Important note:

I note that readership is starting to slip a little bit as the gardening season winds down. So what I’m going to do to save a little money (it costs me over a $100/month to send out this newsletter) is to reduce the frequency of mailings to twice a month for the next few months.

But I’ll still try to answer as many questions as possible in the newsletter.

And the extra time will let me answer more of the complex questions I’ve been saving up by writing web pages.

So next week, there won’t be a newsletter but every second week thereafter.

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I love you guys! And here’s a great little pointer that no gardener can even possibly begin to know every plant out there.

Last week we had a question about a fall blooming bulb and I suggested a few options. My brain was obviously turned off while I was writing…

Well, the incoming mail was a barrage suggesting that in fact the bulb was one of two other fall blooming bulbs – an Amaryllis belladonna (a very tender bulb I’ve never grown also known as an August Lily, Belladonna Lily or Naked Lady).

And/or a Lycoris squamigera another Amaryllis relative known as the surprise lily, magic lily, resurrection lily or naked lily. Here’s an url to copy and paste to your browser: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/6824/ to see a picture.

And a huge thanks to the small army of great gardeners who wrote it to point these out - :-) Keep on keeping my honest!

New Articles for You

All my new articles are listed here. Click on the archives link at the site to see others.

Here’s an article on deer resistant perennials. http://www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/deerresistantperennials.html

Here’s one on how to grow tomatoes in containers http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/containertomatogardening.html

And the basic things you need to know about pond pumps http://www.water-gardens-information.com/pondpump.html

What you might want to consider in pruning hybrid tea roses. http://www.learn-rose-gardening.com/rosepruning.html

You can get these by cutting and pasting or going to the url for the rss feed above and scrolling down.

Want to ask a question? Click here to ask a gardening question.www.gardening-tips-perennials.com/askagardeningquestion.html

Your Questions Answered

I want to have perenniel mums in my garden, but if I buy and plant them now (when they are in the stores) will they survive the winter? I had a note on my garden calendar to buy and plant mums in the spring, but I didn't see any for sale at that time. Thanks.

I like the newsletters a lot!

A: Ah, perennial mums and winter survival. Here’s a great answer – it depends. It depends on the variety – if you get some of the hardier Minnesota bred mums (look for a variety name such as Minn XX or Minn YY - it’s the MINN that’s a giveaway that this is hardy in Minnesota). Some of the older varieties such as ‘Clara Curtis’ are also rock hardy.

But in my experience, if you live in a zone 4 or 5, the regular fall mums you find at this time of year are NOT hardy through the winter. You’re much better to get them as really small guys in the spring and grow them yourself.

You’ll also find that they will be hardier if you grow them in the place you want them to overwinter and mulch them well. Their roots are much better established after a season of growing than the fall bought ones.

I consider fall bought mums to be annuals in my zone 4/5 garden. Check florists for spring mums rather than garden centers, they’ll often have small 4” pots for sale.

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I have a 8'X2'round heavy lt.blue plastic pool.Would this make a good in ground pond for plants?With no pump-filtration?Would the ground freeze up and crack the bottom or sides?With sand under the bottom?Your thoughts.I love your info site!!!I bought 3 lilies and have access to many marginals. I am so pumped about doing this.I have an old iron buthering pot that I turned into a water garden(75 gal). I want to put my little goldfish in the big one to overwinter.I need to get the project started.I try to do everything w/o spending $. Can you tell? It's fun and I can do more w/o spending my hubby's hard earned $$.A walnut tree looms overhead where I want to put the pond.Should I ax it or move the pond locale?It was severely pruned when we remodeled but regrew.It looks like a giant bonsai.I hate to cut down trees.I could ask you 100 questions. Thanks for your time.

A: OK – this is just your basic “small question” but a good one to base some data on.

1. Is this plastic pond good for plants and will it crack? Who knows, it depends on how tough and how old the plastic is. If you leave the plastic exposed to the sun on (what I suppose is a cheaper kind of plastic pond) then the edges will crack in a few years and you’ll be very unhappy having to dig it all up again.

If I were doing a pond, I’d *never* use an old, cheap pond liner because I know it is thinner than pond plastic (see the article on the water-gardens-information.com website on liners) and will not last. I know that I’ll put a lot of effort and landscaping into something that will simply crack and leak in a few years.

2. But anything that holds water is good for plants. They don’t know the difference. You’ll know the difference.

3. Sand under the bottom will stop some of the frost heaved rocks from coming to the surface but it won’t stop the sunlight degradation.

4. Overwintering fish in shallow ponds. I’ve written answers/articles about this if you do a search on overwintering fish you should find it.

5. Doing it on the cheap. Well, yes, this is a good idea where feasible but sometimes you do it several times for cheap when one time properly would be the same price. As the line goes, you can pay me now or you can pay me later.

6. Well, pond plants do much better in full hot sunlight than shade. So it is your choice whether to cut the tree or move the pond. You just want sun that’s all.

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I'm so disappointed in this newsletter issue! Trumpet vine is horribly invasive and in your August newsletter you suggested throwing the seeds around(!?) We're battling a forty-year old trumpet vine that is everywhere on the property. Any online search of garden bulletin boards will turn up frantic gardeners trying to overcome this vine. While at the Philadelphia Flower Show this year, several experts told me that they believe the plant should be illegal. Please take care to let newcomers know about the long term results when dealing with aggressive invasives. :-( kathy

A: Well, Kathy said it better than I could. If you reread my notes on this plant, you’ll often see it is referred to as a spreader or thug or similar.

