Re: garden fall clean up
Hello Dee Ann & Marge,
Bit early for fall clean-up here yet. Will be up to my unmentionables in fall
planting and enjoying the blooms of some of my favorite perennials. Right now the
Monkshoods are just getting started. Same with the Asters. Japanese Fall Blooming
Anemones are going great guns. Tricyrtis are in all their glory. Turtlehead and
Obedient Plant are just winding down. The Balloon Flowers are still in bloom as
they have been deadheaded. Goldenrods, Eupatorum are great this year. Tall Sedums
look wonderful with the Asters. Hardy Cyclamen are just getting started really
nice. Gentian saponaria with all the little blue bottle-shaped blooms is gorgeous
with the falling leaves.
If you are not growing Amsonia and Bowman's Root for foliage color for this
time of the year you are missing a good bet..... both are absolutely stunning
bright golden yellow now. Even better than when in flower... I think.
I will wait until the leaves are all down from the trees, gather up the leaves
and carry them up into the garden to use as mulch. Then I cut and remove anything
that needs the attention.
Gene Bush Southern Indiana Zone 6a Munchkin Nursery
around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com http://www.munchkinnursery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Marge Talt <mtalt@clark.net>
Subject: Re: garden fall clean up
> > From: Dee Ann Scheller <dee.ann.scheller@juno.com>
> > Date: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:48 PM
> >
> > How many of you are doing the fall clean up and how many waiting
> until
> > spring?
>
> --------------
>
> Never do fall clean up....waste of time as have to go around in
> spring and clean up winter's mess, so do it all at the same time.
> Also have this theory that the dead foliage on perennials helps
> protect the crowns from frost, plus a lot of plants maintain very
> interesting form for quite some time, even after they are dead.
> Think in very wet climates it might be well to remove dead foliage
> from plants who are subject to diseases like powdery mildew and
> Botrytis. I never cut down plants still in full growth.
>
> If something gets on my nerves, will yank it and I remove fallen
> leaves threatening to smother overwintering green leaf rosettes, but
> that is it. Spend most of fall gardening time hysterically cleaning
> up and moving in non-hardy stuff in pots plus gazillions of pots of
> seedlings and other things that require frost protection and clearing
> up leaves - never ending task - off drive, paths, patios and decks
> and what passes for grass - leave them on all beds and borders until
> spring when I remove the excess and leave the rest for mulch. I do
> cut off peony foliage and dispose of it to reduce Botrytis attacks.
>
> I wait until frost has blackened Canna foliage before cutting and
> digging.
>
> You can tell I am not a tidy minded gardener:-)
>
> Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
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