Photo Friday: Ornamental Kale

 As you can see, I just took these pictures a couple of days ago. These plants are far and away the most showy plants in the garden now, even managing to detract from the weeds that got away from me this fall! I love the red variety with a doubt but the white really sparkles on these gloomy fall days. I also think the red and white a nice departure from the orange and yellow that dominates this season. So far these plants have endured several frosts and a layer of snow and they are still going strong. They've put on such a show that the mailman had to come up and ask what they were. 

Even though these plants aren't so much to look at throughout the summer they are so spectacular in the fall, I will definitely have more of these next year.

Photo Friday: Burgundy Gaillardia

This gorgeous plant has been blooming since June and is going strong into October. Originally, I planted 2 or 3 small plants that have since died out, but it's okay because this one readily re-seeds itself. It's not a problem, however, since some of the plants die out and I've rather like where it's reseeded itself. For the plants that are where I don't wish them to be they are easily pulled up. Not at all like the Evil Veronica. My favorite reseeded plant was the one that planted itself next to the Shasta Daisies. Red and white daisies? Gorgeous! Far and away the best fall (and spring and summer!) perennial in my garden.

Photo Friday: Limelight Hydrangea

I've fallen in love with hydrangeas! This one is the Limelight. I love so many things about this shrub and highly recommend it. It takes more sun than most hydrangeas which makes it perfect for the southeast corner of my house. It gets sun most of the day but is protected from the very hot western sun. It's doing very well. I also love the lime-green blooms that turn pink and then burgundy in the fall. It goes very well with the Tiger-eye Sumac growing next to it. Gorgeous fall color!

Photo Friday: Autumn Joy!

I've traditionally disliked rudbeckia/Black-eyed Susans. In general, I don't like  yellow flowers and I've rejected these flowers as too traditional and "not my style". My son and I planted seeds 2 summers ago and they didn't decide to grow until this year. The first plants up were these rudbekcia. I left them only because they were in the back of the yard and I figured they were better than weeds. Imagine my surprise to discover how much I LOVE them with the Autumn Joy sedum back there. Sometimes Mother Nature really does know best.

Design Container Gardens for Multiple Seasons

With the upsurge in container gardening, I read much about seasonal containers. Spring containers, summer and fall containers. Even winter containers. Living in Minnesota with it's short growing season has not afforded me the luxury of more than one container garden season. I'm also stymied by seasonal allergies which makes fall gardening more than a little unpleasant. I suppose it can be done, but is there another way?

Here are the facts about frost dates here in western Minnesota: The risk of frost is from September 27-May 10. We have an average frost-free season of about 140 days. However, we are almost (note the almost) guaranteed not to have frost from May 21-September 16. That's actually only about 116 days (less than 4 months!) that we can generally count on.*

The advantage to container gardening is that we can plant earlier because containers can be moved into a protected area if there is a frost warning. This can extend our season by as much as 3 to 4 weeks as long as day time temps are warm enough. However, that's not always the case either. Yes, gardening in the Midwest is sometimes an exercise in frustration! I think that's part of why I love it. You just never know what you're going to get. 

I did do up some fall containers last year. They looked pretty good but the amount of time I got to enjoy them was fairly short. I wanted to enjoy them as long as possible because I had put the money into them and I ended up leaving them until the first snowfall and then had to drag those heavy things into the garage. As much as I love gardening, this is not ideal for me, nor is it money I care to spend for such a short period of time of enjoyment. 

The idea of planting up pots that would look good in the spring, summer and fall came to me last spring while working at the greenhouse. A friend of mine mentioned that she loved pansies but wasn't happy with them during the summer months. I said the trick was to plant them with other things that would do well in the summer so the pansies weren't the main show at that time. They look good in the spring, decline slightly during hot summer months and most times will spring back in the fall. 

That got me thinking about other plants that are less than spectacular in either the spring or summer but excellent in the fall. The first to come to mind was ornamental kale. I absolutely fell in love with it after my boss took this picture last fall.

Not that we need to see snow just yet but what Minnesota gardener doesn't love a plant that looks great through the snow?

However, kale isn't all that spectacular in the spring, and not all that much to look at through the summer either. It really isn't in it's full glory until the fall. This is not overly problematic when planting in the ground but for containers, it can be. My experiment this year was to plant the kale in a container with blue and carmine Picobella petunias in the front through the spring and summer. I loved the carmine and blue with the colors of the kale even though the kale wasn't full grown. I figured by the time the kale was gorgeous, the petunias would be played out. 

