Connecticut Garden Journal

Many gardeners love the look and feel of a wildflower meadow. Plus, many of us are trying to reduce the amount of lawn we mow and create places for pollinators to thrive. Wildflower meadows are a perfect solution.

Fall is a great time to sow wildflowers. When planted after a few frosts, that would be mid to end of November in most parts of Connecticut, the soil is cool enough that wildflower seeds stay dormant in the ground. In spring they germinate when the light and moisture conditions are right and you get a jump on your wildflower meadow planting.

First, purchase wildflower mixes adapted to New England. These can be a mix of annuals and biennials for quick color and some perennials for long term meadow plantings. Or you can buy specialty mixes with just natives or pollinator friendly plants.

Prepare the site in a full sun area on well-drained soil. It's best to till, or hand dig a small site, 2 to 3 weeks before planting your wildflower seeds. Remove weeds and perennial grasses that will compete with your wildflowers for water and nutrients. Sow the seed mix with a hand or drop spreader following the rates on the bag. Mix 8 parts sand to one part seed for better spreading. Sow one half of the seed in one direction and the second half in the perpendicular direction to get good coverage.

Finally, walk across your wildflower patch to compress the soil so the seed has good soil contact.

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Our dahlias and cannas have been tremendous this year with the warm fall weather. But frost has finally put them to rest. Now it's time to dig and store them for winter because dahlias and canna lilies aren't hardy in our climate.

To store them, cut the foliage to ground level. Then carefully dig up the entire clump of dahlia and canna lilies to inspect them before storing. Gently knock off the soil around the tubers, remove damaged tubers and label each variety. Let the clumps dry in a dark, cool, airy place, such as an unheated garage or shed, for a few days. Then wash off more soil before storing them.

Some gardeners like to divide clumps in fall, but I'd rather wait until spring. Dahlias and canna tubers have eyes that sprout into new shoots. Not all tubers will have eyes. In fall it may be hard to tell where the eyes are, but by spring they will start swelling like on a potato. Then you'll know which tubers to keep.

I store dahlia and canna tubers in cardboard boxes. I fill my boxes with wet wood chips to keep the tubers moist, but with good airflow. Other gardeners use slightly moist peat moss or vermiculite as well. Place the boxes in a cool, dark basement or garage where the temperatures stay between 35 and 50 degrees. Check periodically in winter. If the tubers have shriveled or dried out, mist them. If the tubers have started to rot, dry them out. By spring you should have plenty of tubers to plant and share with friends and family.

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Halloween is almost here and it's time to get those jack-o'-lanterns ready to go. While carving an orange field pumpkin is the method of choice for many gardeners, you can also decorate other fruits to create a spooky, Halloween appearance.

The first jack-o’-lantern wasn't a pumpkin at all. In Ireland, kids would carve turnips and put candles in them to scare away the evil spirits on All Hallows Eve, especially Stingy Jack. Legend has it that Jack's spirit would wander the streets at night finding his way with only a candle. Kids would create their own versions of scary carved turnips to keep Jack at bay. Once Irish immigrants came to North America, they brought the same tradition but used the native pumpkins instead of turnips.

You can create your own version of a scary turnip or pumpkin by following a few tips. Like the Irish kids, use what fruits are available to you. Many farmers now grow a variety of winter squash and pumpkins, so consider decorating a blue hubbard squash, a red or white flat, wheel-like Cinderella squash or a warty skinned pumpkin. 

Then, using a dry erase marker, draw a design you can carve or paint on your squash. When carving, cut from the back of the pumpkins, remove the insides saving the seed for roasting and make a flat spot for a candle. You can also use flashing LED lights for a wild experience. After carving, rub petroleum jelly on the cuts so the pumpkin lasts longer.

Don't toss those squashes after Halloween. Many have tasty flesh for baking and cooking.

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It's been a rough year in my orchard. A late freeze in winter killed some blossoms before they even opened and a late May frost zapped those that did open. But surprisingly, one fruit tree did fine. That's my American persimmon.

Most gardeners know persimmons as that Asian fruit in specialty grocery stores. Although most Asian types aren't hardy here, the American persimmon are and they're worth growing. Persimmon trees grow 20 feet-tall with large, avocado-like leaves. You only need one tree to get fruit. The tree has a nice shape and beautiful yellow, fall foliage color. But it's the fruit that I love.

