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Well, it is here. The leaves are falling. All the signs of Fall are appearing. Better just accept it.
I have so many plants yet to bloom. The Dahlias, Goldenrod and Sedum are all in a holding pattern. I have invested in this time of the year. I knew it was coming, so I planned for it. I planted hardy mums and a few tender ones that make me so happy in October. I have some amazing colors to look forward to. I especially love chrysanthemums. I also started quite a few asters by seed and they are growing all wild! They just grow like those giant guys waving to you in a used car sales lot! I will make a note to myself to cut them back next spring, because they are just too crazy for my small garden. This is going to be a very colorful fall thanks to these patient plants.
There is something else to look forward to: There is a flower show happening September 18-19 sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I plan to go and I will report back. But really, I think it is worth checking out for yourself. Here are all the details: https://www.masshort.org/fall-flower-show There are going to be 50 or more garden related vendors there and flowers and plants exhibited there for judges to award, well you know, awards to. I imagine there will be many amazing dahlias that unlike mine are in bloom. There will be presentations, demonstrations and speakers on all things garden related. Boston area food trucks to keep you going. Finally, I know there will be flower arranging displays on a level not often seen.
My roses update. Black spot got the best of my roses this summer. I have 100 rose bushes and at least half of them got black spot along with a new and unfamiliar to me bug called rose midge. I had to call in the experts! I emailed the New England Rose Society. You do not have to be a member, and you can still request a consult. They sent me 81 year old David from Stow Massachusetts. David the rose expert absolutely schooled me! He let me know that I am in the midst of a big black spot issue. Together we went around and discussed each rose bush. He started clipping away. He shook his head at me. I felt like I was in Cathoic school again. See, I am a gardener who does not wish to spray chemicals on my roses. But, as a fruit grower, I know, some things are unavoidable. Anti-fungals to be specific. When David left, I got busy. I waited until past dusk on the coolest night and treated my roses, just like I treat my fruit trees. Zap and I was done. Roses are meant to bloom, that is their only purpose. Mine were not. Hopefully, the fungicide (sounds awful, I know) will help. Link to contacting a rose consultant: https://www.newenglandrosesociety.org/consulting-rosarians Next, I will be reading about rose midge and how to treat for that too.
Last Tuesday, the Cottage Gardeners of Marblehead and Swampscott hosted an English high tea at the JCC for its first meeting of the garden club season. Many members wore fascinators and gloves and enjoyed cucumber and salmon sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream lemon squares! The gardening club listened to a presentation about the history and plants and flowers growing at Longwood Gardens before conducting their monthly meeting.
Now for some tasks to do in your garden now:
If you have petunias, give them a good chop, they will surprise you, they keep putting out flowers well past Halloween. But beware, they are sticky, wear gloves.
After your Rose of Sharon is done flowering, you can prune it hard and shape it this time of the year.
It is also a good time to collect seeds from all your favorite plants for next year. Put them in a paper back and label, label, label! Store them in a dark, dry, cool place. Look for seeds from cosmos that are spent and drying up, pop them into their own sandwich paper bag. I don’t use plastic because it holds on to moisture and the seeds will get moldy. Try to find seeds from these plants if you have them: favorite tomatoes (Clean and rinse and dry first), coneflowers, lupine, yarrow, marigolds, sunflowers, petunias, nasturtiums, zinnias, salvias, veronicas, asters (but they are crazy) I do not take all the seeds, I like to leave some for the birds.
Now is the time to stop fertilizing, be selective in your deadheading and stop pruning altogether, let your garden slowly go dormant. Allow your garden to harden off. New growth in October is not what you want.
Once plants go dormant, it is time to move perennials around. I have some roses I am relocating. It is always the roses! It is not too late to order spring bulbs. The selections is still good now. Start looking at ordering barefoot roses and peonies and other perennials. Put a marker in your garden in any spot you want to change, like a bare spot. I use a rock. Hence, it looks like I have a rock garden.
Marblehead resident Colleen Connor is co-president of the Cottage Gardeners of Marblehead and Swampscott and writes a regular gardening column for The Marblehead Independent.
