This is a place to focus on what's currently happening in the gardens. I want to share fun seasonal garden stories & events with you. Josh is going to archive the posting as seasons evolve. We hope you will embrace it with a fun-filled spirit.

All American Selection - Zinnia 'Zowie! Yellow Flame'

A couple year ago I attended a Master Gardener Class where I met Pearl Vander Wilt. The presentation was about heirloom plants including Grandpa Ott Morning Glory. Pearl offered to share Grandpa Ott seeds with me. Her seeds came from her relative who was the grand daughter of Grandpa Ott himself. How exciting!

Pearl mailed the seeds to me. I planted them with great exuberance and great expectations. I was not disappointed. BUT! I also was not prepared for the invasiveness of the morning glories. They are beautiful but self-seed freely and climb on & strangle neighboring plants. Remember to always beware of the words "self-seed freely". I've learned the hard way too many times.

I pull morning glories like the weeds they are. I've used Preen pre-emergent treatments which helped quite a bit. But next year or maybe even yet this fall, it's Round Up time for Grandpa Ott. Another one of those things I wish I had never planted. But they are beautiful and the bees & humming birds love them. I have hundreds, maybe thousands of the seeds if anyone wants some.

Learn more facts about Morning Glories.

Tall Morning Glory - Ipomoea purpurea 'Grandpa Ott's'

Learn more facts about Grandpa Ott's Morning Glories.

Learn more facts about Asters.

Fall Aster - Symphyotrichum oblongifolium

A volunteer plants might be described as a "weed". One definition of a weed is "a plant out of place". Voluntary might also be defined as acting on it's own choice or consent / unconstrained by interference. One who participates voluntarily - Volunteer.

This summer several little tomato plants arose near the compost pile. How, I asked myself, did tomato seeds get here. I haven't grown a single vegetable for many years. Well, unless ornamental peppers count. I then realized the chopped leaves we put into the compost pile from Ron's parent's yard must have included some of their vegetable garden debris. So it's been fun to watch the volunteers grow. That's is, once I convinced Ron not to mow them over. Now in September they are sprawling all over. Ron helped me to cage them & stake them up. Remember, girls just want to have fun.

Usually the word, volunteer congers up good images, and welcoming emotion. However, gardeners may hold conflicting opinions on the subject of 'Volunteer Plants'. Some may regard them as true weeds, quickly ridding their gardens of the pest. Others may welcome them into the garden. Whichever view you appreciate is your personal choice. Pro-Choice!

Volunteer plants magically appear in my gardens. Despite all my well planned - exacting efforts; Mother Nature proclaims herself 'Queen of the Garden'. She rules the roost! Volunteer plants are strewn all over the place. Cosmos shoot up, Cleome reign tall & proud, Flamingo Feather struts its stuff, Bachelor Buttons pop-up every where, perfect Marigolds magically grow, Four O'clocks, Bronze Fennel, Black-eyed Susans, & moss rose crop up in any vacant spots. Moss rose even grows in cracks of sidewalks / driveways. If I planted it there, it wouldn't grow but flourishes when left to its own demise. IMHO volunteer plants may be valued gifts bestowed upon the earth by the most mystical powers of nature. It's an astonishing feat that volunteer plants prevail, beating all anti-survival odds. Not only that but they flourish becoming perfect, beautiful specimens in my gardens.

However, there are certain plants I do not welcome into my gardens any longer. After exhibiting their nasty, ugly, aggressive behaviors in the garden, they wore their welcome out. Two recent offenders were Artemisa 'Lime Light' and Perilla 'Frutescens'. Again, be aware of any plant specimen that at all resembles the statement , "self-seeds freely" and/or "spreads by rhizomes". These plants surely have a spot to be useful and enjoyed. However, your flowerbed may not be the place for them. I had night-mare experiences with both of these monsters in my gardens. I must mention morning glory 'Grandpa Ott' here also. It has beautiful blossoms but the vines strangle everything within 30' of it. BAD! BAD! BAD! IMHO

Wanted Dead, Not Alive - Artemesia 'Oriental Limelight'

Perilla frutescens

Learn all about the month of September.

