Connecticut Garden Journal

The sudden temperature dip has got us scrambling to finish up our winter plant protection projects. We got lulled into a false sense of eternal fall by warm weather in early November, but now we've got to get going.

Our young trees are the first plants to protect. We add tree wrap around the trunks to keep rabbits, mice and voles from munching on the tender bark. This also prevents the bark from splitting due to sun scald. That's when the winter sun heats up the bark on the south side of the trunk on a cold day and when the sun sets the temperatures plummet causing the bark to split and crack. You can also paint the trunk with a diluted, white latex paint to reduce this heating effect. Of course, for any trees and shrubs that deer like, we erect plastic or metal cages around them.

For tender roses, such as hybrid teas, we bury the base of the plant with a 1-foot deep pile of wood chips. In spring we simply prune out dead growth and the new growth arises from the protected crown of the plant. You can also use rose cones to protect your rose babies.

Also, if you have broadleaf evergreens, such as rhododendron, pieris and mountain laurel, in a windy, exposed area, consider driving 4 stakes around the shrubs and wrapping burlap around the stakes. This will cut the biting cold winds that cause the evergreen leaves to dry out and die in winter. Try not to allow the burlap to touch the leaves or it will wick moisture away from the plant.

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It's like clockwork in our house. Once the days shorten and get cooler our holiday cactus start blooming. Depending on the plant, we have cactus blooming until spring. That's because holiday cactus aren't just one type of plant. There are Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus and Easter cactus, all blooming at different times. When shopping you can tell them apart. Besides the flowering times, the Thanksgiving cactus has jagged, pointy leaves or modified stems. Christmas cactus has more rounded leaves and Easter cactus has bristles emerging from their leaves.

Unlike desert cactus, these epiphytes grow in humid jungles and like water. But water only once the leaves start to wilt and shrivel and let them dry out between waterings. To stimulate flowering, in fall place your holiday cactus in a cool 50 to 60 degree, bright room for 1 to 2 months. A protected porch or spare bedroom is ideal. Also, place them where they won't get any artificial light at night. Flower initiation is stimulated by 12 hours of continuous darkness.

Watch for insects on your holiday cactus as well. Fungus gnats enjoy the organic material in your potting mix. A simple solution is to repot the cactus after flowering with fresh soil. Clean the pot with a 10% bleach solution. Aphids will attack new growth but can be remedied with sprays of insecticidal soap. Mealy bugs look like puffs of cotton but can cause damage to your plant. I dab individual mealy bugs with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab to kill them.

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Thanksgiving Day is almost upon us. It will be good to gather safely with friends and family again to celebrate. To make the meal more festive consider decorating your table with plants. You can use a variety of living plants and cuttings to make a centerpiece or smaller place settings to accentuate the holiday. Here's some ideas.

For live plants, select a houseplant that dazzles with color. Some good choices include croton, moth orchid, Chinese evergreen and flamingo flower. These houseplants burst with the colors of the season and can be used as permanent houseplants in your home. Dress up the centerpiece with a glazed or unusual pot or simply by wrapping an attractive piece of fabric around the pot and drainage tray.

You can also create a stunning flower arrangement to highlight the table. Use seasonal flowers from your garden and landscape such as ornamental grasses, dried hydrangeas, juniper berries and mountain laurel cuttings to create a fall centerpiece. Consider mixing in edibles such as small squash, pumpkins and kale leaves. Seed pods offer fun accents. Look for any remaining milkweed pods, lunaria or money plant pods and holly berries.

For smaller settings, try little pots of succulents such as echeveria, semperviren, and sedum. These come with colorful leaves and make great houseplants after the holiday. Small pots of Rex begonias, mini roses and kalanchoe also brightens up the holiday table.

So, enjoy Thanksgiving, being grateful for the people and plants in our lives.

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As the colder weather settles in, many gardeners wonder what to do with annual plants that are still alive. One of the tougher annuals is the geranium.

Geraniums or Pelargoniums are mostly grown as potted plants because of their penchant for flowering non-stop all summer and fall. If you have a variety you particularly love you can easily overwinter it indoors. Here's how.

