Innholdsfortegnelse for Sept/Oct 2018 i Garden Gate

Autumn is the perfect time of year to do a lot of different chores: divide, plant, water trees and shrubs and clean up flower and vegetable beds. But the one thing I like to do most is sit, relax and enjoy because it won’t be long before the cold weather will be here and many plants will be only a memory. With that in mind, we have a ton of autumn color for you to enjoy in this issue—from the bright yellow blooms of goldenrod to gorgeous out-of-the-ordinary fall plant combos. Then don’t plant another bulb until you’ve read our Fall Bulb Planting Guide on page 30. We share shopping tips, let you know the best time to plant in your region, show you how to plant for a longer…

MATERIALS: 12-in. wire hanging basket Mini string lights (100-count) 5 small curtain clip hooks 7 ft. #15 ball chain 23 ft. #10 single Jack chain 30 4-in. black cable ties (and 30 twist ties) Monofilament Black outdoor extension cord Your garden is a reflection of your unique preferences. When the sun descends and masks the beauty of the plants, find a lighting solution that has personality: Add a special touch with your own homemade chandelier! Simple sparkling lights strung around the patio is a great look, but match that string of lights to a repurposed structure and you have a charming outdoor light fixture. It didn’t take much digging around the shed to find this old 12-inch hanging basket. Look below for the detailed materials list, then read on to…

Have you ever waited with anticipation for a plant to flower only to be disappointed with how quickly it fades? Some plants are certainly worth it for their spectacular blooms. But if you want to keep the color going without investing in annuals each year, add a few reblooming plants to the garden. Besides having lots of flowers to turn heads and add to bouquets, reblooming plants offer pollinators a helping hand by providing a consistent food supply. That’s especially important for migrating butterflies and hummingbirds late in the season. The mix of perennials and shrubs here are some of the best and you can count on them to keep reblooming year after year. DEADHEADING KNOW-HOW Reblooming plants often keep going on their own, but with deadheading, they’ll look better…

Golden Baby (‘Goldkind’) goldenrod Solidago hybrid Strong stems carry dense, astilbe-like plumes for several months beginning in midsummer. Not for dry spaces, this clump-forming type grows best in wetter soils. Perennial Blooms: Golden yellow flowers from midsummer to fall Light: Full sun Soil: Moist to wet Size: 18 to 28 in. tall, 12 to 18 in. wide Cold-hardy: USDA zones 3 to 8 Heat-tolerant: AHS zones 8 to 1 Showy goldenrod Solidago speciosa Later blooming than some, this species of goldenrod is an important fall nectar source for butterflies and bees. Its spike-shaped flowers can grow up to a foot long. Perennial Blooms: Golden yellow flowers from late summer through early fall Light: Full sun Soil: Dry to average, well-drained Size: 2 to 3 ft. tall and wide…

There’s more to fall gardening than just raking leaves. It’s also the perfect time to prepare for a gorgeous spring by planting bulbs. The bags and boxes of tulips, daffodils and crocuses at the garden center now don’t look like much—just papery, brown nuggets attached to a few dried roots. But it doesn’t take a lot to transform their bland appearance—dig a hole, drop them in and in a few months they’re bursting with color. The word “bulb” is often used to describe a plant, even when it technically grows from a corm or a tuber. To keep things simple, I’ll call them all bulbs as I share a few tips for planting bulbs this fall that will ensure success next spring.…

Moth mullein Verbascum blattaria WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE A biennial, moth mullein starts its first year by forming a low rosette made up of toothed deep green leaves 16 in. in diameter. The following year, 2- to 5-ft.-tall spikes with single white or pale yellow blooms appear in summer to fall. It’s pretty, but each flower can produce up to 250,000 seeds. WHERE TO FIND IT Moth mullein grows across all of the United States and southern Canada in pastures, vacant lots and open woods — anywhere the soil has been disturbed but neglected. Moth mullein grows best in full sun and rich soil but plants tolerate dry, sandy types, too — the better the soil, the larger the plants will grow. HOW TO GET RID OF IT If there…

