Blooming Now At A Nursery Near You...

Fall gardens can be spectacular with bold combination of jewel toned colors. The trick to designing your garden with perennial flowers is making sure you have something wonderful in bloom all the time. Each season has its fabulous divas, and fall blooming perennials have some of the best. But they do take some planning earlier in the gardening season. Two techniques need to be considered when planning your garden.

The first is easy. Select plants that have a late bloom period and that you are certain will bloom in our area before frost. A good garden center should have staff to help you with your choices.

Secondly, the fall bloomers can get very tall and leggy, growing foliage all summer. Once they bloom, they are often top heavy and fall over. To ensure your fall display is as glorious as it should be, you will either need to stake your fall bloomers earlier in the season or do some periodic pruning to make the plants stockier and more self-supporting. Keep in mind that if you prune your plants, you will be delaying the bloom period by a week or more.

Fall bloomers tend to blossom in the jewel tones of the season; deep purples, rusts, scarlet and gold. Here are my top picks for fall blooming perennial stars:

Aster Novi-Belgii (Michaelmas Daisy) – In shades of pink, purple, blue and white, these delicate daisy-like blossoms start popping open in late August and continue on until frost. Pinching them in the early summer turns these Asters into mounds with dozens of flower buds. Asters will tend to creep throughout your garden, but their airiness allows them to blend particularly well with other flowers.

Caryopteris (Blue Mist Shrub) – Caryopteris is a sub-shrub that is often grown in the perennial garden. Caryopteris slowly blossoms in August with dazzling blue flower clusters. Just try and keep the butterflies and bees away! Caryopteris is cut back in early spring, like a Buddleia, and the gray-green foliage is attractive all season.

Chelone (Turtlehead) – Nicknamed for their blossoms shaped like turtle’s heads, Chelone is a carefree fall blooming perennial whose only real dislike is excessive dry heat. Chelone behaves itself, growing in a dense clump with attractive foliage and red, pink or white blooms.

Chrysanthemum – There are many varieties of mums and not all of them are particularly hardy. The plants sold in the fall as “hardy mums’ should have been sold to us in the spring. However, we wouldn’t have had the patience to plant them and wait. Mums and pumpkins are the flag bearers of the fall. Try and get your potted mums in the ground as soon as possible. Keep them well watered and mulch once the ground freezes and you’ll stand your best chance of having truly hardy mums.

Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) – Joe Pye is one of those natives we take for granted because we see it growing by the side of the road. It does, however, make a wonderful backdrop for the garden in borders or against a fence or wall.

Helenium (Sneezeweed) – Helenium is making a resurgence in gardens. They look like small russet-toned coneflowers, in reds, yellows and oranges. Many Helenium can grow quite tall and will need to be staked or pinched. Like clematis, they like cool feet and hot heads. Helenium is also a good choice for poorly drained areas.

Helianthus (Perennial Sunflower) – Helianthus is a good natured and jolly plant, branching and flopping on its neighbors. The brilliant gold, fluffy, daisy-like flowers make and instant focal point and attracts butterflies and birds. Helianthus tend to be sterile and can be reproduced by division.

Heliopsis (False Sunflower) – Heliopsis is very similar to Helianthus. Heliopsis tends to begin blooming earlier in the season and stays on for 8 or more weeks. Newer varieties have been bred smaller and sturdier for less flopping.

Sedum (Stonecrop) – Sedum “Autumn Joy” comes as close to perfection as any plant can. It looks good all year, requires minimal attention and attracts few problems. Its only drawback is that it is not deer resistant. “Autumn Joy” has been joined in the garden by growing a number of fall wonders like “Bertram Anderson”, “Brilliant” and “Matrona”. No fall garden is complete without sedum.

Solidago (Goldenrod) – Goldenrod is finally getting the respect it deserves, especially with introductions like “Fireworks” and “Golden Fleece”. Unlike the native solidagos that spread everywhere and never stood up on their own, these newer varieties are sturdy and chock-full of fall blooms.

