Garden Gate September/October 2022

All gardens have moments, or even seasons, of triumph and despair. For me, triumph (or maybe just hope?) is in May: The peonies, irises and alliums are blooming, there’s usually plenty of rain and I’ve recently completed all of the spring cleanup. Everything looks fresh and tidy and there’s real promise. Despair is in August. That’s when I’m tired of watering, and many perennials and shrubs start to look ragged. Somehow, the weeds still thrive (and have usually gotten away from me during my July travels), and when I pull, the parched, cracked soil doesn’t give their roots up easily. Finally, fall arrives, and the garden seems to get a second wind—or maybe it’s just me that has more energy. If you have your second wind, too, and are ready to…

Fall Perennials Butterflies Love Don’t forget to provide butterflies with nectar-rich flowers in the fall. Here are some of their favorite late-season perennials! Gardengatemagazine.com/articles/flowers-plants/ Ornamental Grasses in Containers Ornamental grasses are at peak prettiness in fall. See several container designs that showcase these autumn beauties online. Gardengatemagazine.com/articles/containers/ join our facebook Group Connect with Other Readers! We’d love to see what’s happening in your garden and show you what’s going on in ours. Join the Garden Gate Magazine Garden Club Community Group on Facebook.…

Picking squash bugs and other pests off of your plants can be tricky when they’re hiding deep within the center of a flower. Joyce decided to use a pair of long-handled tweezers, which are usually about twice as long as regular tweezers, to pluck bugs from the center without destroying the flower itself. Dispose of the bugs in a bucket of soapy water to quickly kill them. — Joyce Ahlman, OH Swiveling seed storage Ellen Miller, IN Leftover prescription bottle containers are great for storing seeds. The sealed lids prevent moisture and keep seeds from spilling. But the bottles can accumulate quickly if you collect seeds often, and the bottles can be complicated to store. Ellen discovered that a revolving spice rack simplified this. She can stack the bottles vertically to save space and give…

Flatheaded appletree borer Chrysobothris femorata Appearance Flatheaded appletree borer adults are ½ inch long with gray-brown wings and green bodies. They lay small, flat eggs in the summer within cracks in the tree bark. Then, the pale wormlike larvae, which have noticeably large segments near the head, bore into the trunk to overwinter. In spring they chew through the trunk to emerge as adults. Damage Larvae and adults create depressions that compromise the entire trunk and even kill newly transplanted fruit and ornamental trees. Oozing white sap is a sign of active larvae, and adults make D-shaped holes when they emerge. If the tree survives, the boring sites invite more pests and disease as the tree grows. Control Avoid damaging young or thin-skinned trees when pruning or weeding around the trunk with sharp tools, and protect trunks…

Summer is over and you may be tempted to put away your pruners, store the gloves and just sit back to enjoy the cooler days and beautiful autumn foliage. Not so fast—there’s plenty of time left to do a little more planting before the ground freezes! Adding fall perennials and cool-season annuals can bring a whole new look to your borders, and many don’t require much care, so you’ll still have moments to relax and enjoy the view. As temps cool, there are usually fewer fall chores anyway: You don’t need to water as much, the weeds seem to grow more slowly, and you can often stop deadheading. Many flowers hold their seedheads into fall and winter and not only look pretty, but they feed birds too. CLASSIC FAVORITES Colorful fall…

A beautiful stone mosaic can be a work of art for your garden. Tuck one into a seating area, make it the focal point of a path…the possibilities are endless! We decided a large circle mosaic would make the perfect start to a shady sideyard path at our test garden. Here’s how we made it: PREPARE THE SPACE A 34-inch Hula Hoop® makes an easy template for this circular project. Once you’ve found the perfect spot, lay the Hula Hoop down and mark the perimeter with sand or flour. Excavate 4 ½ inches of soil inside the circle. Pour a 3-inch layer of paver base and level it with a garden rake. Use a tamper to compact. Next, to provide support for the shape of the design, lay out flexible plastic lawn edging…