Mother Nature’s Paintbrush has been pretty active in my area. This Fall season in Virginia has been one of the most colorful in a number of years. Here’s my Fall Color 2014 photo series.

Fall color at the entrance to our driveway

We received 35 inches of rain so far this year according to my outdoor weather station. The abundant rainfall directly contributes to the vivid coloring of the leaves on the trees.

My outdoor weather station measures daily precipitation

Probably my favorite tree on our property is the stately Japanese bloodgood maple that graces the front entrance to our home. This tree’s leaves turn a deep burgundy in the Spring, then change to a bright green in the Summer and then change to a vivid apricot color in the Fall before changing to a deep red and falling to the ground.

My gorgeous bloodgood maple turns lovely colors all year round

My Bloodgood Maple in all its Fall glory

My Bloodgood Maple in apricot color

My second favorite tree on our property is this hickory tree. Although the squirrels just love to throw the hickory nuts down onto the driveway for later burying, and it causes a mess on the driveway, I still love it. This hickory tree turns an almost iridescent yellow. Just totally stands out from the other trees. And this year the native dogwoods turned a deep blood red color, almost purple. Again, the result of so much rainfall this year.

Gorgeous hickory tree turns a bright golden yellow

My Autumn Princess azaleas tend to bloom in the Spring and then in the Fall. They are supposed to be three season bloomers, starting in Spring and going through Fall, yet I haven’t seen many blooms during the summer months. They are a pretty reddish pink color and stand out nicely against the green around them.

Autumn Princess azaleas are in bloom. Leaf cleanup in progress.

I planted about 10 Japanese maples that came from a tree that graces my parents’ front yard. These trees turn very vivid colors each Fall. It’s interesting that this Fall, although the trees are different ages, they each turned very different colors. Two were a very vivid red, some were a purplish color and others were more yellow-orange. Very interesting.

Four of the same Japanese maple variety turning different colors at different times in the fall

Gorgeous vivid red Japanese maple next to my ponds

The view from my upper deck over my vivid red Japanese maples

My climbing hydrangea vines turned a lovely shade of yellow-gold before their leaves turned brown and dropped to the ground.

Climbing hydrangeas are turning golden yellow in autumn

One afternoon when I was taking photographs, a huge flock of blackbirds flew into my property and landed on the front lawn. Here’s a view of some of them:

A flock of blackbirds arrived in my front yard one afternoon

What colors did you see in your garden this Fall? Leave a comment and let us know your favorites!