I was right and I was wrong. From the curbside the containers were eye-catching. The petunias were gorgeous all summer long, although towards the end of August they got a little played out. The kale didn't detract from the container, but didn't add much to it either until the end of August. Now, the kale is gorgeous AND the petunias have sprung back and look as good as they did in the spring! Turns out petunias can tolerate cool weather. From where I stand, I'd say they prefer it. 

Why I didn't know that before, I don't know. I now have a new found respect for petunias that I love anyway. This is one of the things I love about gardening. I always learn something new and I will never know it all ensuring that gardening will always provide challenges. 

The container today exceeds my expectations. Aside from some tweaking (there's always tweaking!) such as planting just one kale plant and getting something to keep the cabbage moths away from the kale, I will plant this container again next year.

Beside pansies, petunias and kale, other annuals that do well in the fall are dusty miller, calendula, bachelor's buttons. diascia, lobelia and nasturtium. Consider using these plants in your containers with other plants that do well in the heat of summer. Make sure to water containers well in the high temps so cool season plants won't die out. In the fall, you'll be pleasantly surprised when these cool season plants revive and take center stage again.


*Frost date stats from Dave's Garden.

Gardening Around the Web

So much great gardening information to be found around the web. Kind of makes me wonder how we gardened or did anything else for that matter before the Internet! Here's some garden links I found interesting this week:

You Grow Girl: Make Your Own Pop Bottle Irrigation System 

This is a post from 2001 but it seems more relevant today than ever. This combines two things I love: drip irrigation (I'm lazy, there's nothing more to it than that) and recycling. I have looked at commercial variations of this same thing. Of the commercial products I have looked at (and not purchased, I might add), one was simply a set of spikes to attach to recycled 2 liter bottles. The other was a more "scientific" and "highly engineered" system that included both the spike and bottle in addition to a special disc that was supposed to guarantee proper watering. Whatever. It didn't work. Sometimes things can be just too thought out. I like the idea of using things I already have and re-purposing them for something else. I think this could also work with smaller pop bottles for house plants as well. 

No Dig Vegetable Gardens

This site caught my eye precisely because I'm a lazy gardener. However, I'm also a marketing major and prone to skepticism when I see claims like this. Turns out this is just a really clever way to talk about raised bed gardens, which for many of us is an excellent idea. This site is not selling anything other than the idea of raised bed gardening and has wonderful information about vertical gardening, children's gardening and other general gardening information. Is a raised bed garden a no dig garden? Technically, but they are still work initially so the idea that this is less work will depend on interpretation. However, there is a wealth invaluable gardening information regardless if you use raise beds or not.

Overwintering Geraniums

Ok, yes, this is my own article so I didn't have to search very hard for it. I included it for it's seasonal timeliness. This article was written based on my own personal experience with overwintering geraniums. I don't have a sunny window in which to overwinter geraniums in pots and I don't have a cellar that is cool and dark. What I do have is a finished basement that is heated because my children's bedrooms are down there and, of course, the big TV. I had read about how you're supposed to overwinter geraniums by hanging them upside down in paper bags in a cool dark place. Since I don't have those requirements (not even a paper bag!), I decided to see what would happen if I put the plants in a cardboard box in the laundry room next to the dryer since it was the only out of the way space I had. What happened was that out of 15 plants, 11 survived. Talk about drastically cutting down on the spring flower bill! Of the 4 that did not survive, 3 were ivy geraniums. I will do the same this year to see if I get the same results from the ivies.

Photo Friday: Endless Summer Hydrangea

Endless Summer Hydrangea nestled among Purple Ruffles Basil. Looks great, smells heavenly. As most of us here in Zone 3-4 are aware, Endless Summer is not fully hardy here. Also, our soil won't hold blue blooms for long. I do baby this little beauty by covering it with leaves every fall. It's been slow going but bit by bit this shrub has been growing and blooming more. By no means a showstopper and a little extra work but seeing this beautiful bloom at the end of September? Yeah, I'll take it.

Beware! Crabby Gardener!

I can't think of anything worse for a gardener than to have allergies. And allergies I have. I have some difficulty in the spring but can usually control them with Claritin and Flonase. The fall is a different story. And believe me, I've tried everything.

