My husband’s sister was recently diagnosed with Gliomatosis Cerebri. A hideous form of brain cancer that is rare and difficult to treat. For my sister-in-law, the symptoms didn’t manifest themselves until very late, and she and her family are being robbed of a great life. She is one of the most wonderful and caring people I know, and I feel helpless watching her struggle with the treatment.

 
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Yes, fall is a great time to renew your garden. The best ways? Planting new bulbs for spring and summer bloom, weeding, dividing your plants, and adding a thick layer of mulch or compost. (In fact, just adding the mulch will improve its look.) Here’s a to-do list.

1. Plant new bulbs

My favorite source for bulbs these days is Van Engelen. I have never seen larger, healthier bulbs, ever. I still love Jung’s for bulbs, as well as Johannsen’s or White Flower Farm. My must-have bulbs include alliums of all varieties (but make sure to include some Globemaster alliums) and daffodils, as hungry squirrels and chipmunks do not like these two. And no garden would be complete without lilies, including Stargazer lilies and Casa Blanca lilies.

2. Weed

Cleaning up all the weeds is an important task in the fall so they do not set seed and waste your time next season. “One year of seedin’ is 7 years of weedin.’”

3. Divide your mature perennials

This is the best time of the year to do this for several reasons. The ground is still warm but not too hot, so the plants can really flourish in their new home. Your garden doesn’t always look the best after you make a division, both in the old and the newly planted spots, so by dividing in the fall, the plants will soon be covered with snow. Then come spring, they will look better than ever and as if they were always there.

4. Got soil?

High-quality soil is the best gift you can give your garden. You can just add several inches of compost or mulch each spring and fall, without burying your plants.This provides winter protection and continued nutrition for your plants.

So weed, plant your bulbs, and divide your existing perennials (these can all be done simultaneously). Then, last but not least, shovel on the mulch or compost. Your garden will be totally renewed!

Have a spot you need to fill in your perennial bed?  Not sure where to start?  Autumn Joy looks great everywhere I put it, and after 6 years it is everywhere in my garden.

I have managed to divide this gem of a plant into almost every area of my yard, front and back.  It is really easy to divide and move around, which is what makes it such a great problem-solver when you need to fill gaps in your gardening landscape. And it helps that it is hardy in both sun and shade!

I used to exclusively plant it in the back of the border but have recently experimented in the front as well. I like this the best because of its lasting, seasonal flexibility with color. In the summer, it is a beautiful green and then in the fall it transitions to a show-stopper burgundy.

The Autumn Joy’s flexibility extends to floral arrangements as well. I routinely add it to the bouquets in my flower share service – both as a green filler in the summer as well as adding some texture and dark red colors to bouquets in the Fall.

So the next time you have a gap to fill, try the Autumn Joy!

Propagation is a favorite part of gardening for my kids and me.  It is so fun to multiply your plants, and it’s also a great way to share your bounty with friends and family.  I’ve had success with propagating three different ways:  rooting, collecting seeds and dividing.

Rooting

Rooting is basically cloning.  There are several methods of doing this.  My method is to take a piece of the plant and put it in a clear glass jar of water in a somewhat sunny spot.  Make sure to pull off any leaves that are immerged in the water.  Within several weeks you will see roots and voila!  There is your new plant ready to be potted.  We have successfully rooted all sorts of coleus, geraniums, jade plant, basil, rosemary, thyme, begonias, jasmine, Persian shield and others at the Tracy house. We keep trying new plants, and it is always exciting when we see new roots.

Collecting Seeds

Collecting seeds is a fun activity for all ages.  Just when the gardening season ends, you can collect the dried seed pods off of the plants.  We used to collect them right into an envelope for winter storage.  Now we collect so many seeds we use buckets!  It is easier if you use scissors to collect the dried seed heads from the flowers.  Seeds make a great gift for grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Dividing

Another great way to multiply your existing plants is to divide your more mature plants.  After I have had a plant for 3 years, I usually divide it.  I divide spring-blooming plants in the fall and fall-blooming plants in the spring.  Dividing is super easy.  You just cut the plant in half with a shovel and dig around the outside of one half and then move it to its new home.  You can also dig the whole thing out, divide it and then re-plant the parts.  Your plants will be much healthier and happier being divided every few years and so will your relatives or friends you share them with.

Gardening has been a very joyful activity for the Tracys to do together, and propagating is a fun way to spread the joy.