When you think about it, we gardeners are a bit like show-biz directors. We stage our big production numbers for the spring and mid-summer. There’s no reason at al that we can’t turn our fall gardens into a Busby Berkeley musical of rioting fall blooms!

Sliding Into Fall...

I don’t know about you, but I thought those brutal days of heat weren’t EVER going to end. I know of a woman who, while is as brilliant and pleasant and funny as any human should be allowed to be, LOVES the heat; the more sweltering the better. I think she might be certifiable. Of course, most people think I’m certifiable, but that’s a story for another time…

The cooler days of fall lend themselves to the cooler weather veggies and some truly spectacular fall blooming perennials. And let’s not forget the star of the fall garden – the chrysanthemum!

Fall gardening is the way to have fresh veggies right into winter. Many fall gardens are carried over from the summer gardens. Tomato plants, okra, pepper and eggplant, if cared for during the summer, continue to produce until cold slows them down and frost kills them.

To keep these veggies producing, control insects and diseases, keep the plants watered and fertilized, and don’t let the garden grow up in grass and weeds. A good fall garden, however, is not just keeping the summer garden alive, it means planting new veggies to produce in fall and early winter.

Plan the fall garden at the same time you plan the spring and summer garden. Include your seed needs for fall when ordering seeds for the spring and summer garden. It helps to have the seeds on hand so you can plant them right when it’s time.

Many cool-weather veggies normally planted in the spring grow and produce better in the fall since they mature as the weather cools. When wet weather causes a delay in planting early spring veggies (past a time when they can be expected to mature before hot weather destroys them), a fall garden provides a second opportunity. Chinese cabbage (very sensitive to heat) and rutabagas (require a long period of cool weather) are two cool weather veggies recommended for planting ONLY in the fall.

Warm-season veggies planted in midsummer for fall harvest require additional time to mature as the weather cools in September and October. Choose planting dates in midsummer that allow these veggies to mature before frost.

Suggested veggies for our zone in the Rogue Valley for fall are: bush beans and snap beans, kohlrabi, beets, lettuces of all kinds, broccoli, mustard, cabbage, onions, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, rutabagas, chard, spinach, Chinese cabbage and turnips.

The hot, dry weather in July, August and September is hard on germinating seeds and young seedlings, Germination and seedling survival is improved if you use one of these methods:

Water a day or two before planting so seeds are planted in moist soil. Watering after planting can cause the soil surface to pack and crust.

Plant seeds in moist soil and cover with moistened, non-crusting materials: a mix of peat moss and vermiculite or composted sawdust and sand. Keep the surface moist during germination and seedling establishment.

Plant three to five seeds of the small-seeded veggies like broccoli and cabbage at the recommended final plant spacing in the garden row. Once the seedlings are established, thin the seedlings to one plant at each location.

Transplants – Start vegetable transplants for the fall garden in individual containers, such as peat pots, small clay or plastic pots or peat pellets. Setting out plants without disturbing the root systems reduces transplant shock.

Protect young plants from the sun for a few days. You can use bare-root transplants from thinning the seedling row, but be prepared to provide water and shade until they become established.

The fall garden is open to attach by insects and diseases just as the summer garden is. In some cases, the insect problems are worse. Worms (cabbage loopers and imported cabbage moths) are serious problems on fall cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and collards. Control these leaf-eating worms with one of the biological sprays. Squash bugs are troublesome on fall squash and pumpkins.

Fall veggies need fertilizer just as much as spring and summer ones. Don’t count on the fertilizer applied in the spring to supply the fertilizer needs of veggies planted in late summer or fall. Fertilize before planting and side dress as needed. Remember, feed the soil and the soil will feed your plants.

As the danger of frost approaches, pay close attention to weather prediction. Tender plants often can be protected from an early frost and continue to produce for several weeks. When a killing frost is inevitable, harvest tender veggies.

Green tomatoes that are turning white just before turning pink will ripen if stored in a cool place. Pick these tomatoes, wrap them in paper and use them as they ripen.

Don’t abandon your garden when freezing temperatures kill the plants. Clean up the debris, store stakes and tomato cages and poles. Take a soil test. Row up part of the garden to be ready for planting early spring potatoes and peas.

