Oh, October! The month produces those moments where one feels the texture of life, and of one’s own life, between one’s fingers. Have we seen the last osprey and the last hummingbird? Vast skies and cloudscapes that foretell winter, the joining of brilliant and muted colors in the landscape, the rushing sound of flocks overhead headed away, away: October is movement and change.
October garden
The summer garden is passé. Dahlia repair after the big Northeast blow was a sad affair, but happy resurrections are now underway. The home rain gauge received seven-plus inches in the big rainstorm, and more in adjacent rains. Observing how low freshwater ponds around the Island are, however, shows that complacency about the water table is premature.
What does October bring gardens? Quite a lot, it turns out, although some preplanning helps. Stars of early autumn include dahlias, asters, sedum, Montauk daisies and other garden chrysanthemums, and annuals like marigolds and nasturtiums. Tiny Cyclamen hederifolium and their indoor cousins alike are in bloom.
To be a gardener, it helps to have a good visual imagination. Sedums such as ‘Autumn Joy,’ with their sickly, greenish-pink flowerheads, are pretty uninspiring during most of the early garden season: One wonders if they deserve the space they are occupying. However, in September they morph into something amazing!
Sedums are all pollinator magnets, while supplying rich, deep color contrast. It is a large, unruly family, with creeping forms, midsize ones, and tall ones that find their place toward the back of the bed. Sedums (now Hylotelephium) are succulents, and require very little to be happy. Sun, dry soil, and good drainage do it for them.
Asters are astounding magnets for butterflies and pollinators in open, sunny locations. They thrive here. There is an aster species (now Eurybia and Symphyotrichum) or cultivar for every type of site, from poor, undernourished roadsides to fertile bottomland, to woodland shade. Flowers range from minuscule and airy to more than one inch, while colors range from pales to hot pinks to rich, deep purples.
It certainly can be annoying to have poky annuals! This year seemed to provoke dilatory performance from zinnias, cosmos, and more. On the other hand, marigolds and nasturtiums have always seemed to come into their glory at summer’s end. ‘Tip Top Apricot’ was worth the wait; saving seed for next year is easy, too.
Dahlias need no introduction. There are quite a lot of Island people deeply enmeshed in dahlia love affairs. After the big blow, however, my own predilection is to grow fewer of the tall, five-foot-plus ones. When statuesque, tall dahlias are grown in cutting gardens, tied into fencing supports, they are magnificent. As garden flowers, however, I plan to stick to those types bred for the Dutch flower-grower industry. These are floriferous, shorter, bushy types that handle wind better.
Anemones
“October is the month to really enjoy anemones.” This is what the resident deer are saying.
Along with the flowering plants mentioned above, one of October’s many garden joys is the flowering of Japanese anemones. They have beautiful flowers, and they are said to be deer-resistant. If it were not so annoying, it would be interesting to create the deer menu of plants said to be deer-resistant, which the unpaid pruners are eating this year.
Unless they are grown in fortress-like gardens where no deer may ever intrude, add Japanese anemones to the deer menu. Even the in-town, Edgartown anemone blossoms are harvested, in the unobserved interval between dusk and dawn!
The anemones pictured in the Sept. 24 edition of “Garden Notes” appear to be an exception to the deer browsing. Deer still eat them; they may be nipped, but are then ignored, and go on to have an extended bloom time. Those plants are spreaders once established, in part sun, part shade. They used to be Anemone tomentosa ‘Robustissima,’ but are now known as Eriocapitella tomentosa. All the so-called Japanese anemones species have been placed in the new Eriocapitella genus.
Acorn awareness
They are like hundreds of ball bearings! Squirrels are so intent on burying them in roadbeds that they risk being run over! There are so many acorns this year that earlier I checked whether this is a mast year. (It is not.)
We see principally the acorns of black and white oaks. Because it is a plentiful food source, acorn mast has aroused interest in reviving it as usable food, as it was in previous times, usually ground into flour. Black-oak acorns undergo a period of dormancy before sprouting, and contain bitter substances known as tannins, which must be dealt with before becoming palatable food. White-oak acorns sprout immediately, and waste no time putting down a taproot. They are sweeter, and were once preferred for food use.
In the garden
Frost is still a way off for most Island gardens. However, preparing houseplants for returning indoors could begin. It is nice to be ready if the weather takes an unexpected turn.
Inspect hibiscus and fuchsia for acorns and pests such as whitefly; wash them down with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Some persistent insect pests, such as mealybugs, may need repeated applications. Preparations include cleaning and checking plants’ saucers and pot undersides for hitchhikers such as pill bugs or slugs.
Top up planting mix that may have settled or splashed out of pots, but leave head space for watering. Some plants, such as plumbago or tibouchina, can be cut back before being placed in dark, unheated basements or garages to enter dormancy for the winter. Plan to water about once monthly, sparingly, until next spring.
After fig leaves drop in fall, remove suckers and prune back long branches of figs in containers. Move them into a garage or protected space for winter. Plan to water about once monthly, sparingly, until next spring.
Inspect Schlumbergera (holiday cactus) and Hippeastrum (amaryllis) that have summered outdoors. (Schlumbergera joins the list that deer have sampled.)
Some equipment, such as hoses or plant supports, is unlikely to be used again, and can be cleaned, coiled, and stored.
Compost: Top-dress with it, or spread it.