We’ve definitely turned the corner with our weather here in Wisconsin, and I see gardening opportunities everywhere I look! Here are some of my ideas and goals for 2010.  I thought it would be fun to share.

Ornamental edibles

Dwarf Pear Trees grown in espalier form behind my garage or along my dream fence.

Hardscape fence with arch entrance for the “magical kingdom”.  (magical kingdom is the nickname my daughter gave the space behind our garage; it is full sun.)  We grow most of our edibles so a fence would be nice to keep the dog out, and maybe the bunnies, too.  On this fence or arch entrance, I would like to try growing Birdhouse Gourds up and around, possibly in conjunction with another climber, like Clematis Paniculata.

As I edit this blog, I have already changed this idea. I will keep it for you to see, but what has changed is that buying a new arch for the magical kingdom is definitely not in the garden budget this year. So I created a very large, very dramatic entrance with my tallest gardening stakes and then put my largest bamboo pole above.  I plan to grow Scarlet Runner Bean up and around this from seed.  I chose this because it produces both an edible flower and a bean we can eat, and it is a very fast grower.  I am excited about this garden entrance and will try to remember to share pictures throughout the growing season.

Artichokes.  I have started these indoors since I learned about them last June and started them too late.  I am most excited about these!  I am growing these both for the visual interest and because we like to eat them, too.  They are beautiful and kind of remind me of the Allium Globemaster look.  So I will have the Allium Globemasters blooming in May and June and, I hope, the Artichokes for July, August and September.

Brussel sprouts.  Again, I’m growing these because they look very sharp; the bonus is we love to eat them and they are full of vitamins.  My kids will eat anything they grow.

Sweet corn. Another ornamental edible I am excited to try this year is a sweet corn that is really good-looking.  The past few summers, I have successfully grown a nice trio of “plain old” sweet corn with green beans growing up it and little pumpkins below.  The new varieties I want to try are Zea Mays, Japonica and Tiger Club.

Other Ornamental Edibles I am planning to grow for both looks and nutritional value are Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Rhubarb, Broccoli, Ornamental Peppers, Kale, Cardones, Basil, Brassica Olemcea Kale, Parsley, Rosemary, Purple Hyacinth Bean, Pumpkin on a Stick, Edible Flowers, Pot Marigold, Nasturtium, Calendula Officinallis, Marigolds, Ornamental Millet, Sunflowers, and Beets.

Black/Dark Dramatic Flowers

I love the color black, and I am drawn to black flowers and foliage in the garden.  It adds nice contrast and a neutral dramatic color.  I am excited to try Ornamental Millet Purple Majesty in my 2010 Garden; the birds are going to love my backyard once again!

There are a lot of dark Ornamental Edibles. I am going to try Nero di Toscano and stunning, dark-leafed Kale.  I am also going to try Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli.

Dark purple petunias. I love petunias because the smell of them takes me back to Palm Desert, California, heaven on earth for me.  I loved how Allen Centennial Gardens in Madison had these planted in masses; they smell amazing in the evening.  I plan to plant these underneath my 4 family-room windows in hopes of having the wonderful Palm Desert, California, smell enter my house.  Again, I am going to buy early because I tried to do this last summer after visiting Allen Centennial Gardens, and all the stores were sold out of the dark purple.

You will kill more houseplants from over watering than you will from under watering.  Gardening outdoors taught me how to garden indoors. Many of my houseplants are simply plants I like to grow in my garden, but they are not hardy in my Wisconsin Zone 5 and cannot stay outside during the winter.

Houseplants offer a variety of benefits.  They look great; they clean your air for free, providing everyone with a healthier living space; they help add humidity to a dry winter house; and they give you something to care for, which makes one feel better.

The following is a list of great plants that I currently grow:

Ferns

Foxtail Fern, Asparagus Fern, Boston Fern, Elephant Ears, Cordyline, Peace Lily, Coleus, Banana Plants, Sweet-Potato Vine, Jade Plant.

Herbs

Rosemary, Basil

Houseplants that flower

Christmas Cactus, Hibiscus, Orange Trees, Mandevilla, Geraniums, African Violets, Agapanthus or Lily of the Nile, Begonias, Clivia and Orchids

Houseplants love to be outside in the summer.  You can move them outside when the nighttime temps are in the 50s and 60s consistently.  Start by placing them in a shady spot, or they will get a sunburn just like we do if we lie in the sun all day after a long winter.  Slowly move them into sunnier conditions.

