Innehållsförteckning för September/October 2019 från Garden Gate

To clean or not to clean We’ll soon head into that time of year in the garden when the leaves fall, the flowers fade and plants rest. Typically it’s not a time for me to rest as I try and pick up and mulch every leaf that blows into my yard and compost every yellow hosta leaf lying limp on the ground. And most often I run out of time to do it all. But do I really need to be that tidy? It’s a question we get all the time here at Garden Gate and in fact, each of us on the staff probably clean up our garden beds to varying degrees. Chloe Deike reached out to six well-known gardeners and asked them for their perspectives on fall cleanup.…

Looking for an organic approach to weed control? Eat them! The pesky plants below are some of the most common you’ll find growing in your yard and they make great additions to salads, soups and stir fries. But before you start nibbling be sure chemicals haven’t been used on the lawn and that you’re harvesting the right plant. If you want to be on the safe side look for them at the farmer’s market or buy seed of cultivated forms. Dandelion Taraxacum officinale All parts are edible. Purslane Portulaca oleracea sativa Young leaves or stem tips are best. Lamb’s quarters Chenopodium spp. Eat leaves and young stems. Plantain Plantago major Young leaves and stem tips are best.…

PYRAMID Focus attention with this angular shape. Its narrow top leads your eye up. Use pyramids sparingly — it adds a lot of drama. HORIZONTAL Wider than they are tall, horizontal plants emphasize length and have a comfortable, stabilizing effect. ROUND Your eye moves quickly over this common plant shape. Use in groups where you don’t want to focus a lot of attention COLUMNAR A columnar plant leads your eye upward but is softer and more casual than a pyramid. WEEPING This out-of-the-ordinary form leads your eye down and is great at distracting from less-than-ideal views.…

A Juke Box ®  pyracomeles xPyracomeles A cross between an Osteomeles and Pyracantha, this evergreen shrub with glossy leaves can be easily trimmed to a shape or sheared into a hedge. It has a mounded habit and doesn’t form flowers. Full sun to part shade; 1 to 3 ft. tall and wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 9 B Sky Box ™ Japanese holly Ilex crenata Naturally columnar, Sky Box lends a formal air to a planting. It has tightly branched evergreen foliage and its insignificant white spring flowers lead to inedible blue berries. Sky Box and Juke Box are part of the “Box” line of shrubs that are all good boxwood replacements. Full sun to part shade; 4 to 5 ft. tall…

1 | Tapplock One + When you’re eager to open your garden gate or ready to put tools away after an afternoon of chores, a finicky padlock is aggravating. But this high-tech one opens with the touch of a finger! Program your fingerprint (and up to 500 others) into the padlock using a simple app on your phone, then simply touch the center square to unlock. Setup takes little time, and opening the padlock is a cinch. It can also be opened through the app on your phone or by entering a password using Morse code. ggmagextra.com/essentials($99.00) 2 | Raised Row Gardening This is a simple and effective new way to grow your veggies — no need to construct raised beds and no need to dig or till. Instead, just…

If you’re looking for a low-care garden, go for grasses. They don’t need staking, deadheading or lots of fertilizing to keep them looking great. About the only maintenance they require is spring cleanup. Here’s what you’ll need to do: Before you begin to see new growth sprouting near the base of the clump, it’s time to cut away the dead stems. As you see in the photo, start by tying all of the stems together with string or twine. That’ll make hauling them away much easier. Tall or very large clumps may need to be tied in a couple of places so they’re easier to handle. Next, grab your pruning shears and start cutting. Cut all of the stems down so the stubble is 4 to 6 in. high. Sturdy…

Use these seasonal and regional tips to get your garden in shape for winter. There are lots of things that need to be done at the end of the season. To help you finish the essentials, use this checklist as a guide. The next two pages have more specific tips for certain areas of North America. The USDA cold-hardiness zones where the tip is most helpful are listed after each idea. early fall □ Pull out the camera and snap some shots of what you’ve accomplished this year. Don’t forget to take a few photos of areas that need improvement, too! □ Plant cold-tolerant annuals and refresh containers with autumn plants. □ Buy spring-blooming bulbs early for the best selection. Store them in a cool spot until you’re ready to…