In the good old summertime...

Maintaining Color In Your Garden Through The Peak Summer Months

Your gardens and containers have now been planted for some time, and you’re enjoying the flowering fruits of your labor. Hopefully, at this time of the year there is little left to be done but enjoy the beauty of your flowers. Except for a few minor tasks, of course!

Watering – It obviously goes without saying that the water needs of your plants are at their peak at this time of the year. With water availability more of an issue in many parts of the country, help maintain your soil moisture with organic mulches such as pine bark or cedar mulch, or use plastic mulch earlier in the season when you are first laying out your garden bed. It helps keep weeds down, too! Drip irrigation is also a great way to keep your plants healthy while conserving water.

Fertilization – There is an absolutely gorgeous planting of hot pink spreading petunias near where I work in Medford. Last month, the plants were well filled out and full of color. It cheered me up every time I drove by. When I drove by the other day, I noticed and was disappointed to see that the planting was becoming stressed. The plants were beginning to yellow, with not nearly the number of flowers as before. You see, the landscapers had simply planted those petunias and walked away. It was clear to me that no one was maintaining this bed and the petunias are now under nourished. Don’t forget to consistently fertilize your annuals. If you like these types of products, use a slow release granular fertilizer or consider a liquid feed that can be used in conjunction with your hose, sprinkler or drip system. Most annuals in the garden should be fed about every 2 weeks if you’re using a liquid feed. Container plants should be fed about once a week. The general rule of thumb is to go with more frequent applications of a more dilute solution. Less frequent, heavier concentrations are apt to burn your plants and damage the micro-flora and fauna living in your soil. Rather than get fancy, fill a bucket with a very dilute solution of liquid feed and dump a jarful on each plant. The plants love it and it’s really a very therapeutic activity!

Dead Heading – Toss this activity into that therapeutic activity class also. Some people enjoy deadheading plants, others couldn’t be bothered. The bottom line is if you deadhead your annuals once the blooms are spent, there is a greater chance of new flower production that will last later into the season. Annuals such as geraniums really benefit from deadheading, because otherwise the spent flower stalks simply look like forlorn little umbrellas. Other annuals need little to no deadheading, such as spreading petunias. The spend flowers just wither away and are generally covered by new growth (another reason why I love them, but I do really enjoy geraniums as well!).

Weeding – Out of all the gardening tasks there are, this is my least favorite. There are a number of methods to keep your weed population down … organic mulches, herbicides and plain old-fashioned weed pulling. You may want to consider landscape cloth when you are first preparing your garden beds. And certainly, container gardens are less prone to weed development than garden beds. The bottom line is a weed-reduced garden promotes better growth of your annuals, which hopefully over time will grow large enough to crowd out those nasty weeds in the first place!

These few small steps will help keep your annuals at maximum performance throughout the summer and well into the autumn months.

There's a fungus among us!

Roses have earned a reputation as the temperamental divas of the plant world. While it is true that the romantic rascals attract their share of illnesses, they are easier to conquer than you might think. Fungi cause the vast majority of rose diseases. Regardless of which nasty fungus is attacking your roses, the treatment is pretty much the same. Cut off the affected parts of the plant and destroy them.

Be aware of the symptoms that can arise in an unhealthy rose. Sometimes buds only partially open or not at all. Outer petals can turn pale brown, dry and papery in wet weather or as the result of too much overhead watering. Buds can often develop a gray mold before rotting and dropping off. Purple black spots can form on leaves, and later, a yellow halo develops. Other times, the symptoms are in the cane of the rose, where it might appear discolored. Most of these are caused by fungi.

Know your fungus. Balling, botrytis blight, blackspot, canker and dieback and crown gall, are the most common fungi and bacteria found in roses. Destroy virus-infected flowers and request additional buds for free from the store where they were purchased. Viruses like rose mosaic, rose rosette, rose leaf curl and rose ring pattern can cause broom-like clusters and knots and are extremely nocuous. Stores should refund you because viruses are nearly always spread by using infected material when grafting buds.