Having said that, I’ll simply repeat what I’ve said before about invasive plants. *Every* plant is invasive somewhere and *every* plant has a niche in which it is contained and happy. And if you really like the look of spreading trumpet vine or goutweed or any of the hundred other spreaders, then its your garden.

And for now – that’s the last word on spreading thugs.

p.s. Kathy isn’t the only one disappointed – my editorial on your responsibility to make decisions and take responsibility for your environment drew the ire and unsubscription of at least one reader – we shouldn’t blame politicians for this global warming and mess we’re in according to her. Or at least not the governor of Louisiana. Who knew? :-)

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My mother has some huge perennial hibiscus plants that are just beautiful! She wanted to give me a clipping from each so that I can grow my own. It is possible to do this and if so, how would we go about doing this? Thank you so much, Marlene

A: Its that time of year. The hibiscus are in bloom and everybody wants one. The easiest way to propagate this is from tender tip cuttings in the spring. Taking a branch in the fall will only give you a branch that will die. I’ll have some propagation material up by next spring so try to relax until then.

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Do You Want to Grow Vegetables?

Doug, I didn't understand your directions on the spray you suggested. Would you clarify what this means: and soap spray (insecticidal soap 1: 40 water)? Thanks. Rose Mary

A: No problem – one ounce of insecticidal soap to 40 ounces of water. Or 4 ounces of soap to one gallon of water (160 ounces to a U.S. gallon)

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From My Garden To Yours

Garden writers normally start fall columns by suggesting there’s an entire range of things a garden should do in September. They point out that this month is a busy gardening month and there’s no reason to stop gardening. In fact, after the heat of the summer, you’ll find that gardening is pleasant work once more. If I were one of those garden writers, I’d write a list like the one below. Personally, I’m going to do a few things on the list but most of my time will be spent just sitting and enjoying the garden because I kept working all summer and will now reap my just reward.

If I had a lawn, I’d consider aerating it now if I hadn’t done it in the spring. After the aeration, I’d fill the holes with compost and then spread 2 pounds of grass seed around the lawn to help thicken it up and fill it in. The cool fall nights and fall rains will help the grass seed germinate quickly and establish itself before winter sets in. If my lawn was really straggly, I’d use more than 2 pounds of seed. Generally, I’d aim to have this done by the third week in September before the hockey and football seasons get really going. Even if I weren’t aerating the lawn, September is an excellent month to spread lawn seed anyway. A healthy and thick turf is your first line of defense against weeds and insects.

I’ll be collecting some seed from my perennials this month. As the seed pods go brown and start to shrivel a little, I’ll pick them off the stalks, split them open and store the resulting seeds in envelopes. Being the organized kind of guy I am, I’ll even write the name of the plant on the envelope. That will let me share seeds with friends or start some extra plants for my own garden. If I was feeling really lazy with my perennials, I’d take those seed pods, break them open and scatter the seeds on the garden. I know I’d lose some to ants and mice but there’s always a few that will germinate next spring and with no work on my part, I’ll have extra plants. This is particularly true for self-seeding perennials such as poppies and hollyhocks.

I don’t have any annual flowers for cutting and drying but you can continue to harvest flowers right up through heavy frost. In fact, some fall blooming plants such as asters and goldenrod (mine is almost blooming now) make excellent cut and dried flowers.

I’ve noticed the Locust tree next door is starting to shed leaves already and as the leaves fall, I’d recommend you do one of two things. If you’re a lazy gardener like me, simply chop these early ones up with the lawnmower and leave them on the lawn for extra organic matter. Any leaf that falls on the flower or vegetable garden areas is giving you a message that it wants to be mulch. Let it. Just don’t tell it the worms will likely eat it and it won’t get to stay there all that long. The later falling leaves can either be collected for mulch or compost or chopped up and left on the lawn. The quantity is the issue – if there’s too many of them, you have to compost them. Just don’t bag and toss them away!

Check for insect pests on any indoor plants that you’ve put outdoors for the summer. Get out the insecticidal soap and blast those leaves, particularly the undersides because the spider mites that have been kept in check by natural predators will explode in numbers when they get indoors. The natural predators go to sleep when the sunlight levels go down, the mites never take a break. I’ll be swamping my banana tree with soap before it gets anywhere near the living room.

If you have deer in your garden, then I’d suggest you keep applying repellent right up to snowfall. There’s no sense taking a break until the deer are in their winter yards. Now’s also the time to begin feeding birds. For the first time, I’m about to feed birds in my backyard. I have a perfect tree for their perches and a small feeder next to my windowsill will be a welcome diversion for the winter for both the birds and myself. I’m sure I’m also about to make the acquaintance of the neighbourhood squirrels as well. My new thought on these rats with tails is to relax and feed them a bit as well. We’ll see how long that sense of live-and-let-live lasts.

The other thing I’m about to do is take in my tropical water garden plants and fish. They really don’t do well in cold water and once those nights start to cool off, they’ll do better under grow lights and in indoor aquariums. Sooner than later is the rule here and do not forget to spray the plants with insecticidal soap (several times) before you bring them indoors. I suspect the fish don’t have to be sprayed with soap.

So if I were a list kind of garden writer that’s what I’d write this week on the eve of the second best gardening month of the year.