Fall: The World’s a Stage

“Hardy” mums. I just don’t get them.

Rather, I don’t understand why people continue to plant them, when there are better choices for the fall garden (more about those in a moment.) Sure, they’re colorful: bright beacons of hope that perhaps the frost-free days of early autumn will last a bit longer. But these beacons are often as subtle as airport landing lights – unblinking yellow or white gobs that fairly scream, “Look at me!!!” when the brilliant harmonic tones of the maple, the birch and the sumac – the symphony of the season -- is reaching its colorful crescendo before falling to the ground in a whisper.

The calmer pinks, bronzes and oranges of mums are hardly better, as each plant is pinched and squeezed by the grower into a perfect pompom of flowers with no greenery to dilute the effect; an unnatural natural object in the landscape. And the term “hardy mum” is a bit of a misnomer, as these highly bred beauties are no match for a heavy frost which withers their blooms, or for our cold winters, which usually are fatal.

Consider in their place plants which reliably return each year to offer colorful drama without the harsh stage light effects. One that I feature often is an Aster called ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ (Aster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’), with its cheerful bright blue daisies in September and October. Unlike many, perhaps more familiar asters, ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ remains dense and bushy without losing its foliage to disease. It likes full sun, and tolerates drought once established.


Raydon’s Favorite

I particularly like to use it as a companion to ornamental grasses, most of which achieve glory in October. Even after a heavy frost has dealt a crushing blow to many perennials, grasses such as Miscanthus (with its many varieties) are at their peak, carrying silvery plumes above the graceful clumps of foliage. The onset of winter causes the stalks and stems to turn tawny, but they are sturdy enough to shrug off winter snows to provide a quiet presence in the barren landscape. Other ornamental grasses such Switch Grass (Panicum), Bluestem (Andropogon), Fountain Grass (Pennisetum), Indian Grass (Sorghastrum), and many others, continue to please into the fall.


Miscanthus in fall

Threadleaf (or Arkansas) Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) is a simple yet attractive plant with 3 seasons of interest. They bear small blue starry flowers in spring, and by summer have become durable low bushes of long, thin leaves arranged on willowy stems. Perhaps the best is saved for last, as in September the green becomes chartreuse, and eventually golden by October: a perennial with fall foliage. These are best planted en masse, and combine well with bolder- leaved plants to create a contrast of textures, the fundamental way to develop garden interest. Plants for such supporting roles must include Alum Root, or Heuchera, which is not the old-fashioned Coral Bells of your Grandmother’s garden. Today’s Heucheras have been hybridized to offer stunning foliage in a wide variety of colors including lime, chartreuse, peach, burgundy, purple, and near-black. Cold weather often brings out secondary colors and overlays of red or silver.


Amsonia hubrichtii in fall


Heucheras

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’) have been out of flower for a few weeks now, but their chocolate cones are a food source to gold and purple finches which will feast on the black seeds until winter. There is a longer blooming variety known as fulgida, still in bloom now with fine bright yellow daisies. Surely these are better than mums! Allow the seedheads to remain on Black-eyed Susans: the birds will benefit, as will anyone who is able to appreciate their blackened skeletons outlined against the snow. For while it is easy to savor the bravura spectacle that surrounds us now, we must find joy in the far subtler qualities of the garden in winter, long after its notes have faded.


Black-eyed Susans

Planning a New Landscape

Home landscapes, whether old or new, are rarely designed or planted with the active lifestyles of today’s homeowners in mind. The same mistakes get repeated, as large-growing plants -- yews, rhododendrons, arborvitae and others -- are installed too closely together, leading to crowding and the need for regular clipping to prevent windows and walkways from being covered in green. It seems that homeowners today have little time to maintain their plantings, and lack the skills to properly prune them, rather than shear and shape into 3-D forms. (The latter can also be said of many landscape contractors.) Such static plantings offer little seasonal change and limited flowering.

In today’s sluggish real estate market, increasing the visual appeal of your home can become a strong selling point now or later. Consider removing overgrown shrubbery and starting afresh with a new palette of plants which will offer reduced maintenance and greater beauty to enhance your home through all four seasons. Include a colorful and diverse blend of small ornamental trees, deciduous shrubs, rhododendrons and mountain laurels hybridized to remain compact, dwarf conifers which rarely require pruning, and season-extending perennials that serve as ground covers to reduce weeding.

