I love color, and find myself mentally attributing various hues to the time of year. Nothing quite says “fall” like the color orange. Vibrant orange Cucurbitas line walkways and grocery aisles. Shades of auburn tumble through the graceful branches of deciduous trees. Cool green lawns seem to disappear beneath a carpet of rich autumn hues.
Chinese Pistache Fall Colors
Pistache up close
Standing at my kitchen window this time of year, I get a grand view of our Chinese Pistache Pistacia chinensis.The leaves drop slowly, as the tree let’s go of summer. I often collect a few of them to decorate our Thanksgiving table. Once the tree is bare for the winter, I get a second view. Our friends directly across the street have a row of Nandina. They’re covered in red, orange and gold leaves, with berries in multiple hues. They’re one of my favorite plants this time of year.
Nandina Berries
As an aside, when I first met my dear friend Nandini I had to work hard not to call her Nandina. I assured her it was a compliment to be mistaken for something so vibrant and alive.
According to Sensational Color:
Orange, is a close relative of red. It sparks more controversy than any other hue. There is usually strong positive or negative association to orange and true orange generally elicits a stronger “love it” or “hate it” response than other colors. Fun and flamboyant orange radiates warmth and energy.
Interestingly, some tones of orange, such as terra-cotta, peach, and rust have very broad appeal. Orange stimulates activity and appetite and encourages socialization.
If you’re lucky enough to live in California, you’ll still see oranges on the tree. Not to be undone, the seed pods on the Magnolia take on a similar hue.
Magnolia Seed Pod
How do you feel about the color orange?
Resources:
“Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow.” Wassily Kandinsky
Gardening Nirvana 
Not my favorite color but everything has a time and place. I love fall. I tried to get pictures of leaves falling today on my walk. Not a lot of luck with the cell phone. I’ll keep trying though. Your pictures are great.
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Thank you! Funny, it’s not my favorite color either when it comes to clothes or decorating, but I love it this time of year and in nature.
I’ve tried the falling leaf photo, too. It’s challenging.
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I wish we had more choices for bright fall foilage here, your Pistache tree is a stunner. Even the Maple tree (think syrup & flag), a Canadian icon, will struggle with the wrong exposure in Alberta. We likely are a zone 3, with some yards that are sheltered, west exposures enjoying zone 4. I think the berries of the Nandina would make a gorgeous wreath or filler in an arrangement, I’ll have to ask Adele if she can get some.
When I first bought the house at the Lake, it actually had a lot of orange decor. It was built in 77, even the cupboards were brown & orange (think A&W), they were the first thing I changed LOL. The kitchen had a GIANT macramé Orange Globe in it and always looked like the kitchen was on fire if you were outside at night….so I didn’t keep that either. I think someone might really groove on it now though.
The link mentions ladybugs as things in the garden that are orange, I’ll have to take a closer look at those little darlings of the garden…I always think of them as being red. Red or Orange, I just love ladybugs with their freckles.
One of my favorite basket combo’s ever was Fushia and Orange, your garden link is right, they screamed “look at me” . I’ve also seen Aqua and Orange mixed in decor this summer…super fresh and contemporary.
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Aqua and Orange. I love that hot and cool combo. It’s always interesting following color trends. I rented a room once with orange shag carpeting. Eeek!
I hope you took lots of before pictures of your house at the lake. I’m sure you did a lot in the 25 years you lived there.
As for ladybugs, I mostly see red ones too, though I’ve occasionally seen a similar bug in orange and just assumed it was something else altogether.
Oh man this time change is killing me. My eyes are barely open. I will sign off. Will “look” for you tomorrow.
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Sweet dreams Alys. Thanks for all your messages today.
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🙂
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