Wild goldenrod and asters dominate roadsides and open areas, against a backdrop of reddening little bluestem. Island life is slowing down, to the extent that we can all appreciate the mundane beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis. There is so much of it.
The recent welcome rains may be symptomatic of the new season. Autumn officially began with the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22. By the end of September, the sun gives us 11 hours, 40 minutes of light, much less than late June, with 15 or so hours of light.
Learning by doing
Although gardening has been called the slowest of the performing arts, a garden’s feedback loops are, or can be, obvious and immediate. Gardeners’ primary skills involve observation, care, and propagation, whether from seed saving and sowing, division, or other forms of propagating and nurturing plants and outdoor spaces into a form that is called a garden.
“Learning by doing” is an educational precept of early 20th century educator John Dewey. An accessible or tangible way to experience learning by doing is to have a garden; gardens are available feedback loops for all ages.
As with experience in general, the time it takes to integrate or sink in may be immediate or delayed. With gardens and gardening, how many of us have mentioned vivid childhood experiences that prefigured the adult idea to have a garden?
The renovated Tisbury School is set to host an open house on Oct. 26. By then, much more of the landscaping, including school gardens, is set for completion. It is inspiring to see the proliferation of school gardens. They expose children to starting, protecting, and/or eating something intimately related to their experience: learning by doing.
Thinking gardens
Swinging into autumn, it is timely to think ahead to next year’s garden, whether it is perusing bulb catalogs (and ordering — do not delay!), considering what worked or did not, or reorganizing existing conditions. As actual physical gardening diminishes, getting into the mental aspects becomes more absorbing.
A colorful array of geraniums on a plant stand (pictured) underscores the pleasure of taking cuttings and rooting your own plants for next season. If purchased, this display would have cost close to $200. Instead, it was free except for care and “labor.”
It has been said that we grow along with our gardens. One distinction between landscape and gardens is that landscape is viewed primarily as a static installation (think municipal parks). A garden is constantly evolving, along with its gardener and the gardener’s skills.
More garden thinking
Lespedeza, vernonia, sedum, and abelia shine now, along with much, much more; the recent rain will undoubtedly refresh some of the summer’s annuals. Just because autumn approaches does not necessarily mean all is over and done with, in the garden, unless — sad to say — one must take one’s leave of the garden and Island.
In that case, the traditional advice, with soo much prophylactic emphasis on disease concerns, was to cut down or pull everything, and (just maybe) compost. Today, with more concern and emphasis on pollinators and habitat protection, that is no longer what experts at the forefront of the gardening world advise.
Leaving the plants’ skeletons (formerly called debris) standing has become a vital part of the new garden and landscape. Practitioners of such garden attractions as Manhattan’s High Line or Chicago’s Botanic Garden, along with others such as Tom Rainer, Claudia West, Rick Darke, and Rebecca McMackin, produce work that raises awareness of ecological aspects of landscapes and habitat protection.
It is now standard to leave debris until late winter or early spring, as this is where beneficial garden allies overwinter, or stash their eggs or offspring. Leaf blowing, drastic cleanup, and removal of organic matter is no longer the standard for good and proper garden and soil care.
These knowledgeable garden influencers — golly, I dislike that term, influencers — cited above design, write, and lecture to help us see how things fit together in the natural world. They raise awareness of the skeletal beauty of gardens in the off-seasons, when we are not out in warm sunshine but instead buffeted by winter winds.
Vernonia and lespedeza
These two late-season flowering plants are garden super-heroes, and also of the pollinator world. Observe a sunny mound of glowing purple vernonia adance with butterflies of all sorts. Stop to listen to a virtual rosy waterfall of lespedeza abuzz with bees of every description. There you have it.
Vernonia species, in the Asteraceae with daisy-like flowers, occur across North America. Many in their specific form are towering giants, perhaps difficult to integrate into a home garden scene. V. novaboriensis, New York ironweed, is the plant most usually found. The following links to an evaluation of vernonias performed by Chicago Botanic Garden: bit.ly/CB_vernonia.
Lespedeza, in the Fabaceae, are technically shrubs. They behave like herbaceous perennials, however, and with the late-season flowering, are a spectacular, last-hurrah thrill. The ones here are sited uphill from the viewing point, and so produce the waterfall effect mentioned above. Being leguminous, lespedeza are adaptable to less-than-ideal soils and tough sites. Cultivars, such as ‘Gibraltar’ and ‘Alba,’ come in white and rosy pink shades. Cut back in late winter.
In the garden
Pick over garlic, and select the best and largest heads for seed. I sow around Thanksgiving, although many do so earlier. Winter squashes that may be ready to harvest need curing — hardening the rinds — for best keeping. Johnny’s provides info: bit.ly/JS_CuringSquash.
