Category Archives: color in the garden

color in the garden, fall foliage, houseplants, wildlife

Fall Tips for Gardeners

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Halloween is just around the corner and besides deciding what your or the kids are going to be this year, it’s time to bring in any plants that you plan to overwinter in the house. Whether they’re the houseplants that you put out on the patio for the summer or frost tender plants that you want to save, this is the .

 Although our nights are still well above freezing,  plants need to acclimate to the indoor environment before you start turning on the heater regularly. Be sure to wash them thoroughly and inspect them for any insects that may have taken up residence while they were vacationing outside. Usually you can dislodge any hitchhikers with a strong spray of water but if that doesn’t do the trick, spray them with a mild insecticidal soap or one of the other mild organic herbal sprays like oil of thyme.

If you want to decorate for Halloween there is a lot of plant material you can harvest from your own garden or nearby woods. Manzanita branches can often be found on the ground and make great arrangements combined with nandina or other berries. Some of the trees have started to turn color and their leaves can also be used for wreaths.  The leaves of New Zealand flax last a long time and add fall color in bouquets.

Mums are the classic fall flower.  They come in nearly every color except blue and the flowers have many shapes from daisy to spider mums.  They are perennials and make good additions to the garden. Best of all they make excellent cut flowers.

This October has had the perfect weather  allowing fall color to develop in our trees, shrubs and perennials.  Warm days, cool nights, not a lot of wind or heavy rain all help plants to attain and keep those bright reds, oranges and yellow colors we love. Here’s a short list of small plants that you can easily find space for even in the smaller garden.

Japanese barberry turn yellow, orange or red. They get red berries and are deer resistant.
Blueberries not only are good for you and their foliage turns beautiful yellow-orange in the fall.
Oakleaf hydrangea leaves take on burgundy hues.
Crape myrtle shrubs explode with brilliant red and orange color.
Pomegranate bushes turn bright yellow
Spirea foliage varies from red, orange to yellow.

Squirrel wars
If you are at odds like me with squirrels that dig up everything while burying acorns for the winter, delay planting your bulbs until Thanksgiving when they’ve finished stocking the pantry.  Store you bulbs in the frig or a cool place until then.  If you just have to plant some on a beautiful autumn day, cover the area with flat stones or chicken wire.

Don’t prune now
One last thing and you’ll be happy to hear this.   Fall is not a good time to prune.  Wounds heal slowly, leaving them more susceptible to disease.  As a general rule, don’t prune when leaves are falling or forming.  Wait to prune most trees until late in the dormant season or  late spring after leaves and needles form.  To avoid sap flow on birches and maples, prune after leaves mature. 

bulbs, color in the garden, paths

Autumn crocus for Fall Flowers

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There’s nothing like a couple of to remind you that all things are possible with a bit of imagination. Recently I visited several inspiring gardens on the tour hosted by the Monterey Bay Master Gardeners here in our area and also saw some spectacular landscapes on the peninsula with APLD ( Association of Professional Landscape Designers ).  So many ideas-so little time. Here is just a sampling to get you started.

At one of the awesome gardens I visited, I was tickled to see a clump of autumn crocus blooming beneath some trees. This look alike of the true crocus provides a burst of brilliance in the fall just when you need it. Spring crocus are actually members of the iris family while autumn crocus or colchicum autumnale are members of the lily family. Native to the Mediterranean area and parts of Asia, they make dazzling patches of amethyst, mauve or white flowers in partial shade or full sun. The blooms last for a couple of weeks in late summer and early fall and the bulbs naturalize easily. These bulbs are also called meadow saffron but it is from one of their close relatives that expensive saffron spice is harvested.

Several months from now strap-like leaves will appear, growing to about a foot high, then die back- similar to naked lady bulbs.

Autumn crocus can be enjoyed outdoors or brought inside to grow in pots while they are flowering. You can even set bare corms in a saucer of pebbles like narcissus bulbs to enjoy the splendid flowers that quickly emerge.
Corms of these beauties are only available now during their brief dormant period. They make a fine addition to any garden.