If they do get sunburned, don’t give up and discard them.  They will bounce back in 3 weeks and remain strong, vital houseplants.  I have sunburned many a houseplant to the point where they look completely dead with no hope of returning, but I let them be and continued watering and they always made a strong comeback.  So never give up!

Since I am green, I do not use any chemicals and I always start off with a good organic potting-soil mix.  Never use topsoil or dirt, as it will harden like clay in a pot and kill your plant.  I probably do not fertilize enough, according to textbooks or experts, but nature seems to take good care of my plants and they seem to be living a long and happy life.  I sometimes add earthworm castings to my potting mix when they are outside for the summer, but only in the earlier part of the summer.  It is best to let your houseplants take a rest in the winter, by watering less and not fertilizing.

To give you additional incentive to add more houseplants to your life, here is another great article from Organic Gardening:

Weeping fig and fatsia work day and night to remove contaminants from the air.

Findings:  Two common houseplants reduced aerial concentrations of volatile formaldehyde by 50 percent in two hours or less, according to a joint study by Korean and U.S. researchers.  If you’re wondering ‘What does this have to do with me?’  you may be dismayed to know that formaldehyde is emitted from products found in most homes, including carpet, plywood, particleboard, curtains, and adhesives.  Formaldehyde levels are several times higher in new houses than in older ones, the researchers report.  Aerial parts of the plant–the leaves and stems–absorb the volatiles during the day:  the root zone continues the work at night.

Our advice:  Take a tip from Stanley Kays, Ph.D., of the University of Georgia, one of the study’s authors, and place a houseplant or two in every room to improve air quality.  Kays also recommends Boston fern and areca palm.

This is the 2nd week of November and the zinnias are long-gone; the last of the hosta leaves have been raked away; most of the perennials have died back and gone dormant for the winter; and the last of the lily bulbs’ stalks have been cut back.  But the grasses in my garden are still growing strong.  Such show-offs.  The fancy plumes on the top are poking through, making them actually look better than ever.

I personally overlooked grasses my first 5 years of gardening.  I did not garden at all with grasses in my first two gardens.  I first noticed and loved purple fountain grass.  It is an annual grass that my mother-in-law grew in her pots in RI, and I tried that one first.  It taught me the benefits of having an ornamental grass in the garden.  I love that particular grass and still grow it in my pots every summer, but it is no different than an annual because it is not hardy in my zone 5 garden.  Another annual grass I couldn’t live without in my pots each summer is King Tut grass.  This one was hard for me to find this past summer so I am trying to overwinter it inside this year as a house plant; will let you know in a future blog if that is successful.

I have successfully grown several varieties of grasses in my garden for years.  One of my favorites and a must-have for every garden is zebra grass.  I prefer the taller version.

Another grass I have successfully grown and would recommend is Variegatus Miscanthus, or Japanese Silver Grass.  This one can be a thug.  On the bright side, it will look full and established within just a few years.  It can then be divided for other parts of your garden or to share with friends.

My newest favorite grass is Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass.  It is like learning a new word.  I now see it everywhere and after asking about it, have planted several.

Another grass I have grown for winter interest in the view from my kitchen window is a pampas-like grass; it is very tall and the plumes move in the winter wind.  This variety is called Japanese switch grass.  I also have a friend who grows it as a hedge in the very back of their yard, and it provides nice privacy from the bike path.

There are even grasses that will grow in shade.  I have not grown the shade-loving ornamental Japenese forest grass myself, but see it again and again in gardening magazines and I just love it.  Another shade grass is Aureola Hakone Grass; it can be found at Jung Garden Center.

Why should you grow an ornamental grass in your garden?

1. You won’t find a lower-maintenance plant.
2. They make a great hedge for privacy or to create a dividing border.
3. They are easy to grow.
4. All sorts of varieties are out there:  shade or sun, poor soil, tall or wide or short.
5. They are long-lasting and will look good for 3 solid seasons.

Grasses should not be overlooked as key tools in landscaping.  Not only can they provide a very nice hedge for privacy, but they also make a nice statement at the end of a garden bed, like a punctuation mark.  They also do a great job filling space and suppressing weeds.

Not a whole lot looks great in my yard right now, and the past week has been unusually warm for a typical November Wisconsin day.  So it has been fun hanging out on my outdoor couch with my kids, surrounded by the beauty of the tall grasses, and watching the plumes blow back and forth in the wind.