The Garden in September
Slowing down and settling in
It seems like only yesterday that I was complaining about the heat, but suddenly it’s fall, and as soon as the equinox hit the weather flipped a switch, and it’s been gloomy and rainy all week. But I promise I’m not complaining. I haven’t had to water at all this week, which has been a luxury. Many of the plants are enjoying a break from the heat, and I’m seeing more green now and less brown, crispy leaves.
Overall the garden is doing better than I thought it would be doing at the end of September. Because I really did think it would be pretty bare by this point. I will say that the flowers for cutting have slowed down; my zinnias and dahlias have pretty much stalled out, though a lot of my smaller, more container-friendly flowers are still happy. My main goal now is to keep the garden looking decent for at least a few more weeks, until my mom and my sisters visit in mid-October. It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t look so great, but if I could control nature I’d arrange for both my garden and the autumn leaves in New York to be full of color in three weeks’ time. Not likely, I know, but I’d settle for one of the two.
Sowing
Violas: In A Year Full of Pots Sarah Raven recommends sowing violas in September to plant out in October. Ideally as pot-toppers to be planted above bulbs in pots, which I think I’m going to try. I sowed ‘Antique Laeta’ and ‘Bowles Black’ for some variety—I do love those little, velvety, dark-colored violas.
Cerinthe: Sarah recommends this one as a pot-topper, too, so I dutifully sowed it, and the seedlings grew fast. I planted two already into one of the sadder-looking window boxes. I don’t know if it will do anything by the end of the year, but that box needed some sort of green, or some kind of something. It’s bleak.
Sweet rocket: I have some tiny seedlings going in one of the raised beds, which I’m using as an honorary seedbed this year. I’ve never grown sweet rocket but love the look of it in spring.
Salvia: One of the many plants I regret not taking with me from our Portland garden was salvia ‘Caradonna,’ so when I spotted some plants in front of a public building the other day, I stole a couple seeds. They’re in the seedbed, too.
Sweet Alyssum: I’m not sure why I planted this. I think it’s too late for it to do anything, honestly. I bought a pack of seeds, and I was just excited, I guess.
In Bloom
Zinnias: My Floret ‘Precious Metals’ have been lovely all summer, but I think they’re on their last legs, or should I say, spindly, bare stems. I’ve been stripping off every leaf that has a spot of brown or powdery mildew on it, which means the poor plant has hardly any leaves left, and not a lot of flowers, either. I’m thinking that I need to stop picking the blooms and leave them on the plant if I want to collect any seeds, so cutting time might be over for this one.
Dahlias: The same predicament, here. One of the plants did so well all summer, but it’s fading out. Do all dahlias eventually just give up? I know that dahlias are at their best in many parts of the world at the moment, but I guess that my plants got an early start here and started blooming early, too, and all good things do have to come to an end. Mine are currently in a fight against powdery mildew, and the powdery mildew is winning.
Snapdragons: These ones, on the other hand, are still going strong. I’m going to do some kind of end-of-season plant roundup of plants that did well in pots and the plants that didn’t, and snapdragons will definitely be in the first category. No disease, no struggles with the heat, no bugs, no problems whatsoever.
Verbena: ‘Bonariensis’ is such a worthwhile mid-summer/fall bloomer that will always have a place in my garden now. Just when everything else in the garden seems to be shrinking and fading, the verbena is giving height and structure.
Sunflowers: ‘Astra Rose Cream’ bloomed a few weeks ago, and I have an August-sown pot of them that are just about to flower. Not too big, these, but that might have to do with the fact that I grew them in containers. I do love the color—sort of a light, dusty pink, with bits of gold around the middle.
Celosia: Still blooming, and I’m getting all sorts of shapes. I pick the flowers sometimes for arranging, but usually I like to leave them on the plant, because the longer they sit there, the weirder their shapes become. Also the bees just love them.
Thunbergia: I know that last month I thought that my thunbergia vines were on their way out since most of the leaves were dropping, but they do still have lots of flowers. But what’s exciting me most about them is that I finally successfully collected a seed! These ones are tricky, since they like to pop out of the seedpod before you can spot them, but I did manage to find the rare already-dried seed still on the vine. Thanks to this helpful blog post, I’ve spotted a few not-quite-ripe seeds and have tied bits of pantyhose around the seedpods so that the seeds can ripen and stay put.
Beans: Last month I mentioned that I sowed some ‘Marvel of Venice’ beans along with the thunbergia, in the hopes that the vines would climb up the wigwam and maybe even provide some flowers. Well, I have a couple tiny purple blooms now, and even a bean pod, so if you’re looking for a very quick climber, I’d definitely recommend this one.
Scabiosa: Most of my scabiosa plants have stopped putting on new growth, but I have one rogue ‘Fata Morgana’ that will give me the odd tall, bendy flower, which I do love.
Roses: The roses all over Brooklyn are looking beautiful, and my ‘Carding Mill’ is at its peak, too. I wasn’t so sure about it earlier this year, but I love it now. The plant has put on so much growth, and sends out flush after flush of flowers. And even more excitingly, my mystery David Austin rose is finally putting on new growth. It was labeled ‘Windermere’ but I think it’s really a ‘Queen of Sweden,’ and it put out a flush of flowers in May and then just decided to quit growing. But now there are little clusters of new red leaves, and I’m really hoping to get some more roses this fall.
Planning
Such a weird time in the garden, since from here on out I’m mostly preparing for next year. Not that I’ve actually started yet. I still need to track down some spring bulbs and figure out the best way to overwinter them in pots. I have time, though.
Right now I’m just going to concentrate on keeping the garden looking good for as long as possible. The plant nurseries and stalls at the greenmarket are currently filled with fall flowers, and I couldn’t help myself when it came to the violas—I bought two plants, even though I’ve sowed some more already. I did want to buy a larger plant for autumn color and was considering an aster, but I don’t know if it’s the best use of precious container space in my little garden to have something that doesn’t bloom until fall. Also, I’ve heard it’s prone to powdery mildew? So I bought a caryopteris instead, really just on a whim. The flowers are pink, so it doesn’t even look particularly autumnal, though pink goes better in my garden anyway. Supposedly it blooms from late summer through fall, so it did sound more practical than an aster.
I also need to do some research on wintering flowering bulbs that I can grow indoors this year. I think that Drew is worried about my potentially having some serious garden withdrawals once the season is over so he suggested that I try to grow something inside, and I think he’s right. Usually I’m distracted enough by Christmas that I don’t miss gardening so much at first, but being able to tend to some paperwhite narcissus and hyacinths during the holidays might be a good idea, just in case.
