September 17: It's that time of year again when the leaves start falling from the trees.

That means it's time for me to break out the mower and mulch what has fallen for my front yard.

I've also had to deal with the September 11 arrival of Tropical Storm Irma which caused a few downed limbs.

Hurricane Irma came up the west coast of Florida before heading into Georgia. By the time it reached the northern part of the state, Irma had been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Irma brought a full day of light rain and some significant wind gusts to my area. Trees were down all over the city. But I escaped with nothing more than a few downed branches.

I believe this is an American Beautyberry bush.

It was in the yard when I moved in, and continues to do its thing each fall.

It produces these clusters of purple berries every fall.

American Beautyberry bush.

I see that the Eleanor Tabor Indian Hawthorn shrub I moved last month has survived the move, which is always good news. I originally planted it directly in front of the house in March 2012 where it did ok, but not great. I moved it to the mailbox area in April 2016 thinking more sun would be beneficial. That idea, which looked good on paper, didn't work at all in practice. It dropped most of its leaves shortly afterward, and then had to deal with an encroaching pampas grass plant. So we'll see how this location works.

Relocating the Indian Hawthorn meant I had to find yet another home for the small azalea that previously occupied that space. Since I hacked all of the azaleas next to the driveway this past spring, a decent gap has developed in between two of them large enough to fit this small shrub. This is the fourth, and hopefully last location for this little guy. He's survived the three previous moves and seems to be doing fine after this move.

The Sky Pencil Holly I moved back in April hasn't fared nearly as well. I originally had two of these shrubs planted beside my front steps. One died over last winter, and the other, even though it survived, didn't look too healthy. I tried moving it into a sunny area to save it. That idea obviously didn't work.

I originally found this volunteer Japanese Maple tree in April 2016 buried in my side yard. Not liking where it was, I moved it to a temporary home in the back yard until I could figure out what to do with it.

Removing the dead Sky Pencil Holly means I would have a vacancy in the front yard. And if this tree grows at the same rate as the other Japanese Maple, running out of room shouldn't be a problem. This sounds like a plan.

Out came the Sky Pencil Holly . . .

. . . and in went the volunteer Japanese Maple.

This location should work for the Japanese Maple provided that it doesn't grow too fast. If it grows at the same rate as the Star Magnolia, all should be well.