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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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The Garden Life: Fall palette something to be thankful for

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Give thanks for the blessing of an autumn garden.
Give thanks for the blessing of an autumn garden. Photo Gallery

The pathways in our garden are strewn with a lovely pattern of overlapping leaves that have fallen from the trees above. Autumn leaves come in a palette of colors unique to the season. The rusty reds, burnt oranges and sun washed yellows of deciduous maple, ash and oak trees scatter under our feet as we walk through the garden on clear autumn afternoons. Take the time to shuffle your feet and cause a stir.

Fall leaves remind us that nature has a genius for design. Around the Thanksgiving holiday the garden gives us inspiration for table settings and flower arrangements. At least for November we shy away from spring pastels. The primary colors of summer are packed away. Instead, dried seed heads, fallen pine cones and the twisted branches of Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) add interest and texture to the outdoor garden.

On a recent morning I came across a group of colorful, five fingered leaves at the foot of a Japanese maple. Some of the leaf tips overlapped each other, reminding me of hands held together in prayer. Others were scattered haphazard, colored in shades of brown and muted orange like the pine grosbeaks perched in a tree’s bare branches. The large leaves of the big leaf maple reminded me of a turkey I drew for my mother as a child. Using only the outline of a small, chubby hand and an assortment of turkey colored crayons I presented her a masterpiece for the Thanksgiving table.

Cutting tea roses

When to cut back hybrid tea roses for the winter and how much to cut them back are two of the most debated topics in the garden world. I think it helps if you understand why the question is debatable in the first place. In climates where winter is harsher than ours, roses are cut back hard once the weather turns cold and the plants stop growing. The purpose is to keep plants dormant and protected through the winter.

Our winters are rarely that severe. If we were to cut our roses back in the fall, they would inevitably shoot out new growth which is more susceptible to cold weather. For neatness sake and to prevent plants from whipping around in the wind, we cut rose bushes down by about a third in very late fall. Waist level is a standard suggestion. This way, even if new growth is caught by a freeze it will not die all the way to the crown of the rose.

Let shrub roses have one last flush of late fall bloom. Then leave the flowers intact to form into fruits which are commonly called hips.

This not only helps the plants wind down for winter, signaling dormancy, but adds the unique ornamentation of “rose hips” to the winter landscape. Rosa geranium has bright, pear shaped hips. Those of climbing Rosa ‘New Dawn’ are small, orange and as thick as a bustle of ladybugs.

Once we are sure spring has arrived and warm soil triggers new growth, it’s time to cut rose bushes down to a point below knee level. This assures strong, robust canes that can support all the roses of spring, summer and early fall.

The magic date for pruning in the Northwest is President’s Day in February. As far away as that looks over the vast expanse of winter’s gloom, I’m looking forward to three months of cozy evenings and a hefty stack of spring garden catalogs.

In some parts of America gardeners garden by the book. They read the monthly list at the back of magazines and do each chore by a specified date. Fountains are drained on Sept. 21. Roses are heeled into the ground for winter protection before first snow. In the Northwest, seasonal advice from around the country may not seem quite so imperative.

Few Americans will be able to wander into the garden on Thanksgiving morning and find enough foliage to fill a table centerpiece. We can do that, even if the temperature was near freezing a week before.

Our lawns are often more lush in winter than in the peak of gardening season.

On a warm December morning, dainty, shell pink blossoms will emerge from leafless branches of the ornamental cherry, Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’.

Unlike Kansas, winter won’t drop out of the sky like a frigid tornado, forcing us into the cellar for the season and dumping us back in the garden when spring arrives six months later. Our seasons are much gentler, melding into each other with temperate spells that come and go. It is possible that chilling winds will drive us indoors for Thanksgiving dinner.

Then again, we just might gather enough flowers and foliage from the garden to set a lovely table.

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