Gardening with Galligan: Fantastic fall and its seasonal pleasures
Finally, finally, finally …
Fall! Yes! Fantastic. Fall is finally here and many of us are really glad. My daughter thinks that your favorite month or season has to do with when you were born; she loves, as in really loves, June, and indeed that’s her birthday month. I love the fall, and yes, you’ve guessed it, I was born in November. Maybe a coincidence? But who knows.
Fall has so many advantages, such as the lower temperatures in which to work outdoors, and the even cooler nights. This can be a problem for some of you, especially you weekenders. Remember that the average date of first frost is October 15, but that’s an average. It really leaves the whole month open to that possibility. So either err on the safe side, which means that everything that should come inside is already inside, or keep a really careful eye on the weather reports. And it always helps to have friendly neighbors, in case of a real misstep!
The perennials currently in bloom are some of my favorites — the blue and purple asters and the many different species of goldenrod, which is, yes, I know, a weed, but a wonderful one. The kind in my garden, mixed with wild white asters, is not the usual wild one, tall, with the large head of bloom. Mine are low to the ground, in long sprays of bloom, close to 14 or 15 inches long, the yellow really, really bright.
But the absolute best gift in fall comes from Pyracantha, a tall, thorny, evergreen shrub native to a wide swath of territory, from southwest Europe to Southeast Asia and if you don’t own one, you should remedy the situation immediately. So long as you have a deer-protected place for it. It has rather uninteresting small white flowers in spring, but each boring little white bloom becomes a bursting bright orange berry as summer ends. The berries, mixed with gourds and small pumpkins, make a lovely, fall display. And should you make such a display, I advise spraying it, especially the pumpkins, with a clear lacquer — any one will do. Not only does this enhance the colors, it keeps small outside types from pecking at your handiwork. It’s really unsettling to find a large hole in the side of the pumpkin adorning your doorstep. The lacquer will enhance the color, and keep said types away.
Pyracanthas are also quite healthy shrubs, at times surprisingly so. At the end of one of our recently awful winters, one of those with endless snows, when I finally emerged from my self-imposed isolation, I was horrified to find it totally, all six feet of it, brown. Bright brown: leaves, stems, branches. Brown. I sort of shrugged, somewhat sadly. I hate it when things fail, and assumed that I would have to take it down.
Luckily, I was busy enough so that several weeks passed before I got around to it, because slowly but steadily, everything brown turned green! Heaven. Really a worthwhile shrub. And I should add, that although it’s billed for full sun, mine has done well with half. I do feed it extra to apologize for the lack and that seems to work.
Enjoy the season, everyone!
