munchkin

Newsletter Fall Blooms

I can not imagine life without my garden. While I can not actively garden, I am in the garden all twelve months of the year enjoying my flowers. Each evening after dinner I take a walk that includes the garden instead of sitting. If I have been away from home for the day strolling through the garden before going inside is almost a requirement. Rainy days simply require an umbrella for protection. It is not unusual to find me sitting all bundled up on the big rock beneath an old cedar tree during a snowstorm.

Perhaps one day the neighbors will make that phone call having me taken someplace safe where more reasonable people will look after me. Meanwhile I go daily to the garden to renew my sense of peace and tranquillity. The quiet and contact with nature helps me to remain centered and focused in life. Finding a flower in bloom sustains the joy.

Fall-blooming perennials
Aster	Species and hybrids
Aconitum spp.	Monkshoods
Anemone hupehensis hybrids	Japanese anemone
Aster novae-angliae & hybrids	New England aster
Begonia grandis	Hardy begonia
Caryopteris hybrids	Bluebeard
Chelone	Turtlehead
Cimicifuga	Bugbane/Fairy candles
Cyclamen	Baby or Hardy cyclamen
Eupatorium rugosum	Joe Pye weed
Gentiana	Numerous
Lobelia cardinalis	Cardinal flower
Lobelia siphilitica	Great lobelia
Solidago	Goldenrod
Tricyrtis	Toad lily

Tricyrtis hirta, up-close and personal

Gardeners in this region tend to give up on gardening come August. Still fewer gardeners are aware September, October and into November can be filled with flowers. You can have something in bloom in your garden all twelve months of the year if you desire. The fact that fall blooming flowers are not found more frequently is due more from an absence of information than a lack of performing plants.

Gardening references tend to switch over to evergreens, bark textures and various colors of berries with the mention of blooms sadly missing after September. Bark and berries on small shrubs and trees are for the backbone of a garden, so they are important to basic design. Bark, berries and blooms are all in my garden.

Fall blooming perennials are no more difficult to grow than plants blooming in spring or summer. If you have been successful with a bed, border or garden containing bulbs and perennials you can grow these plants to perfection. The exact requirements concerning soil, moisture and sun or shade varies from plant to plant. In general, I begin with the classic well-drained soil with plenty of humus and adequate moisture. My next step is a good gardening encyclopedia or nursery catalog that gives tips and hints for success with each family of flowers and special needs for individuals within a family.

Since some of the fall bloomers are not as well known as spring bloomers you may have to shop a bit to locate specific species or cultivars. There are far too many flowers blooming during fall and into early winter to give up on gardening.

Fall Aster novae-angliae blooms