The first way is simple. Bring the potted geranium indoors to a sunny, South facing window and grow it there all winter. Before you bring it in, cut back the foliage to 1/3rd and spray with insecticidal soap and Neem oil. This will kill any hitch hiking insects. Quarantine the plant for a few weeks indoors to check for any insects you missed.

Of course, the plant has to be small enough to fit in the window. If not, consider taking 4- to 6-inch long cuttings. Remove all but the top leaves, dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder and stick the cutting in a pot filled with moistened potting soil. In a few weeks they will root and last all winter indoors.

If you don't have room in your house for plants in a window, you can overwinter geraniums in the basement. Cut back the tops and cover the plant with a paper bag, and place in a cool, dark basement. Or remove the plant from its pot, remove all the soil and place the bare rooted geranium upside down in a paper bag. Check monthly and mist if it's drying out. It will stay dormant until spring, then start growing.

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We all know the famous holiday song, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” It harkens back to a time when chestnuts grew in abundance in our forests from Georgia to Maine. Unfortunately, the chestnut blight wiped out most of the trees about 100 years ago, but we still can grow versions of the American chestnut in our yards.

The American Chestnut Foundation has been working to develop blight resistant hybrids. They've been crossing American chestnuts with the more blight resistant Chinese chestnuts with good success. In fact, some of these hybrids, such as 'Dunstan', are available for sale. There's even been genetic engineering work done on American chestnut trees to introduce a gene to thwart the blight. But those trees haven't been approved for sale yet.

Hybrid chestnut trees grow into statuesque 30- to 50-foot tall specimens in the landscape. They start producing nuts in about 5 years and produce best with two different varieties. While the tree nuts are great for roasting on your open fire and making breads and other baked goods, these trees are fantastic wildlife plants. They supply food, shelter and homes for a whole host of insects, birds and mammals.

Plant chestnut trees on well-drained, moist soil in full sun. Plant trees 25 feet apart and protect the young trees from mice and rabbits chewing the bark and deer nibbling the tops. The trees are moderately fast growers. Under ideal conditions they may take up to 15 years to fully mature. So, think of chestnuts as an investment in your kids or grandkids future, while making your yard a more environmentally-friendly place.

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More and more researchers are finding our soil is a dynamic, diverse place loaded with microbes. It's estimated one teaspoon of healthy soil can hold more than a billion microorganisms. That's amazing! These bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other creatures are living and thriving for themselves, and working to help our plants grow.

Probably most common of these soil microbes is mycorrhizae fungus. This fungus forms a symbiotic relationship with plant roots helping the flow of water and nutrients to the plant. The plants exude sugars and other substances that help the soil biome stay healthy and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere into the soil, reducing the impact of global warming.

We mostly don't see these microbes, but mycorrhizae forms extensive tiny roots or hyphae throughout the ground connecting plants to each other. You may see this hyphae if you dig a little in a healthy forest soil. Not only does hyphae share water and nutrients between plants it helps plants communicate with each other concerning pest attacks and young plants in need. This all creates a healthy ecosystem where plants and creatures thrive.

We can use this same soil magic in our gardens by following a few steps. First, avoid tilling the soil. Tilling destroys many microbes and the soil will be slow to recover. Feed your soil with bioactive compost. This means compost that's loaded with microbes to help your plants grow. While you'll see mycorrhizae as an additive in soil mix bags, it's unclear if this really helps our plants. But given the choice, why not try using it. It certainly won't hurt the plants. 

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Halloween is coming up fast and one of the traditions around this holiday is pumpkin carving. It's fun to take the kids or grandkids out to a local pumpkin patch, select a few prized fruits and bring them home for carving. You certainly can decorate the pumpkins in other ways such as painting or “dressing them up”. But carving is the way to go for many families and I have some tips for making your carved creation last longer into fall.

 When selecting a pumpkin from a field or farm stand, look for one with the stem still attached and no obvious nicks or cuts. Make sure at least one side is smooth and even for good carving. Wipe the skin of the pumpkin with a 10 percent bleach solution to kill any fungus and bacteria.