1 | GARDEN RENOVATION Bobbie Schwartz sets you up with all the resources you need to create a landscape that reflects pride and personality. Learn your garden’s needs and define your goals; then get inspired with design solutions, theme ideas and helpful before and after examples of other gardeners’ successful garden makeovers. Timber Press, online or local bookstore ($24.95; softcover; 264 pages) 2 | TANDOORI ORANGE LINDEN VIBURNUM Viburnum dilatatum Tandoori Orange® The Tandoori Orange linden viburnum is a lover of sun and shade, rarely needs pruning and is resistant to deer — like most viburnums. But, it stands out among the rest with bright orange berries and rusty orange foliage in fall. It grows 6 to 8 ft. tall and 7 to 9 ft. wide and is cold-hardy in…

Keep away, rabbits! Lee Wikoff, Minnesota Every winter the rabbits like to make a buffet out of Lee’s Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) vines and climbing rose (Rosa hybrids) canes. One day, Lee was visiting a friend who used a medical ventilator, and an idea clicked. The plastic aerosol tubing was small in diameter and looked like it would fit snugly around the branches of vines and shrubs. Lee found the aerosol tubing online for about $20 per 100 feet. See how it’s flexible enough to follow the curves of the vines in the photo above? Now Lee can keep bunnies at bay. Try new uses for old buckets Here are a couple of handy uses for that extra 5-gallon bucket you have lying around! Elizabeth Furr Prieldy, Colorado Buckets make…

Are you daydreaming of a trip to the tropics? Why not save yourself the hassles of travel and instead start planning a tropical retreat of your own that’s just outside the back door? An exotic oasis is possible even if you live where winter is anything but sunny and warm. Just ask Dennis Schrader, coauthor of Hot Plants for Cool Climates and co-owner of Landcraft Environments, a wholesale tropical plant nursery. He’s been working with tender plants for years in USDA zone 7 New York and has lots of great tips to share for designing and growing tropical gardens in any climate. FOLIAGE RULES Lush plantings filled with foliage are a hallmark of tropical gardens. The key to keeping your exotic paradise from looking messy and dull is some variety,…

Goldenrod attracts a wide variety of beneficial insects, such as bees, beetles, moths and butterflies. It’s a nutritious food source for monarchs, such as the one above, before they migrate. In fact, the goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus) above feeds on goldenrod pollen and nectar. The adult is most abundant in late summer when they mate and deposit their eggs in the soil below the plant. They also eat other small insects like aphids and caterpillars as well as praying mantis eggs. They do not bite or sting humans. Speaking of praying mantises, before you cut your goldenrod down in the spring, check the stems for praying mantis egg cases. The case looks like an oval-shaped brown pod clasped onto the stem. It has a similar consistency to Styrofoam if…

There are lots of bulbs at the garden center in fall but you have to be careful about which ones you bring home. A good bulb grows into a strong, healthy plant while a poor-quality one produces a spindly plant, if it grows at all. Here’s how to choose the best: FIRST CHOICE • Big — it’ll give you more and bigger flowers• Heavy — it has more stored energy• Unblemished — it’s healthiest SECOND CHOICE • No damage, but the papery tunic may be missing• Just a few small blemishes• A little bit of fuzzy mold that wipes off easily WALK AWAY! • A dry, shriveled or lightweight bulb — it’s lost moisture and won’t recover• Soft spots — these mean rot…

Giant stacks of tomato cages grace garden center floors every year, supposedly for growing tomatoes. But gardeners are a creative lot, and when you’re not using them for their intended purpose, there are plenty of uses for these handy frames—and they don’t involve tomatoes at all! Check out a few ideas here. 1 Protect from temperatures When temperatures dip near freezing, cover a tomato cage with row cover or landscape fabric to keep new, frail plants from getting nipped by a late frost. The cage keeps the fabric from weighing down delicate sprouts. The white row cover in photo 1 allows light to penetrate to the plants when day temps are so chilly that you need to leave the cover on. You can create a mini-greenhouse in early spring to…

Move over impatiens and coleus, there’s another showy plant that deserves a shady spot in the garden. Not only does it produce masses of flower spikes covered with dark lavender florettes, its fuzzy dark green foliage reveals a rich eggplant purple when turned over. Deer-resistant, long-blooming and super-easy to care for, ‘Mona Lavender’ spurflower has recently become a horticultural hit around the world. And for good reason. SHADY LADY ‘Mona Lavender’ prefers either shaded or partly sunny locations. When it receives sun it tends to stay smaller and more compact and the leaves exhibit a much more vibrant color—especially on the purple undersides. It makes a great bedding plant and looks good when planted en masse or as an individual specimen. In shade, consider combining it with Persian shield and…