To avoid spreading the disease, dip your shears in rubbing alcohol or peroxide after every cut. Then, to get the plants back on their feet, follow this simple routine:

Water the soil, not the plant. Moisture that clings to leaves, stems and flowers is an open invitation to fungi.

Keep your beds clean. Pick up and destroy plant litter as soon as you see it, especially at the base of the plant, where fungal spores thrive.

Cut off odd-looking leaves or canes the minute you see them. Then burn them as soon as you can or toss them out with the weekly trash. Don’t add them to the compost pile, or you’ll be asking for more trouble.

Prune with a vengeance. Each year, cut out all diseased or damaged canes, and any canes more than three years old. Vigorous, new wood is far less vulnerable to diseases and pests. Aim for a structure that lets air circulate to all parts of the plant, especially to the bud union, where new canes develop.

Be careful when you’re working or playing around rose bushes. Nicked or broken canes are an open invitation to fungi.

Spray once a week with this fungicide developed at the Cornell University Horticulture Department: In one gallon of water, mix three teaspoons of baking soda and one teaspoon of non-detergent dishwashing liquid OR one teaspoon of canola oil – BUT NOT BOTH!!

Reduce fungal woes by planting disease-resistant varieties. You’ll find them identified as such in garden catalogs, especially those that specialize in roses. Bear in mind, though, that no rose – or any other plant for that matter – is guaranteed to be completely trouble-free.

Keep in mind that fungi thrive in damp, humid weather. Roses growing in Seattle or Atlanta will always be more prone to problems than those in Tucson or Palm Springs.

You say you’ve got bugs chewing on your prize roses? Well, here’s something the folks at the nursery probably didn’t tell you: Rose pests rarely cause permanent damage. Furthermore, most of them have natural predators that usually keep bad-guy populations in check if you don’t use pesticides.

Understand the symptoms of rose pests. They aren’t clearly visible, but the sick plant is. Distorted, curled and stick foliage can result. Holes in flowers or buds and skeleton leave can appear. Your shoots and flower buds turn black and die, or fail to open at all. When they do, the petals can often be marked with brown spots.

Know your enemy. The most common rose pests are aphids, the rose midge, cane borers, Japanese beetles, the bristly rose slug and thrips. Leaf cutter bees cause slight cosmetic damage (small holes, skeleton foliage), but are great pollinators of other plants, so think twice before killing those.

Dislodge the pests with a strong stream of water. Do this early in the day, so the plant has time to dry out and not harbor tendencies to invite fungi to take root. Spray the plant with insecticidal soap. Encourage predators of rose pests to nearby plants by planting sunflowers or geraniums nearby. Plant garlic or chives in the plant soil. Cut loose any clinging pests and get rid of canes that have holes in them. Cover any holes or external wounds in the plant that you yourself have made, saving the plant with white glue or petroleum jelly. Spray with a steady stream of water again. The excess insecticide will wash off while sufficient levels are absorbed.

There IS a cure for the summertime blues...

As we noted last week, August can be a challenging month in the garden, even when we aren’t in the middle of a drought. It’s always good to have a few jewels like bulbs that bloom in the late summer and fall to brighten our days.

One of the hardiest and easiest to grow is the rain lily, Zephyranthes candida. Small ivory crocus-like blooms appear on stems to 12 inches tall in August and September. This bulb is a prolific bloomer and much easier to grow in the ground than in pots. It’s green and rush-like foliage stands out in the winter landscape and provides a nice backdrop for the autumn flowers. Tuck it in at the edge of the border, on pathways, in a rock garden or in beds of groundcover like Sedum tetractinum. Rain lilies come in ivory to white varieties, a range of pinks and yellow. Now is the perfect time to plant.

Earlier, in mid- to late summer, a group of naked ladies is bound to attract attention. And – really – when WOULDN’T a group of naked ladies attract attention? No, really, I jest – Lycoris squamigera, with its soft pink trumpets appearing magically on sturdy leafless stems, are quite striking. The foliage, which appears in spring, ripens and disappears before there is any sign of flowers. Plant naked ladies in an open woodland garden with other perennials, such as hostas to help mask the ripening foliage.

