August 26, 2019 Top Four No-Fail Fall Perennials, Stephen McCormick, Edward Beard Budding, the State Flower of Alabama, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Victor Nekrasov, Rachel Carson by Linda Lear, Peony Sarah Bernhardt, and Helen Sharsmith
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If your garden looks a little sad right now, it could probably benefit from the addition of some no-fail, fantastic fall perennials.
Here are some of my favorites:
If you have a sunny, wet area, Joe-Pye weed is a perfect choice. The blooms are super tall and a favorite with pollinators. The Latin name is Eutrochium purpureum.
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Hylotelephium telephium) is fantastic this time of year. It's super easy to propagate as well - in the spring, when it starts to grow, I'll give it a haircut and then simply place the clippings together in the well-drained area in the garden, and voila! A new Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is born. It's just that easy to propagate them. Up at the cabin, I have three new autumn joys thanks to the haircuts I gave the parent plants in mid-June.
Asters are glorious right now. You can grow them from seed or from transplants. If your asters are tall and leggy, make a note to give them a few haircuts during June. I'll keep mine cut back to about a foot tall until the 4th of July, and then I'll let them be. As with Joe-Pye and Autumn Joy, the Chelsea Chops keep my asters more compact - the way I prefer them this time of year. The Latin name for New England asters is Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (they were moved into their own genus)
Finally, sweet autumn clematis - Clematis terniflora is in its glory in the garden right now. Throughout the spring and the summer, I'm not very nice to the young vines. They can act a bit thuggish, and I rip out everything I find during May and June. The vines that make it in the fall are the lucky ones - benefiting from my absences in the garden during the summer, weeks when I was too busy or away for travel. While I was gone, the remaining vines made big enough strides to earn the right to stay through to fall. The beautiful blooms give me pause for the way I treated them in the spring, yet I know my garden would be overrun if I didn't at least attempt to thwart it in the spring.
Botanical History On This Day
1784 Stephen McCormick was born, the Virginia inventor whose cast-iron plow with replaceable parts helped modernize American agriculture.
1796 Edwin Beard Budding was born, the English engineer who quietly tested—and perfected—the world’s first push lawnmower.
1959 Alabama adopted the camellia as its state flower, later specifying Camellia japonica, the beloved “rose of winter.”
1967 Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan died, the pioneering botanist, mycologist, suffragist, and military leader whose name lives on in both fungi and history.
Unearthed Words
August wanes beneath falling stars—a reflection by Victor Nekrasov captures the clear, gentle threshold of approaching autumn.
Grow That Garden Library™
Read The Daily Gardener review of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature by Linda Lear
Buy the book on Amazon: Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature by Linda Lear
Today's Botanic Spark
1905 Botanist Helen Sharsmith was born—later immortalized in an endangered wildflower and remembered through children named for John Muir and Carl Linnaeus.
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