How would you like to step out your back door into a peaceful haven filled with natural beauty? Imagine sitting on your patio enjoying the colorful view below. While the flowers may catch your attention from a distance, if you moved closer, you could follow the wandering path of a lazy bumblebee or a frenetic hummingbird as it zips from bloom to bloom. Sound like a dream? It doesn’t have to be. Designing a backyard retreat with a natural feel is as simple as starting with plants native to your region. What would the Eastern woodlands be without spring wildflowers, the Southwest deserts be without succulents or the Midwestern prairies be without grasses? Native plants give each region its distinctive personality and they can do the same for your backyard.…

Apple maggot Rhagoletis pomonella It’s no good to find one of these crawling creatures in the apple you’re eating. To prevent future infestation, be on the lookout for the adult apple maggot above. In summer it looks like a ¼-in.-long fly with white banding on its wings. Adults emerge throughout the summer to lay their eggs on developing fruit trees. DAMAGE The eggs are laid beneath the apple or fruit’s skin, causing dimples and deformities. The larvae hatch and begin to tunnel. A small hole in the fruit means the larvae has exited; but cut it open and you find fruit that’s filled with rotted brown trails. Infested fruit usually falls to the ground prematurely. CONTROL To protect your crop, hang red, round sticky traps in the branches, so adults…

Here are a few plants that Dennis recommends for their easygoing tropical beauty. Care for tropicals is much like other perennials, but these exotic beauties usually require more water and fertilizer. The information at right will let you know exactly what to do. The biggest challenge to growing tender plants in many areas is keeping them alive through winter. There are many ways to protect them, but the simplest is to just bring your favorites indoors to grow as house plants. Even the shade dwellers will need plenty of light, so place plants in front of a sunny south-facing window or use a grow light. Also, keep the humidity as high as possible to avoid dropping leaves. You can do this by grouping several plants together; or if there’s space…

Ragweed Ambrosia spp. Rough goldenrod Solidago rugosa Blue-stemmed goldenrod Solidago caesia Cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis Hardy ageratum Eupatorium coelestinum Ironweed Vernonia spp. Joe-Pye weed Eutrochium purpureum Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Monkshood Aconitum napellus New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Prairie dropseed Sporobolus heterolepis Russian sage Perovskia atriplicifolia Showy goldenrod Solidago speciosa Stiff goldenrod Solidago rigida Sweet goldenrod Solidago odora Wood aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium Yarrow Achillea millefolium…

The weather cools, the trees change and we cling to the warmth of those rich autumn hues: red, yellow and orange. Celebrate the season with its hallmark colors and plants, but you don’t have to say goodbye to variety, either. Freshen up your late-season garden! Thumb through the next pages for some inspiring plant combos that repaint the traditional look. MUM FUN You see them all over town for a reason: Garden mums stand up to the dropping temperatures and shorter daylight hours and are prolific bloomers. In this combo, the crimson mum is a moody anchor in the evening sunlight, and a necessary foil for the surrounding flood of golden flowers. For great mums, purchase plants in spring, pinch back the flowers that might be blooming and feed with…

Pack every inch with color Find out how many square feet your beds are with our bed calculator tool: www.GardenGateMagazine.com/web-extras/ Choose the right tools USE A SOIL KNIFE FOR: • Just a few bulbs• Loose soil• Tight planting spaces• Small bulbs USE A POWER DRILL with an auger bit for: • Naturalizing bulbs• Random planting holes• Tough soil USE A SHOVEL FOR: • Mass planting• Saving time Don’t forget the bulbs! So you bought a bag of bulbs in early fall and forgot to plant them. Now what? Go ahead and put them in the ground if the soil isn’t completely frozen. They may bloom a little later but should come through fine. If the ground is frozen, store the bulbs in a refrigerator, that doesn’t have fruit…

