Cait's Garden

This has been an extra long growing season. No hard frosts yet and it’s almost Halloween! Of course, most plants sort of gave up the ghost in the past few weeks. Looking out at the yard, the only thing still producing flowers like crazy is the Rozanne Cranesbill (buy these flowers…they are AMAZING) and my various Knockout roses. Many other plants have lovely golden foliage as they shut down production for the year. I must give props to my Limelight Hydrangeas. I took the photo shown a couple of weeks ago to capture how the flowers were starting to turn pink. They look much the same now, although the leaves are yellower. Eventually, the flowers will turn bronze for the winter. But just look at how fabulous this shrub is! Huge, blush-pink flowers…in October! I have these shrubs on either side of my front door. It makes for a reliably great entrance.

I don’t know how other gardeners are, but personally, I stop gardening by mid-October. Oh sure, I’ll do a little clean-up, some raking. But mostly, I let everything sit, undisturbed, until Spring. Then I am a cleaning maniac. I learned long ago that plants do best if you leave them their foliage over the winter. It helps protect the plants. The only exception is diseased or mildewed foliage. That I always remove. Otherwise, I just sit back and watch things slowly go to sleep. Even now, I am getting much enjoyment from looking at my yard. Things are winding down, but they are still gorgeous.

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I would be remiss not to mention the perennial I’ve waited the longest to see. We wait so long to see asters it can be easy to ignore them. But no doubt the flowers are welcome when they arrive.

Asters can be found in varying shades of purple, as well as unexpected colors, such as the bright red aster shown in the photo, which is still in full bloom in my yard.

It’s certainly easy to grow asters, and easy to to make more of them by division. The only downside is a tendency to get powdery mildew…something I usually forget until it’s too late and the leaves look horrible. Perhaps next year I will remember to spray them with an antifungal in the middle of summer when the damage is usually done. On the bright side, the flowers are still gorgeous.

One note, rabbits love asters. Some people I know with plentiful wild rabbits have completely given up on growing them. If you are wondering where those asters you planted have gone, look to the bunny in your yard.

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There are many reasons I love to garden. At the heart of it all is that I love nature. It is hugely important to my life. I like to think that gardeners, especially those of us who take pains to use native plants and go chemical free in our yards, are providing sanctuaries for wildlife that would otherwise be fading away in our urban jungles.  Sometimes, the pains we take truly pay off in a tangible way. Case in point, this Monarch Butterfly.

Let me back up. For the past few years, I’ve consciously planted several flowers in the milkweed variety because they are host plants for Monarch larvae. I didn’t see any results, but figured the butterflies would eventually see my yard as a home. Last year I put in this huge plant called a Swamp Milkweed. Apparently, that one was the charm. About 10 days ago, I noticed this beautiful green thimble hanging from the siding on the garage, a few feet away from the milkweed plant. I researched it and discovered it was a Monarch caterpillar in the process of transforming into a butterfly. It was kind of late in the season. October butterflies, if they make it, are the ones who will fly to Mexico to mate. I was worried, with the cold evenings, that this little guy wouldn’t survive. But today, he/she hatched out, and as you can see, is gorgeous. I was beyond thrilled to see it. I hope this is only the first of many butterflies created and nourished in my backyard.

In my own small way, I helped make that butterfly. That is pretty fabulous. That is why I garden.

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Sedum is a perennial that is often overlooked or taken for granted. When the other flowers are blooming like crazy in the spring and summer, the sedum just waits. It has attractive succulent leaves that add interest to the garden, but nothing that makes you say wow. Until now. This time of year, they are definitely a “wow” and prove why they are necessary additions to any garden. There are many varieties to choose from (including groundcovers), but two of my favorites are shown in the photo. The bright purple sedum is called (appropriately) “Neon” and the white one, which is a newer variety, is called “Stardust.” I prefer these two plants because they are short, about a foot high, so they don’t flop like other taller sedums. And the bright, fresh colors are a real knock-out. These are hardy plants to zone 3 so they survive just about anything. But it is recommended that you do not deadhead them until spring. Since they offer such nice winter interest, I wouldn’t want to anyway.

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