American persimmon fruits are about the size of a small donut. They grow slowly all summer and by now should be turning their characteristic orange color. But don't eat them yet. American persimmons are very astringent if you eat them when they're still firm. It's best to harvest when they're fully colored, bring them indoors and let them slowly soften over many days. When the fruits are mushy ripe, dive in. The custardy fruits have a sweet, citrus/mango flavor with a hint of cinnamon. I love eating them fresh, but you can also bake and cook with them. I even freeze some to add to winter fruit shakes. You can also leave the fruits on the tree into late fall. Once the golden leaves drop, the orange fruits give a spooky appearance and are great for wildlife to enjoy.

The classic variety for New England is 'Meader', bred by New Hampshire horticulturist, Elwyn Meader. But others worth trying include 'Mohler', 'Prok' and 'John Rick'.

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With the cold weather coming soon, you might want to save some favorite annual flowers. It's a shame to let a nice flowering plant die and there are ways to take what we usually think of as an annual and turn it into a perennial.

Pelargonium geraniums, fuchsias, coleus and begonias are just some of the flowers we often grow as annuals that can be overwintered to grow again next year. While the temptation is to dig up a large plant or bring a big container filled with flowers indoors for winter, for most of us, that's not very practical. We don't have the space to save large annual flowers, so our solution is to take cuttings.

Many of these annual flowers are easy to propagate by taking a small cutting and rooting it in a container. You get to save a prized variety and save space at the same time. Now is the time to take cuttings. Cut back 4- to 6-inches from the tip of a stem, remove any flowers and cut just below a set of leaves. Remove the lower leaves. Dip the cut end in some rooting hormone powder that's readily available at garden centers and stick the cutting in a pot filled with moisten potting soil. Place the cutting in a bright room, out of direct sunlight, until rooted. It usually takes a number of weeks to root. Then place the cutting in a sunny window for winter. Take multiple cuttings of each plant to insure you get some that survive. You can always share the extras with friends and family in spring.

 

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As you walk around garden centers this time of year, you can't help noticing all the gourds on display. There are two different types of gourds. The small, warty, soft shelled gourds are mostly used for decorations and will start rotting after a few months, especially if they're touched by frost. The larger, hard shelled gourds are the cool ones. These can be dried to form a hard shell that can last for years. I grew a bottle gourd for my step son when he was younger and we kept that gourd for a good 10 years until we finally composted it.

When exploring hard shelled gourds to use as decorations or crafts, look for different shapes. Many hard shelled gourds are named after their usage such as dipper gourd, spoon gourd, bottle gourd, basket gourd, sponge gourd, and birdhouse gourd. Some are even used to make musical instruments.

Once you find a hard shelled gourd that's mature, then wash off the gourd skin with soapy water. To dry it, place the gourd in a warm, well-ventilated, dark room. The skin should dry within 1 week, while the insides of the gourd may take several months. Check them daily for rotting. When you can shake the gourd and you hear the seeds rattle around inside, it’s dry. Then carve out holes and make a birdhouse, cut the gourd to make a spoon, basket or dipper or even peel the skin, wash out the insides, dry it and make a luffa sponge. These hard shelled gourds are utilitarian and can just be displayed for their beauty.

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We normally think of earthworms as good for the soil. But not all earthworms are the same. Earthworms originally came from Europe with the colonists. Now there are worms from other parts of the globe that are harmful to our forest and garden soils.

The Asian jumping worm or snake worm is native to parts of Japan that have mostly evergreen and oak trees. Our thinner leafed maple leaves are a great food for jumping worms. Jumping worms eat organic matter at a faster rate and they reproduce and spread quicker than regular worms. Once in a forest you'll notice the understory is gone. The jumping worms eat the organic matter, seeds and kill seedlings, reducing any rejuvenation of the trees.

In the garden, you'll know you have jumping worms if you see grape nut sized soil particles on the surface. You can also drench the soil with a solution of 1 gallon water, 1/3 cup crushed, yellow, mustard seeds. The worms will rise to the surface. Jumping worms wiggle vigorously and have a milky band that goes all around their bodies. European earthworms don't have the band circling their bodies.