Canna Canna hybrids Celosia Celosia spp. Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum hybrids Coreopsis Coreopsis spp. and hybrids Ironweed Vernonia spp. Japanese anemone Anemone x hybrida Joe-Pye weed Eutrochium spp. Marigolds Tagetes spp. and hybrids New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Perennial sunflower Helianthus hybrid Purple coneflower Echinacea purpurea Rose mallow Hibiscus moscheutos Salvia Salvia spp. and hybrids Zinnias Zinnia spp. American cranberrybush Viburnum opulus var. americanum Amsonia Amsonia spp. Autumn crocus Colchicum autumnale Balloon flower Platycodon grandiflorus Beautyberry Callicarpa spp. Bowman’s root Gillenia spp. Culver’s root Veronicastrum virginicum Daffodil Narcissus spp. and hybrids Feather reed grass Calamagrostis x acutiflora Hardy geranium Geranium spp. Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Prairie dropseed Sporobolus heterolepis Purple coneflower Echinacea purpurea Purple moor grass Molinia caerulea Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis Switchgrass Panicum virgatum Winterberry Ilex verticillata…

Maple tree without fall color Emily Jansen, Michigan Q My sugar maple (Acer saccharum) didn’t turn red this year. What could be causing this? A While the color of a sugar maple’s fall foliage is determined by genetics, weather plays a role, too. A tree that usually produces red fall foliage will have yellow or orange leaves if conditions aren’t right. Scientists are still studying fall foliage color and they’ve found that there are many variables. Sufficient spring and summer rain and warm fall days with nights below 45 degrees F but above freezing seem to result in the best red color. And color can vary on the same tree depending on how much shade it’s receiving—more sun = more red. Simple suet recipe Joyce Martin, Washington Q Do you…

This elegant container planting includes silvery spotted deadnettle and strappy variegated sedge as ideal partners for ‘Mona Lavender’ spurflower’s profusion of pale purple blossoms and handsome foliage. A Spurflower Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’ See information above left B Japanese sedge Carex ‘Ice Dance’ Perennial; dark green ½-in.-wide strappy leaves with clear white borders; part sun to full shade; 12 to 14 in. tall, 12 to 24 in. wide; cold-hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, heat-tolerant in AHS zones 12 to 1 C Spotted deadnettle Lamium ‘Orchid Frost’ Perennial; radiant silver leaves with narrow green margins and attractive lavender orchidlike blossoms that appear in late spring; part sun to full shade; 6 to 8 in. tall, 10 to 12 in. wide; cold-hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9,…

It’s always fun to bring a few plants home to try in the garden, but digging or collecting them in the wild can be a problem both ethically and legally. Besides the possibility of plucking a posy that’s on a local or national endangered species list, there are a lot of native plants that don’t transplant well. If you do gather plants in the wild, your best bet is to gather a limited amount of seed. Visit the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethics for more information. Here are a few general guidelines: • Request permission from the property owner before collecting on private land. Most parks, whether local, county, state or federal, either do not allow collecting or require a permit.• Familiarize yourself with what’s common and…

Old-fashioned doesn’t have to mean out of date. Heirloom plants have just as much, if not more, to offer than the latest and greatest hybrids. These plants with a past are easy to grow, many are fragrant, and pollinators love them. On top of that, by growing a few of these old varieties for your summer bouquets, you’re preventing them from disappearing, as well as preserving the genetic diversity that makes our gardens so amazing. Heirloom flowers have been carefully cultivated and preserved by generations of gardeners, and one characteristic they share is that they’re open-pollinated. Insects, birds and wind do all the work of fertilizing the flowers, and the plants grown from these seeds will “come true,” or look like the parent plant, generation after generation. This won’t happen…

Saving seeds from your favorite heirlooms is economical and a great way to keep these cherished plants going. Here are some tips for preserving the bounty: Harvest Choose several healthy-looking plants to harvest from so you won’t pass a disease or some other weakness on to the next generation and to ensure genetic diversity. Let seeds mature on the plant, though — immature seeds won’t germinate. Ripe seed is usually brown or black and any “package” it’s in is dry and wrinkled like the love-in-a-mist above. Keep an eye on the ripening process so the seed doesn’t fall or get eaten by critters. If you’re concerned, place a fabric or paper bag loosely over top of the seed head and secure it around the stem. Clean and dry Cleaning seed…