By Sue Healey – Tillsonburg Horticultural Society 

It’s when the sunlight turns golden that I know autumn has begun. That slanted light strikes differently. It shines across the stubbled fields, already shorn of their wealth, making them glow against the sky. It’s rich and clear. It signals that harvest is here and summer is fading. The garden is still green and blooming with late season gusto, but fall is coming. I feel it in the crisp, dewy mornings. See it in the clouds stacked across the sky. Frost will come and then snow. The garden will be made new with each shift of the weather. And with that shift I am thinking about the autumn and winter garden, contemplating what that late season might look like.

Years ago, September would have been the time to “put the garden to bed” in anticipation for the deep blanket of snow to come. Most perennials would have been cut to the ground, foliage and flower stalks too often crushed by the heavy layers or made anonymous under the white. With less reliable snow cover year after year, the garden beds have become more visible through the cold months. And so, over the last decade, September has become more about editing the garden than ending it. As it moves through autumn and winter, I’ve discovered that many plants offer another whole season or two of interest if left long enough. Coloured foliage, seed heads and even dried stalks can all provide interest and structure to the garden long after the cold temperatures have done away with flowers.

Although I diligently remove the seedheads of a great many of my plants, there are prized groups that I allow to set seed. Crocosmia Lucifer (Crocosmia) is at the very top of my list for year long interest. Tall and stately, this semi-hardy bulb produces flower stalks that can reach to a metre in height. The lipstick red flowers attract hummingbirds in late summer and then ripen to triple sided, knobby round pods that later crack to reveal rusty red or yellow seeds. 

Gas plant (Dictamnus alba) is another stellar perennial for early and late season interest. After blooming in spring, the waist high stems are spangled with star shaped seed pods. Each holds five black ball bearings, one per arm that in late summer are shot across the garden in an astonishing feat of propulsion. The empty pods dry to mellow tan and last through the winter. Peonies, if left to set seed produce zippered pods full of black teardrops that shine in the saturated light of autumn. Bush clematis (Clematis heracleifolia)rounds out this group and is well worth the space it needs. Late season blue bells change to silver-haired comets and then to black, knee-high sparklers by winter’s end, a cheerful celebration in the sunny garden.

Perennial Statice (Limonium), sometimes known as sea lavender, is a hardy, drought tolerant perennial grown for its multiple sprays of tiny blue or white blossoms and its beautiful foliage. The flowers are long lasting and feed a multitude over the summer, but it is a tap-rooted, self seeder in my sandy soil. I remove the spent sprays promptly to avoid the stubborn seedlings. Once revealed to the sun, the low growing, basal leaves develop patches of spectacular colour, an almost stained-glass effect of orange, red, and maroon over green. That show is fleeting but they dry to a rich cinnamon, twisting and turning in the cold, catching the frost delightfully. 

Good fall leaf colour can also be found in Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia) if grown in enough sun. Bright crimson will slowly seep into the glossy, paddle shaped leaves over the fall, finally flooding it completely with deep red by first freeze. It’s a lovely sight in February when colour seems like a memory. My patch is well established and surprisingly drought tolerant. A cleanup of blackened leaves in the spring with a top dressing of compost will maintain this versatile plant for years. Look to the leaves of hardy geraniums (Geranium spp), balloon flower (Platycodon) and even Shastadaisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) for more splashes of late season colour.

Autumn is always bittersweet. September is the sweeter part of it. It’s good to be out again, to work and plan and bask in the golden light. And it’s good to leave some of the garden as it is.Letting what remains take us into another season, adding another layer of enjoyment and appreciation for the environment around us. 

