Fall, my least favorite time of year, the time to put our gardens to bed for the winter, and to look closely at the gardens to see what improvements should be considered for next year.  I try to keep paper and pencil with me to make notes, see the areas where perennials have gotten a little out of hand and need digging back, and areas which need additions.  The Siberian Iris’ have exploded into a huge mass, hoping to dig up and redistribute, hopefully have friends in need!  The same with  Rudbeckia, a naturalized plant in America and can be very invasive.  The day lilies have not been as overbearing, except in one area.

Today we have heavy frost, pretty cold this morning, should warm up nicely, though, to mid-60’s.  Hopefully the tender species have been either covered or removed.

Cleaning up the garden is important for many reasons, one being aesthetic, making it look good.  But one of the most important reason is to clean up to rid the area of insects and fungus.  Removing dead leaves is the best way to begin.  Mulching with clean material can both help improve the looks, and more importantly cover roots and bulbs to protect from cold weather.  In areas that get a good snow cover, sometimes severe temperature drops can damage roots before the snow comes.

Any questions about fall bedding that I have not mentioned, I will respond as soon as I can.

yes, this is totally new to me, and as you can see, I am struggling with getting the pictures in the correct places.  Please bear with me and I (hopefully) will figure out the problem!  The  weather here in Upstate NY has taken a turn for the worse, we had snow and rain and wind last night, what a mess!  I did have to make a trip but it was before the traffic and mess was too bad, then holed up with squash in the oven and favorite show on the tv.  I am glad I was able to get alot of my gardens winterized before the cold came.

Working as a landscaper for the past several years, there are a lot of days when I needed to be outside in horrible weather, and I have learned the art of layering!

There are still things that need to be done in the garden, and so hopefully there will be some more nice days to wrap the young trees to protect them from rabbits, and cut the roses back and cover them.

Another clarifification: this will probably not be a daily post, hopefully maybe weekly, but reality will settle in!

This time of year can be sad, thinking about the coming winter and cold, so we need to take the tender rhizomes and plants out to over-winter.  With the cannas, first I cut off the top growth, primarily to get it out of the way.

The canna plant produces lots of new rhizomes, which can be over-wintered until all frost is past, and the ground is starting to get warm.

over wintering is fairly simple, the rhizomes need only cool, dark and moist, do not let them get too cold, or warm, and keep in the dark, some people keep in moss, or sawdust just barely moist.  In the spring, all the sprouts can be cut apart and planted separately, in a sunny location.  One species of cannas is a source of a tropical plant food and source of arrowroot starch, Canna edulis, Queensland Arrowroot.

Many bulbs and rhizomes and tubers need to be dug and over wintered, basically the same as above.

There will be the “mother,” which is usually obvious because she is usually looking pretty well spent!  Sometimes she will be darker, and shriveled up, since all the energy has gone into making the new bulbs.  Also most all will have a place where the shoot of the new plant will develop, called the “eyes.”  Lots of sources recommend sprinkling some pesticide or fungicide over the bulbs to keep them from being destroyed, I tend to think this can be a personal choice

Welcome to That time of year, a site that looks to the days and seasons and what we are doing in our gardens.  I live in upstate New York, so my reference point is zone 4, where now in the fall we are getting into freezing nights and cooler days.  My favorite part of fall is the color changes, in fact, that is the only reason I like fall, to me it means COLD is coming, not my favorite thing!  Here in the Northeast, the color has been beautiful, and having gardens that have a variety of trees and shrubs to bring lots of color is a consideration when planning the garden.  I will use this site to talk about garden design as well as tips and pointers on how to do things, and welcome your questions about your gardens.  Hopefully will also have tutorials about how exactly things are done, using the experience I have gained and gleaned over the years.  We all have our different “languages,” meaning you may not be familiar with some of the words we use, so I will be here to help you learn.  I look forward to this new venture on my part, and hope I can help and inspire you and your garden.