To prevent their spread, knock off the soil on new plants before planting, especially ones you receive from friends' gardens. This insures no eggs, cocoons or worms will be present. Handpick jumping worms placing them in a plastic bag on a driveway to bake.

Researchers are working on other controls such as beneficial nematodes, fungus, biochar and tea tree seed meal. Check the Connecticut Agricultural Research Station website for more information.

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Our hydrangeas are putting on quite a show. Whether it be the blue or pink flowered Hydrangea macrophylla or the white to burgundy colored Hydrangea paniculata, hydrangeas are beautiful right now. But we all know what's coming soon weather-wise, so let's talk about cutting hydrangeas for the table and drying them for winter.

When cutting hydrangeas for the table, wait until the flowers are fully opened. Cut the stems in the morning when it's cool, just below a set of leaves. Remove the leaves and plunge the cut stems in water immediately. The sap that hydrangea stems exude can inhibit water uptake, so the sooner you get the stems in water, the better. Cut the bottom of the stems again once indoors and slit the sides about 2 inches up from the bottom to increase water absorption. Recut the stems and change the water regularly for the longest life indoors.

To dry hydrangea flowers for winter, select sturdy stems and cut the flowers with 12- to 18-inches of stem attached. Cut the flowers when they're in the color range you like. For panicle hydrangeas, simply place the cut stems and flowers in a dry vase or a vase with some water, in a cool, brightly lit room out of direct sun. Let the water evaporate and they will naturally dry. For the more colorful blue and pink hydrangeas, use silica crystals to dry the flowers and preserve the bright colors. Select smaller sized flowers that will easily fit in a deep plastic basin. Carefully cover the flowers with silica and in 4 days or so, they should be dried.

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Many gardeners are starting to think about fall garden cleanup. But there are some new ideas about cleaning the flower and vegetable gardens in the fall. To garden more ecologically friendly, we're learning what not to do come Autumn. 

Many pollinators and beneficial insects are getting ready for winter in the flower garden. They will tunnel into hollow stemmed flowers, such as zinnias and echinacea, tuck under fallen leaves, and burrow next to clumping plants. The traditional knowledge was to cut back and clean up these annual and perennial flower gardens to remove weeds and diseased leaves. Now, the thinking is different. It's recommended to leave the plant debris until spring. After a series of 50F days in spring, then clean up after the insects have moved on. If you must do some cleanup, cut back plants no shorter than 15 inches to not disturb the overwintering insects. If you have lots of deciduous leaves on your beds, then yes, remove some, but leave a thin layer for the insects. Leaving plant debris and leaves also helps feed plants in spring and prevent weeds from growing. 

If your plants are not diseased or insect-infested in the veggie garden, cut back the foliage into small pieces to the ground with a manual hedge trimmer. This chop-and-drop method leaves organic materials on the soil, protecting the microbes in winter and preventing erosion. In beds with diseased plants, cut those off at the soil line and remove them. Then, add a layer of chopped leaves, hay, or straw to protect the soil. 

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Even though the weather has been more summer-like, it is September, and the natural rhythms continue. One of those rhythms is birds are getting ready to either migrate or spend the winter here. To help our feathered friends, plant shrubs that produce berries that birds love and need for energy and survival. 

While birds will eat many different berries this time of year, including from invasive shrubs, such as Japanese honeysuckle and buckthorn, it's best to plant native shrubs with higher-quality berries. Research has shown that while the calorie content of native and exotic berries is about the same, the fat content differs dramatically. Berries from invasives have only have about 2 percent fat, while native berries can have up to 48 percent fat. This is important for energy to migrate or survive a cold winter. 

Some of the best native berry plants are in the dogwood and viburnum families. Grey dogwood, red osier dogwood, and silky dogwood are some of the shrub dogwood species that produce good quality berries for birds and are easy to grow. Bush dogwoods can tolerate part sun and moist soil conditions and grow into large wildlife shrubs. Nannyberry, American high bush cranberry, and black haw are some of the best native viburnums for birds. They also grow in full or part sun and tolerate different types of soil. Other native shrubs for berry production include aronia, winterberry and spicebush. 

Make sure you plant these natives in groups where they will thrive and can grow large. Along a forest edge or mixed with other shrubs in a border is best. 

For more from Connecticut Garden Journal visit ctpublic.org/ctgardenjournal

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