• Plant garlic in a sunny location with well-drained soil.
• Check houseplants for pest before bringing them indoors.
• Visit an orchard for Iowa grown apples.
• Core-aerate lawns if needed.
• Pot up a few spring-flowering bulbs for forcing indoors.
• Plant balled and burlap deciduous trees.
• Harvest tomatoes and peppers before frost.
• Harvest sweet potatoes.
• Take coleus cuttings before frost.
• Control dandelions with a broadleaf herbicide in late September or October.

additional suggestions:

• Fall color can be added to your garden with plants that love cool weather like pansies and ornamental kale.
• Spring flowering bulbs should be planted while the soil temperature is warm. Normally this is mid-September to mid-October.

ISU University Extension 2006 Calendar

September Newsletter - 'At the Garden Gate' (pdf file)
Suzette Streigel - Horticulturist
Mahaska County ISU Extension Service
Oskaloosa, IA

Learn all about Labor Day.

Grandparent's Day is a United States holiday celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. It has traditionally been used to honor both grandparents and their relationships with their grandchildren.

Learn more about Grandparent's Day.

Autumn

Cosmos Produces Cosmic Beauty

Orange Cosmos - Cosmos sulphureus

Orange cosmos are also known as Sulphur cosmos and Klondike cosmos

Awakening to frost on the roof-tops this morning evoked a sad sigh of acceptance. Yes, it happened. The weatherman's forecasted frost arrived. The chill of autumn is in the air. You can sense it. You can feel it. You can smell it. Jack Frost paints our world the colors of fall.

Ron threw a fit last evening until I gave-in to his pleading to lug all those big pots of cacti back into the house. He was just sure the weatherman's prediction for frost would come true. And it did! I just wasn't ready yet.

Oh, to have a little sunroom, to winter-over all my plants, would be heaven.

First day of the season of autumn / fall when night & day are nearly of the same length / 12 hours of sunlight & 12 hours of darkness. I've learned it is called the equinox which has to do with the sun crossing the celestial equator moving southward in the northern hemisphere thus moving northward in the southern hemisphere. Days become shorter than the night hours until the shortest day of the year occurs announcing winter's arrival.

September, October, & November are the months thought of as the season - fall / autumn. It's the time of year when the leaves all fall down & frost takes the garden down & the grass turns brown. The land is preparing for its winter rest.

There's much to be done outdoors before hard frost and before the snow falls in Iowa.

See the following link - Guidelines to Seasonal Chores / Garden Tips from Remain Gardens @ Iowa State University

Also see: Autumn 2005

The 'First Annual Fall Garden Day' of the Marion County Master Gardeners was held @ the home if David & Nelda Pealer. We enjoyed a perfect autumn morning with garden friends, old & new.

Download the 'First Annual Fall Garden Day' flier!

In my opinion the most important step in “putting your garden to bed” is - WEED REMOVAL! Get out & get rid of those weeds. Try to dig every weed you see.

I try to pull weeds as soon as I see them through out the gardening season. As the old saying goes - “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Pull those weeds! You’ll be glad you did. Strive to never let a single weed go to seed. Notice, I said ‘strive’ that means try your best.

Weeding is very therapeutic for me; especially after a tough day in the “real world” at the job place. Digging in the Dirt nurtures good mental health. You can take that sharp edged digger, ram it repeatedly into the earth releasing all hostilities. You can mutter to yourself. Say whatever you want. The plants won’t tell. The garden is a safe haven.

By the time you sit down at the dinner table you are at peace, ready to enjoy a nice meal. This works especially well if someone beside you has cooked the food, set the table, promised to clean-up after the meal, and actually run the dishwasher. What is it that’s so difficult about putting the detergent into the dishwasher cup, securing the door, & pushing the ON button?

Other important steps in putting your gardens to bed for the winter is doing whatever you find time / energy to accomplish.

Don’t beat yourself up over garden jobs that don’t get done.
Set realistic garden goals for yourself.
Keep your gardening fun!

I heard a presentation on “Keeping Your Garden Fun”. The speaker suggested that if you really want to enjoy a beautiful garden; go sit in someone else’s garden. You won’t notice the imperfections there. We all view our own gardens with a critical eye.

The fall rituals of garden clean-up is here

Fall Lawn and Garden Tips

Fall Cleanup Critical to Garden