At another garden, I saw a design trick that turned a mulched hillside into a path with just a couple of steps added. Paths not only get you from point A to point B, they can be part of the journey itself. In the upper part of this particular garden, the soil was mulched around the raised veggie boxes and the hillside below. A formal path with edging wasn’t needed here so a few flat stones installed as steps in just a couple of places directed you to a lower patio. The stone steps weren’t really needed but they gave the illusion of a path. Cost: maybe nothing if you can find some flat stones around the yard.

Everybody’s growing vegetables and herbs these days but not everyone wants to water and take care of a large vegetable garden. Enter the container gardening solution. In most of the gardens I visited, there were either raised beds or containers happily growing every herb and vegetable imaginable. Even the McMansion had a raised bed for growing edibles and flowers to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, Think small, pick only your favorites to grow and enjoy the fruits of your labor with out all that much work.

There were so many wonderful ideas that I got from each of the gardens.  Where I met the owners, they were happy to share their ideas, techniques and even some cuttings.
 

color in the garden, vegetables

Marigolds, Vegetable Gardens and Variegated Foliage

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Raindrops on roses and clusters of cherries.
Bright copper grasses and ripe, juicy berries.
The fragrance of jasmine on warm summer evenings.
These are a few of my favorite things.

Ruffled begonias to light up the shade.
Orange and pink sunsets just before they fade.
The sight and sound of hummingbird wings. 
These are a few of my favorite things.

Some of my other favorite things include plants with variegated foliage like Abelia Kaleidescope or Confetti. The first sports gold and green leaves as a pretty backdrop for the white bell-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds with their nearly year-round nectar. Confetti has creamy white variegated leaves that turn maroon in cold weather. Both are showy, compact plants 2-3 ft tall by about 4 ft wide.

Hebe Tricolor is another of my favorite variegated shrubs. This 3 ft beauty has colorful leaves of burgundy, creamy white and green. As an added bonus it blooms with violet flower spikes in summer. Easy to grow in full or half day sun with good drainage and regular water. This evergreen shrub is perfect as an accent or in the mixed border.

I like all Abutilons.You may know them as Flowering Maple or Chinese Lantern. Pink, red, yellow, orange or white flowers-I like them all. Those with variegated foliage always catch my eye, though. Some are strikingly variegated with creamy yellow or white patterns in the leaves. Others look like taxi-cab yellow paint was splattered on their leaves. They bloom continuously throughout the season and are a favorite of hummingbirds.

Out  in the vegetable garden , don’t slack off picking your ripening produce. it’s an easy thing to do with the distraction of summer heat and vacations. Your veggies, on the other hand, want nothing more than to reproduce.
The summer solstice signaled to plants that days are getting shorter and to stop concentrating on new stems and leaves. Instead, shortening days say better get to flowering and fruiting for the season will be ending all too soon.

Pick veggies everyday if need be. Even one zucchini allowed to grow too big and ripe can tell the plant its job is done and seeds are mature enough to ensure next year’s crop.

Your goal as a gardener and picker is never to let that seed form so the plant is tricked into producing  more flowers and fruit in its never-ending quest to reproduce. This is the secret to keeping your plant hard at work for as long as possible. Even if you don’t eat it, pick it anyway and give it away.

Also in the garden the question pops up frequently about marigolds. Do they help with pest control and which type is the best?

Like other members of the daisy family, marigolds provide nectar to beneficial insects, such as syrphid flies, who prey on aphids and other insects that attack garden plants. Parsley and dill flowers are even better but daisy family flowers keep the nectar flowing longer.

Marigold have been shown to have some slight effect in repelling cabbage worms. A variety called Stinking Roger repels flies that bother cows and other domestic animals but I’ve never seen this marigold available around here.

It’s the common that has been shown to control nematodes. You need to plant them thickly as a cover crop and allow them to grow for many weeks to be truly effective.
Gem marigolds are a favorite food of slugs and Japanese beetles and can act as trap plants. On the other hand, they may just attract more of these pests than there would have been otherwise.

So now you have the rest of the story. The bottom line, plant marigolds as they do have some beneficial effects but mostly because they’re pretty.