The spider lily, Lycoris radiata, planted in combination with ferns like Southern shield or in a bed with ground covers, is resistant to voles, gophers and deer, like daffodils, rain lilies and naked ladies. June is the best time to plant Lycoris, but you can still plant them now for blooms next year.

Colchicum, planted in a bed of pachysandra or in combination with ferns make a beautiful display. They are often mistakenly called autumn crocus because of their flowers. Among the earliest to bloom is “Violet Queen”, with cup shaped purple flowers. One of the most free-flowering is “Lilac Wonder”, with amethyst flowers marked with white lines at the center. Another bonus is that they are poisonous, which means – as with daffodils, critters are not tempted to eat them. When planting these beauties, keep in mind that coarse foliage appears in the spring and dies back in the summer, well before the flowers appear on short, leafless stems.

Other fall blooming bulbs include a selection of crocus that is as easy to grow as its spring cousins and equally rewarding. Beautiful as they are ornamental, Crocus sativus is also edible. The red stigmas in the centers of these flowers is the source for the spice saffron, used to make saffron rice and other luscious edibles. Also blooming in early fall is the easy to naturalize Crocus speciosus, with large goblet-shaped violet-blue to mauve flowers (3 to 5 inches and up to 12 inches tall). Plant both of these as soon as you receive them in the fall along pathways in your rock garden or in combination with ground covers.

Plant Now For Fall Veggies…
Seeds germinate fast when the soil is already nice and warm. For delicious, picture-perfect fall crops of spinach, lettuce, peas, kale and broccoli, now is the time to plant. Here are 4 easy steps to fall veggie success:

Pull Some, Plant Some
As soon as any early season plants have passed their prime, pull them out and replant. Even little sections where a cucumber plant expired or the cilantro went to seed. Put the old plants in your compost pile, then aerate and replenish the soil by forking in some compost and organic fertilizer. Rake the surface smooth and sow something new!

Screen The Sun
For good late-summer germination, it’s important to keep the soil surface from drying out and not let soil temperatures rise over 80 degrees. Wire hoops and shade netting are an easy solution. Fall planted seeds should be sown twice as deep as in the spring. Natural shade from a trellis or tall plant can also provide a good spot for seeding a second crop. When cold weather comes, keep plants warm with a floating row cover.

Sow The Right Crops
Plants that thrive in fall weather include, carrots, beets, broccoli, Swiss chard, kale and all kinds of salad and Asian greens. Choose disease-resistant varieties that mature quickly. All can be direct-sown into your garden, though broccoli can also be started indoors under lights or in a greenhouse. If planting a fall crop of peas, choose bush peas rather than the traditional climbers.

Don’t Delay!
Summer-planted crops usually require an extra two weeks to mature since the days are starting to get shorter and the temperatures will start to get cooler. Using the days-to-maturity figure on the seed packet, count back from your fall frost date and add a 14-day “fall factor”. This will give you your fall planting date.

Be sure to drink plenty of water while you out in the garden to keep yourself hydrated and safe from heat related illness!


THIS WEEK IN THE GARDEN…
Plant seeds for late varieties of beets, carrots, endive, fennel, radish, rutabaga, spinach, turnips, leeks and members of the cabbage family.
Set out leek, onions, potato and garlic plants now.
Remember to keep the tender seeds and young plants moist until the winter rains arrive.
Plant or transplant iris rhizomes, which may bloom next year.
Feed your mature fruit trees after harvest with a higher nitrogen fertilizer and water well.
Feed your strawberries a small amount of a general organic fertilizer.
Don’t forget to feed your established roses every 6 weeks.
Add mulch if needed to maintain even soil moisture.
Divide your irises every three years for improved blooms. Incorporate compost and a complete organic fertilizer when transplanting. Iris also likes calcium, so the addition of bone meal would be well received. These smaller plants will reward you with new vitality next year.
Stop pinching back your mums to allow the buds and blooms to develop. Stake them to keep from flopping over as needed.
Lift spent gladiolus, discarding diseased ones. Store them in a cool dry place.