These so-called “mixed borders” can be more complex to design, and may require the guidance of professionals. Your local nursery or garden center may be able to provide free or fee-based plans if you bring a scaled drawing of the area to be planted showing the house footprint, walks and other features, entrances and windows (including sill heights.) Be sure to note north, and how much shade the area will receive. Photographs are always helpful.

Better yet, seek experienced garden designers who will visit your home and create a plan for you. The Association of Professional Landscape Designers has an online member list, including those who have become certified by demonstrating professionalism and proficiency. The New Hampshire Landscape Association is another source of landscape contractors and designers.

This article originally appeared in the September 23, 2008 edition of the Amherst Citizen.

Burning Bushes and Fall Garden Color

Ah, September in New England, my favorite month. Cool, dewy nights melt into morning under the warming sun, its rays splashed against an azure sky. Along roadsides and in unmown meadows the brassy yellow of Goldenrod is untarnished, still gaudy yet not out of place among the clumps of restless grasses swaying in the breeze. And in the distance can be seen the early scarlets and oranges of fall, flaming heralds promising the natural, transcendent glory that is October in New England.

And it’s to October we look ahead in our gardens and landscapes, as Burning bushes (Euonymus alatus and varieties) begin to display their sole reason to grow them: brilliant carmine foliage. Two weeks of Technicolor, and fifty weeks of humdrum.

Such ephemeral beauty doesn’t come without a price, however. To produce the color that inspired its common name, Burning bush requires sun, good soil and plenty of water. Lacking one or more of these, the plant will sulk and disappoint you with pale green leaves all summer, which become a lackluster pink before dropping to the ground. A greater cost is to the local environment, as it has been determined that Burning bush is an invasive species (commonly defined as a plant of exotic origin which has aggressively spread beyond cultivation and displaces native vegetation.) In short, Burning bush is a known thug, and has been prohibited from sale in New Hampshire and several other states.

So, what’s a gardener to do?

First, if you have Burning bush in your yard, the choice of whether to keep or remove it is up to you: there is no squad of Plant Police. That said, it certainly is sensible to remove seedlings that may have arisen elsewhere on your property, at the very least.

Second, there are several alternatives to Burning bush, and they are superior, as they offer multiple seasons of interest as well as being native. None will approach the final size of Burning bush (even the “dwarf” variety of which will become a 10 or 12 foot globe,) and the fruiting forms will attract birds.

Here are a few:

Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’) A native shrub, growing 6 to 8 feet tall, with clusters of pure white flowers in spring followed by glossy red berries later in the summer. The berries are edible but astringent, an aspect which yields its common name. Fall foliage is spectacular – a fiery scarlet. Preserves can be made from the fruit which is loaded with Vitamin C and antioxidants.



Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa ‘Hugin’) Also native, and similar to Red Chokeberry, but bearing inky berries on shrubs that rarely grow above 6 feet tall. Excellent fall foliage.

Diablo Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’) A superb purple-leaved selection of the native ninebark shrub, becoming reddish-orange in autumn. Handsome burgundy-tinted white button flowers in late spring. To 8 feet tall.

Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum and hybrids) Spring flowers, tasty summer fruit, and incredible vivid scarlet leaves in the fall – what more can you ask for? Blueberries are deserving of space in the home landscape for their gustatory as well as ornamental attributes. The Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) offers itself as a good ground cover, with the same features. Both are native.

Witherod (Viburnum cassinoides) Another splendid, if underused, native shrub, with fantastic fall foliage that leans toward brilliant red adorning hardy bushes rarely growing over 6 feet tall. Add that to the creamy white flowers in spring which become multicolored berries by summer, and you’ll forget about Burning bush. And the same qualities can be given to the closely related Possomhaw, Viburnum nudum ‘Winterthur’.

A few exotic (but decidedly non-invasive) options:

Paperbark maple (Acer griseum) Growing to twenty-five feet tall, more or less, with excellent red to orange fall foliage. Named for its exfoliating, cinnamon-colored bark which provides year-round interest, but particularly in the winter.

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum and varieties) Most commonly found in its burgundy-leaved forms which offer stunning fall tones of red and orange, but even the green-leaved types can transmute into exquisite cerise hues that rival rubies. Growth heights from six to twenty feet.

Red-veined Enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus and varieties) Fall foliage is variably red and orange, but can include purple tones. Lovely dangling bell-shaped flowers in spring. Although capable of growing large, it rarely seems to exceed 10 feet tall in New Hampshire, slowly developing a picturesque branching habit. Of Asian origin.

Any of these shrubs can be safely planted until about the middle of October. They, and many others not mentioned, will do more than simply light up your fall garden. They will delight you throughout the year.