie them in the middle with florist's wire. Otherwise, buy a twiggy swag base at a craft store (about $10 for one 16 inches long).

HOW-TO: Harvest about 12 maple stems, making cuts back to just above a side branch, as you would for usual pruning. Poke the liquidambar leaves into the purchased swag base, working from one end to the other; weave their short stems a bit among the twigs to secure them. Fill in with the Japanese maple clippings, working the stem ends into the swag base to hold everything in place.

Trees for autumn color

Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis), A garden-scale tree with a rounded canopy; narrow leaflets give it a lacy appearance. In tall foliage turns luminous shades of orange and red to gold. Sunset climate zones 4-16, 18-23.

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). The most airy and delicate of all maples. Varieties with colorful leaves include 'Atropurpureum' (bronzy green); 'Blood good' (scarlet); 'Bonfire' (orange pink); 'Ever Red' (crimson). Zones A3.2-10, 12, 14-.24,

Liquidambar, Maplelike leaves give this stouttrunked tree a lacy effect. Fall color varies by variety, L. styraciflua 'Palo Alto' has orange-red to bright red leaves. L. styraeiflua 'Festival' turns yellow, peach, pink, orange, and red. Zones 3-9, 14-24.

Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba). A graceful tree with fan shaped leaves that turn buttery yellow in fall; they drop air al once to create a golden carpet on lawns or paving. Zones A3, 1-10, 12, 14-24.

Pin oak (Quercus palustris). An open, rounded tree. In brisk tall weather, the glossy leaves turn yellow, red, and finally russet brown. Zones 2-10, 14-24.

Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki). In fall, leaves turn vivid yellow, orange, or red; after they drop, brilliant orange fruits hang on well into winter. Best in zones 6-9, 14-16, 18-24, H1.