I blame the ragweed. Stupid ragweed! And the harvesting. I live in an agricultural area and harvest is always bad for me. Dust, I suppose and who knows what else. I know I'm not the only gardener to be afflicted with a severe ragweed allergy. Karen over at The Garden Plot is experiencing the same thing. I feel the tiniest bit better about that. Company is good, right? But still, to miss out on gardening...

For whatever reason, no allergy medicine takes care of my allergies enough to be outside. Where I want to be. Sort of. See, years of allergies have taken a toll and I've developed a conditioned response to being outside in the fall. My mind wants to be there but my body refuses to go. It's more a wistful longing than anything because I know better. 

I have been standing in my living room staring at this scene. I want to go check it out. I'm rather diggin' the Black-eyed Susans with the sedum. And I don't generally like Black-eyed Susans. There also seems to be some burgundy flowers that look nice. My son and I planted these seeds a year ago but they only decided to germinate this year. Everything back there is a surprise.

But the fact is, 5 minutes is my absolute outside limit for time in the garden after about August 15th. After that, my throat starts to swell and I get a weird low grade headache that makes me CRABBY. That's me with brick on my head there by the swing set. The strange thing is, the only symptom I really recognize is the crabby. And the tired. And the extreme desire to go take a nap. It's only later when I'm not crabby that I realize that it's my sinuses and throat that are giving me trouble. So as much as I want to go check this out, I know once I get out there, I'm going to want to weed (just because it's there, not because I love it) and then I'm going to get a headache and crabby and it will ruin the whole thing. My feet simply won't take me there. 

I mention this because for years my allergies and my aversion to the outdoors in September and beyond has made me feel like a bad gardener. A fickle, lazy, amateur, fake gardener. I always have high hopes every year that I'm going to absolutely overcome my allergies! It hasn't happened yet. 

As much as it bothers me, I think it's time to let myself off the hook. The fact is, I have allergies. I love gardening and being outside in the fall makes me absolutely miserable. Why would I want to ruin something that I love by making myself miserable? The easy answer is, I wouldn't.

So my garden will always fall into weedy naturalism every fall and I will mourn its decline starting in September. Come spring, I will be back again, in full force, allergies at a minimum and loving every minute of it. Until then, I will write, I will plan and maybe I will try this!

Do you have seasonal allergies? How does it affect your gardening and how do you cope with it?

Falling for Fall—Reviving Container Gardens

The sight of my burnt out flower containers at the end of August depresses me to no end. True, sometimes the cause of pathetic looking plants is my own fault for neglecting plants as I rush to get as much fun in as I can in the last bits of summer. But often for many plants, they are just at the end of their life cycle and there’s not much that can be done about that. Sure, some of the “annuals” we grow are really tender perennials not hardy to our climate and those, with a little care, we can stretch into the fall.

Early spring favorites of mine, pansies and violas will make a resurgence in the fall. While many people think these delicate looking flowers are tender, they actually thrive in cooler temperatures. It’s the heat that gets to them. A true Minnesota plant! Plant pots of them, baby them through the hottest days of summer (which means shade and some water), shear off the spent blooms and they will shine again in the fall. This is also true of most cultivars of osteospermum. They like cooler temps and will look great in the spring, take a breather during the heat of summer and come back swinging in the fall. In the case of osteos, I find that no matter what, they don’t do well in containers. I have much better luck planting these right into the garden. Other annuals that do well in the fall are calibrochoa (million bells), strawflowers, euphorbia, oxalis and sage. Using these annuals in some of your containers will give you some plants you can salvage to combine with other fall beauties when the others have gone to seed.

Ornamental peppers, kale and chard are also at their peak right now. I saw at one store where fully mature ornamental kale was being sold in a 8” pot for around $8. Not bad I suppose, but considering that if I was going to use kale I would want more than one, this is cost prohibitive. If I plan ahead in the spring I can purchase a 4 pack of kale for under $3, plant them either in my garden or in pots and have them ready to use in my fall containers. Easy and cheap, what could be better? This is definitely on my list for next spring.