The usual way to carve a pumpkin is to cut a hole in the top to clean out the insides. Instead, I suggest you cut a hole in the back of the pumpkin. This will help maintain the structure of the fruit so it's less likely to collapse before the big night. Remove the guts and save the seeds for roasting. Then carve your masterpiece making the scariest face possible. Because you don't have a hole in the top for the smoke to rise through, use battery powered tea lights to illuminate the face.

The final trick is to take Vaseline or beeswax and rub it on all the cut surfaces. This will help slow the desiccation of the fruit and allow it to last longer into fall.

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October is a great time to plant shrubs, trees and vines. The air and soil temperatures are still warm so plant roots continue to grow and there's great sales at many local garden centers. One of my favorite vines is the climbing hydrangea.

If you have a partly shaded North or East side of a house, garage or barn, consider growing a climbing hydrangea. Hydrangea petiolaris will flower in part shade and provide year round interest. The glossy green leaves make a great visual screen. In early summer, white, lacy, umbels of flowers emerge that are showy, good for drying and great for bees. In fall, the leaves turn a bright yellow color and in winter the cinnamon colored bark contrasts beautifully with the winter's snow.

Climbing hydrangea grows slowly and needs support. Plant it now in well-drained, moist, fertile soil. After 3 years it will really start growing and flowering. Climbing hydrangea can grow to 50 feet tall and survive for decades. It's also a heavy vine that needs support. Even though it has clinging roots on the stems that attach to any surface, you'll want to erect a strong trellis instead of letting it climb up your siding. Over time the foliage and clinging roots can cause siding to rot and require you to remove the vine to fix it. You can also grow climbing hydrangea up an old, large stump or dead tree letting to sprawl.

There are just a few varieties of climbing hydrangea. 'Firefly' has a variegated yellow and green leaf making it even more interesting in summer.

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We don't grow corn. After watching our neighbor spend hours erecting barriers in his garden to unsuccessfully keep the raccoons out of his sweet corn patch, I'd rather let the local farmers do the hard work. But this doesn't mean I don't grow any corn. We do grow popcorn.

I've found over the years that raccoons aren't interested in popcorn. It's certainly not as sweet as sweet corn, so maybe that's why they stay away. Whatever the reason, we grow a nice crop each year experimenting with different colors and varieties. We're harvesting popcorn right now. One of the nice traits of popcorn is that you can leave it on the stalk into fall when you have the time to harvest. There's no rush. Once the corn husks and plants begin to brown, harvest anytime.

I like the traditional yellow popcorn varieties such as 'Robust', but also grow 'Strawberry' popcorn and 'Dakota' black popcorn. Strawberry and black popcorn have colored kernels that pop to a pure white color with little flecks of the kernel color. The flavor is subtly different as well and it sure beats store bought popcorn. Once dry, we store it in glass jars in a dark pantry and it lasts for months. We even give away ears of popcorn to family and friends stuffing ears into their Christmas stockings. It's easy and fun to rub off the kernels from the cob and pop up a batch.

Popcorn is also prolific. A small 5- by 8- foot patch is plenty for our own eating and sharing. So give popcorn a try next spring.

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October is garlic planting time, but there are other onion family plants that can be sown in fall as well. Come the mid- to- end of October consider planting shallots and walking onions.

You probably have heard of shallots and perhaps used them in French recipes. The French love shallots for their sweet, mild, onion flavor. Shallots come in a few different types. The red skinned and pink fleshed, torpedo-shaped shallot is called the French shallot. The Dutch shallot features a round, small, onion shape with tan-colored skin and white flesh. Dutch shallots store a long time indoors. These two types of shallots are probably the most popular. The French Gray shallot isn't as pretty to look at as the other types, but has a stronger flavor and is a favorite in many recipes. Plant shallots the same way and time as you would plant garlic. You'll have an early crop to harvest in spring. I always plant again in spring for a fall crop.

Walking or Egyptian onions are an oddity. This perennial onion sends up tender shoots in spring. I love them as green onions because they emerge so early. By summer the shoots form top sets of bulbs that get so heavy they bend the stem to the ground. Wherever the top set onion lands, it roots. Hence the name, walking onion. The onion bulbs can be eaten, too, but they are pretty small. Although it's cool to have a perennial onion, watch where you plant it. It can spread and take over. I seem to be constantly pulling out errant plants in our garden.

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