How To Enter: INSTAGRAM: Submit photos of your garden using the hashtag: #ggmagReaderGarden MAIL: Reader Garden Award Garden Gate Magazine 2143 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312 EMAIL: Email your information and a link to your images in cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Drive, etc.) to ReaderGarden@ aimmedia.com GUIDELINES: Only amateur gardeners are eligible for awards; participants cannot earn their living from gardening, landscaping or interior design. Gardens that have received other national gardening honors or awards or have been featured in a national magazine are ineligible. Please retain an original copy of your complete entry for your records; materials will not be returned. Images from entries may be shared online. DEADLINE: Submissions must be received by October 15th, 2019. Award winners will be selected by Garden Gate…

Eastern screech owl Megascops asio What it looks like Even though it could very well be living in your neighborhood, it’s tricky to spot this small owl. Six to 10 inches long, the Eastern screech owl can be gray or red, has dark stripes, and blends in with the bark of a tree. It’s easy to recognize its yellow-green beak and ear tufts that stick up (though fluffier young owls don’t have ear tufts), but not its round yellow eyes, as it sleeps during the day. At night you can detect its sound, which is more commonly a trill or a whinny, not always a screech. Where to find it The Eastern screech owl nests in tree cavities and dead snags in wooded areas, but is regularly found living in…

Why are there so many more acorns than usual this fall? C.K. Dexter Haven, PA Only oak trees (Quercus spp.) produce acorns. But all trees have boom crops some years and minimal crops other years. The reason for this has long baffled scientists. We now know that neighboring trees synchronize, so not just one tree has a mast year, but all of the oaks in a region will overproduce acorns. Since acorns are a major food source for many animals, mast years make up for all the ones that are eaten — with so many acorns, it’s impossible for all to be consumed. The extra acorns take root so that the oaks can propagate. Q I often find a bag of daffodil bulbs I forgot to get in the ground…

There really aren’t a lot of shade-loving perennials that produce blossoms late in the season when everything else is beginning to look a little dowdy. But that’s exactly what turtlehead does during the shorter days of late summer and early fall. This unusual and attractive plant gets its name from the curious pretty pink flowers that resemble open-mouthed turtles found at the tips of each of the stems. EMBRACE A NATIVE There are six species in the genus Chelone, all of which are native to North America. Our focus is on Chelone lyonii, which has pink flowers with yellow beards. It grows naturally in the southern Appalachian mountains north to New England along stream banks, damp woods and swamps. During the spring and summer, turtleheads are perfectly content to let…

A driveway is often just a long, flat, vacant swath cut from the street up into the yard. But with a little imagination and careful planning, this strip doesn’t have to be homely. You see one good-looking example at left. Here are four more tips that will take the area along your driveway from boring to breathtaking: 1 Choose the right plants We use our driveways for everything from washing the car to shooting hoops and gassing up the lawn mower. So the area around a driveway can be a harsh environment. Choose plants that will stand up to soapy, oily wash water, reflected summer heat, piles of snow and even a stray basketball. Daylily (Hemerocallishybrids), artemisia (Artemisia spp.) and coreopsis (Coreopsisspp.) are three good perennial options. But it’s still…

WHAT I’VE LEARNED... I don’t have a fancy light setup to start tomato seeds. I start mine in flats in the brightest window I have. When the tomatoes get leggy, I transplant them into plastic cups. Since they can be planted deeply, the legginess doesn’t matter. My latest discovery is using clear cups. You can see the roots and know when it’s time to transplant. A pop-up trash can is a great garden tool. On a reader’s advice, I bought one and use it when I have a bunch of weeds to pull. It cleans out easily and is so simple to store. Heirloom tomatoes are real showstoppers on a caprese platter. Growing up, I never liked tomatoes but now that I grow my own, I totally get it. You…

Although it looks difficult, it is actually fairly easy to create and maintain a spiral topiary. Whether in the ground or in a container, a spiral topiary is a little touch of whimsy with a decidedly formal flair. You can find a 4-foot tall evergreen topiary like this for sale at nurseries and garden centers for $100 and up. But you can get the hands-on satisfaction of doing it yourself for less than half that amount. Evergreen trees and shrubs like the dwarf Alberta spruce here make the best spiral topiaries because of their sturdy trunks and year-round color. Conically shaped trees are the easiest to clip into a spiral shape. Common boxwood, Italian cypress and privet are also excellent candidates. Check with your local garden center for the best…

