Thinking Ahead

Most of our flowering plants are past their prime in fall, exhausted after their exuberant earlier displays. As we walk around our gardens, we notice all those brown stalks we need to remove from the daylilies, and lots of spent plants with shabby foliage that needs cutting back. Aggressive perennials, such as monarda and black-eyed Susans may have increased to the point where we will have to get rid of some. If the soil isn’t too dry, excess monarda can be pulled quite easily. Perennials that have grown into over large clumps, such as iris, goldenrod, and coneflowers, can be divided with a spade and given new homes in other locations, be shared with friends, or be consigned to the compost pile. Take a good long look at your garden and think about how you want it to be next year. Do you need to reduce, increase, or alternate specific colors? What do you have already that provides interest at successive times during the growing season? Were there periods this past year when you noticed there was nothing in bloom? Think of color in terms of foliage as well as bloom, and what you can add to create a more pleasing effect. Maybe more height, perhaps plants on a trellis or arbour, could be added next year? Fall is a season of promise for gardeners who can envision new possibilities. As Victor Hugo said: “A little garden in which to walk. An immensity in which to dream.”