I always like to take a minute this time of year to reflect back on the season and recall some of the things that I am thankful for.  The weather is always at the top of the list….

There is rarely a time in the garden when something doesn’t need pruning, and the month of November is certainly no different.  What is different though is that…

Fall and leaves are fairly synonymous terms in my book.  It is pretty darn hard to talk about fall without blathering on about all the fabulous colors of leaves and how they set the tone and mood for the season.  The yellows of poplars, the reds of maples, the multi-colors of Sweetgums and the oranges of spiraeas all combine to give us a great deal of pleasure this time of year.  But once the leaves are off the trees and on the ground the battle begins.  What to do with the leaves has been a gardener’s dilemma forever…

Reality check!  The days are getting shorter, our yards are getting wetter and while our desire to continue to work with plants may not be diminishing, the joy of working out in the garden is fading.  The obvious solution is to move inside the house… we might as well improve that time by surrounding ourselves with plants that will generate oxygen, filter our air, and generally make us happier….

For most gardeners, when we talk about spring-blooming bulbs our minds go to the fields of tulips and daffodils we can see just north of us in the Mt Vernon area in the months of March and April. Where ever your memories come from, for the most part they probably encompass drifts of the major hitters like tulips and daffodils or maybe hyacinths.  While these are wonderful flowers to plant in our yards, I am here to tell you that there are dozens of bulbs that bloom way before these standard classics that gardeners need to educate themselves about and incorporate into their gardens.  Here are just a few to sink your teeth into…

Keeping our landscapes changing is so critical to keeping our interest in gardening.  With change, there’s the anticipation of something new and exciting.  With change, our garden compositions take on whole new personalities.  And with change, we find opportunities to experience our gardens in ways we may not have originally conceived…

I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly believe that it is October already.  With all this climate change I am beginning to think that maybe October will be my favorite fall month.  I read somewhere that our rains are coming later and ending earlier, even though the total rainfall is about the same.  What this means is that not as much rain gets to soak into the soil, so our summers are getting drier.  Making our soils more absorbent by continuing to apply layers of compost will help mitigate this phenomenon.  Here are some other activities for the month that will also improve our gardens…  

One of the treats of a fall garden is enjoying the sight of clusters of different colored berries on our shrubbery.  In my own backyard is a delightful Beautyberry, called ‘Profusion’, that has the most incredible purple berries later in fall.  The shrub itself is nondescript, but when the berries arrive in the fall I immediately remember why I have allocated so much space for it to grow.  The same can be said about a lot of shrubs that can be boring as hell during the growing season, but then suddenly strut their stuff in the fall and early winter.  Here are three that do the trick for me…

It has always puzzled me that there are plants that bloom in the fall, or stranger yet, in the winter.  It seems so out of sync with the rhythms of nature, but hey, while I may not understand the “grand plan”, I am sure as heck going to take advantage of these little beauties and enjoy them in my garden.  Here are three bulbs that bloom this time of year and can usually only be found and planted in the fall…

September is a glorious month in the northwest - the days are warm, the nights cool, the shadows long, and the lawns are coming alive again after their dry summer slumber.  The garden wakes back up for about 6 to 8 weeks before it shuts down for the winter and it is an excellent time to get some serious gardening done.  Here are some suggestions on how to best spend your time…