I got to enjoy a lot of late season color over this weekend. After beginning its turn from green a week ago, the Japanese maple is now a stunning shade of red/orange.

The cloud cover today made for a great contrast between the Japanese maple and the greenery behind it.

I don't recall seeing this great shade of red/orange before. Normally, this tree turns dark red, which looks beautiful. But this is amazing !

I'm still seeing pink blooms on the Pink Snow camellias.

All five of the Pink Snow camellias bloomed a couple of weeks after I planted them.

I'm looking forward to seeing these camellias grow into the 20-foot privacy shrubs I'm hoping they will become.

I'm glad to see them blooming.

We transition from Pink Snow to the white Mine No Yuki camellias.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens with the Mine No Yuki camellias as they grow. They are supposed to reach around six feet tall, which works well for this location.

In the front yard, the white plumes of the Pampas grass grabbed my attention.

Pampas grass is pretty indestructible, and looks great every year.

And I couldn't help but notice the red mushroom growing in my front yard.

The sun came out on Sunday. I headed outside to take a few more pics.

The sun peaking through the branches made for an awesome picture.

The red/orange Japanese Maple looks great against the contrasting Small Anise tree behind it.

Great contrast with the Small Anise tree and camellia cluster.

I put on some gloves and (hopefully) finished the side yard English Ivy removal process.

After a few weeks of pulling, I think I've removed all that I can see.

I got all of it from around the property line.

I got as much as I could see from in between the trees.

The areas in between the trees seemed to be the most difficult.

However, I need to keep in mind that just because I got all that I could see doesn't mean that I removed all of the ivy.

This entire side yard is covered in a layer of leaves, pine needles, and other debris that has accumulated over the years. So there may be more lurking under the covering.

But I think I'm done for now. We'll see what happens in the spring when I start cleaning up the debris.

Other than waiting for the upcoming Leaf & Limb collection and continuing with debris mulching and performing basic maintenance, I think this season has come to a close.

This has been a great year in the yard. And it feels good to end the season on a high note. February, which signals the start of the spring cleaning process, will be here before I know it. But for now, I wait and enjoy the late season color.