I’ve also found that sacrificing some bloom time in the summer yields a longer bloom time into the fall. Specifically, I’ve found this to be true of petunias. Year after year, around mid to late July I found that my potted petunias were leggy and a little played out looking. Despite this, they would still be blooming so I was reluctant to cut them back. Short season and all, you know. This year I bit the bullet and pruned the plants by half around the beginning of August. Although my containers all have time release fertilizer, I also gave them a shot of liquid fertilizer as well. Petunias are heavy feeders and benefit from extra feedings even if you are using the time release fertilizer. I also had some lantana in some containers and trimmed those back as well. The result was, well, kind of ugly for a couple of weeks. But now they look like this:

Except for being windblown, this actually looks better than it did in the spring/summer. I’m sold. I’ll be pruning back potted petunias midsummer from now on.

You can also revive containers by pulling out the stuff that’s past its prime and replacing it with other annuals or things like red or yellow dogwood branches, curly willow, bamboo, or cattails. The cattails are rampant in ditches near here and I’d like to go steal some. It is okay in Minnesota to cut a few cattails for personal use in fall bouquets. Just don’t go trespassing…another experience I’ve had so you don’t have to. You can preserve cattails with hairspray. The cheaper the better so it has more lacquer in it. You can also add gourds, pumpkins and other seasonal items as decorative mulch to fill in where you have removed plants from containers.

This is my first attempt at reviving containers. I chose to do only the largest ones close to my front door since we’ll be spending less and less time out in the yard. Might as well make the effort with those containers that will provide the most punch. I removed the dried out sweet pea vines and the trailing verbena which if watered properly would have been just fine (oops, live and learn). I left the bacopa and sweet potato vine (which needs some dead leaves removed I see). I planted potted mums and placed several gourds around the base to fill in. Last, I pruned some errant branches from my red-twigged dogwood, stripped them of leaves and stuck those in to add height, color and texture. Not bad for a first attempt and certainly better than burnt out sweet peas and dead verbena.
Be creative. Recycle those cold hardy annuals and tender perennials you planted in the spring. Use branches from trees and shrubs in your yard for filler. See what fun fall containers you can create.

Falling for Fall—Perennial Beauties

I have a love/hate relationship with the fall season. I actually like the cooler weather, the back to school vibe and the bounty of the fall harvest. But as a gardener in Minnesota, it’s a rather sad time. The annuals are generally played out or perhaps dead (because someone forgot to water, oops!). Most fall gardening consists of cleaning up for next spring and cleaning in any context is my least favorite thing to do. What I’m left with is a fairly barren landscape that only gets bleaker as the snow arrives. And because our fall season is even shorter than our summer season, it’s always seemed there really wasn’t much I could do to improve my view. I threw in the towel gardening-wise, perhaps a bit prematurely and let nature take its mostly unattractive course.

I know I don’t generally talk perennials as container gardens are more my thing but I have to say that right now I am absolutely in love with my Autumn Joy sedum. I’ve come to this love late although Autumn Joy has been a popular perennial for years. My mother gave it to me after ripping it out from the front of her house. She despised it. As an herbaceous perennial with fall glory, location is everything with this plant. Plant it in the wrong place and what you have is a hole in your garden that will drive you crazy all summer, which is what happened with my mom. Surround it with spring and summer blooming plants that detract from it while it’s growing and you will be pleasantly surprised. Since my mother has moved her sedum to more appropriate place, she is learning to love it, too.

Another issue I’ve had with Autumn Joy sedum I’ve worked with in other gardens is that it can get leggy and floppy. I’ve had this problem with older plants but not the ones I planted just a couple of years ago. I can only guess that as the plant ages this is more of an issue. Cutting the plants back by half around the 4th of July will make the plant grow thicker and more able to hold up those dazzling flower heads in the fall.

Another fall perennial I adore is New England aster. Unfortunately, I’ve killed mine somehow. I think I accidentally pulled them up during spring clean up so I recommend cutting them down rather than pulling on dead foliage, no matter how easy it seems to come up. I kill so you don’t have to! Asters can also be pruned by half around July 4th to provide for a more compact habit and later bloom time although it’s not absolutely necessary.

Other perennials still blooming into the fall season include my burgundy Gaillardia, Veronica and Shasta daisy. Both the Veronica and the Shasta daisy were pruned during the midsummer due to ugliness and now are blooming for the second time. The blooms are less vigorous than earlier but I like the bonus flowers. And of course my Karl Foerster feather reed grass looks fantastic and will remain so through the winter. As much Karl Foerster as I see in landscapes I just never tire of this plant.

I love all these fall surprises. In many ways they are more rewarding than spring bloomers, not least of all for their unexpectedness. I will continue to seek out and plant more fall blooming perennials to balance out my landscape.