NEIGHBORHOOD GARDEN FOR AUGUST 27, 2016
************************************************************* FALL
COLOR?
BY GLADYS JEURINK
Many people
desert their gardens as the days become hot in July and August but we
can plan for lots of color during fall. Most everyone is aware of Mums
and perhaps Asters. The tall New England Asters can be kept to 2 to 2
1/2 feet if you cut them back before July 4th. After that you could be
harming the fall blooms. I
cut the entire clump off to 12 to 15 inches and have seen some people
cut them to the ground but the blossoms were not as thick. I have a dark
blue and a dark red. The
clumps slowly get bigger every year but in spring it’s easy to remove a
section off one side for a new place.
The Hydrangeas
can be quite spectacular. Annabelle has huge white blooms 12 to 15
inches across. Limelight is like Annabelle and starts out white but
changes into green. Other varieties sometimes turn pink.
Each spring when my Annabelle comes up it is 2 to 3 feet wider on
each side than it was. These new babies are easy to dig for garden club
sales or gifts. I have a
variegated Hydrangea that has never bloomed. It dies down completely
each fall and comes up a little wider and a little taller the next
spring. It is in the shade and those variegated leaves add life. Several
years ago I started Oak Leaf Hydrangea from seed and now at 3 years I
have two huge, elongated blooms against a red wood (paint) fence.
Seeding is fun but requires patience!!
Cosmos (I like
the shorter, 2 foot bright orange ones) will start blooming in August
and keep up until frost if you deadhead. If I leave some of the later
heads on and then after frost kill, shake the plants where I want next
year plants and there will be a fresh crop the next spring. Mine are in
the “Hell Strip” as they can stand a little drought.
Dahlias do not
start blooming until almost July, so they will be doing well for your
fall color-especially the big, tall dinner plate ones.
You can start the shorter, smaller flowered ones from seed to
have earlier bloom. Dahlias
must be dug in Nebraska. Cut them off at ground level and dig widely 12
to 15 inches around and a full spade deep to prevent breaking the tubers
from the main stem. You may
have as many as 5 to 6 possible new babies for next year.
Place in a plastic bag, flat in a box or on a shelf in a cool
room. I have an unheated basement room that doesn’t freeze.
For an edging
along a path, the creeping Verbena works well, blooming a long time from
late spring. It only gets
about 8 inches high but spreads to 12-15 inches wide.
I have a dark, bright red in a pot hanging over the edge. Along
the path is a red one with a white “eye. I will need to deadhead to have
blooms until frost.
Some years I
plant the Mexican Sunflower, a bright orange flower on a 6 foot plant.
They like heat and will not do well in a cold wet spring so need to be
planted later. There are 2
heights so watch when you buy the seeds.
Goldfinger will be about 30 inches while Torch is 6 feet.
The leaves will turn yellow in a cold spell.
The 6 footer makes a bright background hedge as the leaves are
big with many in a good year.
There are
Asters (New England) that may in late August and early September be as
much as 6 foot if you did not keep them trimmed or pinched back until
July 4th. I have a red and a blue that have been on the parkway many
years. The city rule in
Lincoln says that nothing over 30 inches can be grown in the parkway so
I cut them off to about 12 to 18 inches before July 4th.
That date is not arbitrary, it is
just easy to remember. If
you do it much later, you will cut off the fall bloom.
Copyright 2016 |