Innehållsförteckning för September/October 2022 från Garden Gate

All gardens have moments, or even seasons, of triumph and despair. For me, triumph (or maybe just hope?) is in May: The peonies, irises and alliums are blooming, there’s usually plenty of rain and I’ve recently completed all of the spring cleanup. Everything looks fresh and tidy and there’s real promise. Despair is in August. That’s when I’m tired of watering, and many perennials and shrubs start to look ragged. Somehow, the weeds still thrive (and have usually gotten away from me during my July travels), and when I pull, the parched, cracked soil doesn’t give their roots up easily. Finally, fall arrives, and the garden seems to get a second wind—or maybe it’s just me that has more energy. If you have your second wind, too, and are ready…

Flatheaded appletree borer Chrysobothris femorata Appearance Flatheaded appletree borer adults are ½ inch long with gray-brown wings and green bodies. They lay small, flat eggs in the summer within cracks in the tree bark. Then, the pale wormlike larvae, which have noticeably large segments near the head, bore into the trunk to overwinter. In spring they chew through the trunk to emerge as adults. Damage Larvae and adults create depressions that compromise the entire trunk and even kill newly transplanted fruit and ornamental trees. Oozing white sap is a sign of active larvae, and adults make D-shaped holes when they emerge. If the tree survives, the boring sites invite more pests and disease as the tree grows. Control Avoid damaging young or thin-skinned trees when pruning or weeding around the…

Botanical Names Anise hyssop Agastache foeniculum Coreopsis Coreopsis grandiflora Crocus Crocus spp. and hybrids Daffodil Narcissus spp. and hybrids Daylily Hemerocallis spp. and hybrids Grape hyacinth Muscari spp. and hybrids Greigii tulip Tulipa greigii Siberian squill Scilla siberica Snowdrop Galanthus spp. Bulbs are a great way to get lots of beautiful spring blooms. But for the big colorful show that most of us dream of, it takes a lot of bulbs. A big investment of time and money deserves dramatic impact and the knowledge that you won’t have to redo all of it every year! Flowerbulbs.com horticulturist Peggy Anne Montgomery is a bulb aficionado (she even lived in the Netherlands for several years) and has some tips to ensure you’re doing all you can to maximize your investments.. GET THEM…

Annual sunflower Helianthus annuus Everyone from kid to grandma has plunked an annual sunflower’s big seed directly in the ground (or a small cup) a time or two. You don’t usually have to wait long to see them sprout, and while a big yellow flower on a thick, bristly stem is typical, these days you can also find branched ones and in red, brown, white, green, burgundy, apricot, peach and bicolors. WHERE IT WORKS BEST Annual sunflowers come in a wide range of sizes from 1 to 16 feet tall! You can grow them in perennial borders or cottage gardens, cut flower or pollinator gardens, and there are even dwarf varieties perfect for containers. HOW TO GROW IT Lots of sun and regular watering ensure beautiful sunflowers. Don’t bother to…

TIME TO TRANSPLANT Fall is a great time to move spring perennials, whether you’re shuffling things around in the garden or pulling perennials from pots and plunking them in the soil. Just do it in early fall so they have plenty of time to get settled before a frost hits. After the ground has frozen, add a couple inches of mulch around the roots to insulate them from winter temperature fluctuations. Waiting until the ground has frozen discourages pests from finding a cozy winter hiding spot in the mulch. Q & A Q: Does cooler weather mean I can stop watering my plants? A: Nope. Through autumn, plants still need about 1 inch of water per week (rain included). So keep checking the soil and water when it’s dry. Stop…

“Think about how you will use your yard,” suggests landscape architect Frank Fitzgerald, “then develop your garden rooms around those uses.” You’ve seen Frank’s welcoming front yard garden room, the sideyard room and backyard dining room. Want to find out how you can design the best outdoor rooms? Here are a few of Frank's professional tips. Build a framework Think about how you enter the space. Will it be a pathway or stepping stones? Will there be a gate? Will the walls be built structures or plants? How does each room reveal itself? Sketch and stake Draw a plan to scale (it doesn’t have to be perfect) and sketch out your ideas. Once you have a plan, get a better sense of how the space will work (or not work)…

Fall Perennials Butterflies Love Don’t forget to provide butterflies with nectar-rich flowers in the fall. Here are some of their favorite late-season perennials! Gardengatemagazine.com/articles/flowers-plants/ Ornamental Grasses in Containers Ornamental grasses are at peak prettiness in fall. See several container designs that showcase these autumn beauties online. Gardengatemagazine.com/articles/containers/ join our facebook Group Connect with Other Readers! We’d love to see what’s happening in your garden and show you what’s going on in ours. Join the Garden Gate Magazine Garden Club Community Group on Facebook.…

Summer is over and you may be tempted to put away your pruners, store the gloves and just sit back to enjoy the cooler days and beautiful autumn foliage. Not so fast—there’s plenty of time left to do a little more planting before the ground freezes! Adding fall perennials and cool-season annuals can bring a whole new look to your borders, and many don’t require much care, so you’ll still have moments to relax and enjoy the view. As temps cool, there are usually fewer fall chores anyway: You don’t need to water as much, the weeds seem to grow more slowly, and you can often stop deadheading. Many flowers hold their seedheads into fall and winter and not only look pretty, but they feed birds too. CLASSIC FAVORITES Colorful…