A Beaked yucca Yucca rostrata Perennial; white flowers on 2- to 3-ft. stems in late spring to early summer; waxy blue-gray leaves save water; develops a treelike trunk over time; full sun; well-drained soil; 6 to 12 ft. tall, 4 to 6 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 5 to 10 B Agastache Agastachespp . and hybrids Perennial; pink, red, orange, violet or yellow flower spikes midsummer to fall; small leaves save water; full sun to part shade; well-drained soil; 16 to 48 in. tall, 10 to 48 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9 C Lamb’s ear Stachys byzantina Perennial; purple flowers in early summer; fuzzy hairs trap moisture on silvery leaves; full sun; well-drained…

A statement plant has a certain “wow” factor: It may be glorious color—an unusual shade or something shockingly bright. Or maybe it is the plant’s form—architectural lines or soft flowing shapes that set the tone for a landscape or container. The size of a plant can be so enormous it makes your jaw drop, or delicate and diminutive to cause you to pause and look closely to appreciate its attributes. Even texture can speak volumes—velvety foliage creates a cozy, laid-back feel in the garden while sharp, stiff leaves generate excitement. DEMANDING ATTENTION It can be difficult to use plants that make such a show of themselves. Sometimes they just need a spot to stand alone. But if you take their top attribute into consideration, be it color, shape, size or…

It’s not too late to get a few greens going for your fall garden. While these leafy veggies are often grown in spring, now is the perfect time to get planting for a late-season harvest. Warm, late-summer soil encourages seeds to sprout quickly, but air temperatures are starting to cool off so young plants will have the growing conditions they need to flourish. And if you live in mild-winter areas you can harvest greens all winter long. Grow them in rows in the ground or add a few to borders or containers, where they do double duty, providing distinctive texture and a tasty meal. Lettuce, spinach, mustard and kale are classic, easy-to-find greens, but you might also like to try a few out-of-the-ordinary ones, such as tatsoi, arugula or mizuna.…

Whether your home is one story or several, formal or casual, there are lots of ways to ensure the foundation planting is helping it look its best. If something seems lacking, the garden’s design may be out of balance, the proportion may be off or it may just need more variety. Check out these tips for some easy ways to see if the planting surrounding your home is a help rather than a hindrance. Then see how to put it all together on the next page. PORCH CONNECTIONS  The foundation planting may stop at the steps but containers keep your eye moving right on up to the front door. Because the urns above are large and black, they supply visual weight. This adds emphasis to that spot and lets you…

Crownvetch Securigera varia What it looks like Crownvetch is an attractive perennial that rapidly forms large clumps from creeping stems up to 6 feet long and underground rhizomes up to 10 feet long. A single plant may fully cover up to 100 square feet within a four-year period. Pink-white flowers are produced from late spring to fall on long stalks in clover-like clusters above leaflets arranged in pairs. Flowers are followed by crown-shaped seed pods. It forms a tangled mass less than 2 feet tall. Where to find it Crownvetch is a European species that was introduced into North America in the 1950s as a ground cover. It was mainly planted along highways and on embankments to control soil erosion. However, it is now naturalized throughout the United States, including…

Autumn in the garden ENJOY THE FEAST  Autumn gardens are a feast for the senses — bold color combinations, pungent scents, the crunch of crisp leaves under your feet and a cool nip in the air. To many gardeners, it’s the perfect time of year. You can relax a bit because the hard work of spring is over; you’ve survived the heat of summer, and winter is still a little way off. And many plants reach their peak of growth just before they go dormant. But what makes the perfect autumn garden? Well, color, and lots of it, is what comes to mind first. Combinations that you might not think of even trying in other seasons. And not just flowers, but colorful foliage, seeds and berries — any color is…

□ Start early Spring is the time to get mums in the ground. That gives them lots of time to send out a strong root system that will keep them from being heaved out of the soil over the winter. Buy young starts in early spring. If they have flowers, snip them off so the mum puts its energy into growing more roots and branches. □ Rejuvenate frequently For the most flowers, divide mums every spring. Toss out the weak and woody centers and reset only healthy young sprouts from the edge of the clump. □ Choose the best spot Always plant hardy mums in full sun and well-drained soil. Avoid locations that stay wet or where water collects, especially in winter. With too much moisture, the crown rots and…