Just in time for fall planning, the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society is back to regular meetings after the summer break. Feature presentation: “Lesser-Known Spring Bulbs” by Robert Pavlis, Master Gardener, author and YouTube star.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024, Tillsonburg Seniors Centre, 7:30 pm

$20/year $4/meeting

“Come as guest, stay as a member”

📷 Sue

By Sue Healey ~ Tillsonburg Horticultural Society 

August has arrived, as full and heavy as the storm clouds building on the horizon. This month will bring us all the bounty we’ve been working for. Where June is full of promise and July full of work, August is full of the fruits of our labour. It’s full of tomatoes on toast for lunch and peaches eaten over the sink. It’s a month of drowsy afternoons and suppers outside. A month oflong, slow twilights that melt into starry skies. August is so fulland the garden needs nothing more than my admiration. A good thing too, as the heat and humidity conspire to keep me to theshade, languid as an old cat. Only watering the pots is a priorityin this last month of summer. August is when most of my container gardens come into their own. As I go about the daily chore of watering, I am reminded of how important a garden feature they are. How potted plants extend the garden season beyond traditional time frames, plant materials, and colour schemes. Whatever the situation, there is most likely a pot full of plants that would it make it better.

My collection of container gardens is large and varied, acombination of houseplants and annuals, punctuated with specimen plants that come indoors over winter. Planted in a range of sizes and types, placed in full sun to full shade, these pots become a second and third tier to the main garden. They bring greenery to paved areas around the house and provide a welcome at both entries. One of my favourite full sun plantingsthis year combines dwarf banana (Musa Tropicana) with theannual million bells (Calibrachoa) in a searing, pinky-orange. Both are highlighted by the silver needles of licorice plant(Helichrysum). The banana leaves are splotched with maroon,echoing the colour of the calibrachoa throats as they spill over the edge of the urn or twine their way through the licorice plant’s icy branches. This planting shines at the far end of the garden and is a combination to repeat in years to come.  

For troubled areas like our front porch, container gardens can be the only solution. A cold, northern exposure that is dark for most of the day, this part of the house also gets scorched each afternoon by full sun. That strong, and increasingly hot sunshineoften burns the delicate shade lovers that do well in low light. This year’s coleus collection and eyelash begonia is handling that difficult transition with aplomb. One coleus is a standout and has already been trimmed for cuttings. 

This one comes unnamed with leaves of rusty copper that are opalescent in sunshine. The large leaves age to a sweet, sunset pink, serratedin lime green. It’s partnered with another coleus of deep maroon, with lime green flower bracts that further echo the streaks on the begonia. Button fern adds an airy quality and a lone variegateddracaena (Dracaena reflexa), height. All of it, a fabulous combination and a colour scheme that could be expanded on for different situations or plant availability.

Some of my most successful outdoor planters have been with succulents. Their hardy nature, drought and heat tolerance make them ideal candidates for containers. There are a myriad of plant profiles and habits so that whole landscapes can be created in a single container. Given proper care many succulents can live for decades and will reveal enhanced leaf colour or even bloom when summered outdoors. 

This year’s best example is a grouping of African milk tree (Euphorbia trigona) which, after 3 years in a 5-gallon tub, now towers above a red tipped jade tree (Crassula ovata) and striped Aloe (Aloe variegata). These are fronted by starfish sansevieria (Sansevieria Cylindrica) which has sent it’s cylindrical leaves in amongst the milk tree’s branches in search of room to grow. A miniature landscape contained in pot. And when those plants need room to grow, easily reproduced as specimens in separate vessels but groupedtogether, making a greater visual impact and watering more efficient.

Whether it is a pot full annuals, a kitchen garden by the back door or a collection of houseplants on their summer holiday, container gardens give us as much pleasure as any garden bed and often a better range of choices. Planters can fill the empty spots left by those plants that die back after flowering or provide a focal point to an otherwise drab area. Easily changeable outover the seasons, they add colour, shape and texture to otherwise bare spaces. They give us license to experiment and maybe best of all, reason to get out of the shade.

Next general meeting is September 3, 2024 at 7:30, Tillsonburg Senior Centre. Master Gardener Robert Pavlis will present “Lesser-Known Spring Bulbs.” All welcome. Membership $20/year or $4/ meeting. Come as a guest, stay as a member.

📷Sue