TULIPS THAT KEEP COMING BACK While large tulips with unusual flowers or colorful patterns look great in bouquets, they don’t always come back every year. The types known as “species tulips” are your best bet for perennializing and may even spread if they’re growing in ideal conditions. Here are a few that are easy to find and grow. • Crocus tulip Tulipa humilis • Greigii tulip Tulipa greigii • Lady tulip Tulipa clusiana • Late tulip Tulipa tarda CRITTER-PROOF BULBS It’s so frustrating when deer or rabbits eat the flower buds as they emerge in spring and when squirrels or voles dig up or eat the bulbs themselves! Luckily, there are several types that critters seem to avoid. Grow these bulbs and you can enjoy big…

I used to think that radishes were the perfect early spring vegetable. Then I learned that you can also grow them in fall and have been growing them for several months a year ever since. Because they’re so fast growing (seedlings typically emerge 3 to 7 days after you plant), they’re great candidates for succession planting, and you can get several harvests in a single growing season. Plant them between other crops, in containers, or anywhere you can find an empty space. Radishes are typically grown for their spicy and peppery taproot. There’s so much variety: From the traditional globes to medium oblong shapes and longer daikon types. And you can find every color in the rainbow but blue, even black and white. Little-known fact: The entire radish plant is…

1 | Clear ‘N’ Collect Leaf Rake Give your back a break with this all-in-one rake and scoop. Spread the hinged clamshells out flat to rake leaves, then use the two handles to fold them together, pick up debris and drop it into a wheelbarrow or yard waste bag. Gardener’s Supply, gardeners.com, 888-833-1412 ($39.95) 2 | Plant Knight Plant Protector Protect newly planted trees, shrubs or transplants from pesky critters and lawn mower or string trimmer damage with this easy-to-install cage. This flexible plastic cone opens on one side to slip around a tree trunk or stems and can be overlapped to tighten around smaller plants. Available in green or black. Local hardware stores, ggmagextra.com/essentials ($19.99 for 3-pack) 3 | Bluesette Russian sage Petite and fragrant, this Russian sage (Perovskia…

Q I moved to a new home in the summer and found a bunch of these odd roots as I was digging a new garden bed. Any idea what they might be? Eva Rossi, IL A You’ve discovered a bed of Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica). This native spring ephemeral quickly grows from these fleshy underground rhizomes. As the flowers fade and the foliage withers, the roots store food for next year’s show. Q How do I overwinter a tree rose in a container? Roy Larson, ND A A tree rose (Rosa hybrids) has two grafts that must be protected. At the base, a straight stem, or standard, is grafted onto a root. And at the top, the blooming part is grafted onto the stem. That’s what makes tree roses…

Picking squash bugs and other pests off of your plants can be tricky when they’re hiding deep within the center of a flower. Joyce decided to use a pair of long-handled tweezers, which are usually about twice as long as regular tweezers, to pluck bugs from the center without destroying the flower itself. Dispose of the bugs in a bucket of soapy water to quickly kill them. — Joyce Ahlman, OH Swiveling seed storage Ellen Miller, IN Leftover prescription bottle containers are great for storing seeds. The sealed lids prevent moisture and keep seeds from spilling. But the bottles can accumulate quickly if you collect seeds often, and the bottles can be complicated to store. Ellen discovered that a revolving spice rack simplified this. She can stack the bottles vertically…

If you’ve found yourself watering more than anticipated in the last several years, you’re not alone. With longer periods between rainfalls in many parts of the country, plants (and gardeners!) suffer. But with watering restrictions in many communities, the answer isn’t always to simply grab the hose. And who really wants to do that anyway? Using mulch and watering infrequently but deeply to encourage roots to stretch deeper into the soil are two things you can do to help. But growing plants that don’t need as much water is probably the best long-term fix. How do you know if a plant will be drought tolerant? There are a few telltale signs. First, fleshy foliage, like that of succulents and cactus, stores water for times when it isn’t available in the…

These two fungal diseases are common on many plants. Here are three things you can do to prevent them (and any other fungal problem): 1. Don’t crowd plants. Instead, space them out so air can circulate. 2. Water at soil level with drip irrigation or a soaker hose. 3. Clean up fallen debris so spores don’t have a place to overwinter. POWDERY MILDEW What it Looks Like Powdery mildew’s fuzzy white or gray spots start in summer when it’s hot and humid. New York asters seem to get powdery mildew most often, but other species can develop it too. What to Do Pick up a fungicide spray at the garden center, or make your own: Mix 1 Tablespoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of horticultural oil into 1 gallon…

Henbit Lamium amplexicaule What it looks like Late winter or early spring is when you’ll spot this non-native annual weed. Several square stems grow from the base and reach 4 to 16 inches tall or more in rich soil. Leaves are opposite, coarsely toothed and rounded. Near the top, these leaves wrap around the stem. While this pest looks similar to creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), these clasping leaves on upright stems are the best way to tell the difference. Early to midspring tubular flowers are pink to pale purple and clustered at the tops of the stem. Where to find it Henbit prefers full sun to part shade and average to rich soil. It’s happiest in open areas that are only occasionally cultivated, such as shrub or perennial borders. You…

Farmers Defense Protective Gardening Sleeves Caring for your farm or garden can expose you to rugged climates and harsh conditions. Stay comfortable and protected with Farmers Defense protective growing gear. Their sleeves protect your skin from the plant, are UPF 50+ to protect you from UVs, and are sweat wicking to keep you cool in the heat. Plus they have hats, aprons and more to make your work more comfortable, in any conditions. www.FarmersDefense.com Negrita Parrot Tulip Wanting to add dramatic color and texture to your garden? Negrita Parrot is the perfect tulip for you. The dark, reddish-purple blooms have deeply cut feathered edges. They grow 18 - 22 inches tall and bloom mid to late spring. Goes well with the Shirley Triumph Tulip for a beautiful display. (Zones 3…