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Fall is Coming!

© Mary Henry

The signs are there already. The State Fair is over, the spring bulbs have arrived at work and the Brandywine tomatoes are beginning to ripen in the garden. All that points to the fact that fall, in this climate, is just around the corner. With a growing season two months shorter than the one I grew up in, I have to be faster and smarter than I used to be. I think that is why people here seem to enjoy their gardens more — they spend all the time outdoors that they can, because they have less of it.

The fall perennials are shifting into high gear now. Yesterday I walked through my garden with friends (one of my very favorite pastimes) and happily pointed out the flowers appearing on the obedient plant (Physostegia) and turtlehead (Chelone). The asters are going to pop anytime now and all the rudbeckia clan, the black-eyed susans, yellow coneflower and their annual cousins, are spreading happy yellow all over. The alley-facing border along the back fence is a riot of cosmos, spider flower and geraniums in all their shades of pink, white, rose and lavender. There's a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) shouting in orange at the end of the line because I have a fondness for it. The thought crosses my mind that there will be lots of stuff to put in the compost pile as soon as frost hits.

I am a basically lazy gardener. I think most of us are. I don't turn compost. In zone 6 all but the biggest pieces from spring cleanup would compost in a hot summer season. Here, in zone 4, I have a chipper to make the pieces uniformly small. It still composts in our summer season without further ado (unless it is a very dry year, then I must water it). Weeding is still psychotherapy for me with no danger that I won't get enough of it.

One of the greatest pleasures in northern gardening is successfully pushing the limits of plant hardiness. I have a few pets of my own, brought with me when I moved three years ago. Many plants will grow farther north than the books say they will if the microclimate of their surroundings is carefully chosen. A favorite topic of conversation among nothern gardeners is "how I do it" with these plants, not "how I did it" because it is never done. Every winter is different and the array of temperature, snow cover, wind chill combinations always make it a gamble.

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