The last week of September is when the garden takes on an autumn look, so this is a good week to put together a fall pocket garden or island bed.
If you have a spectacular maple, sweet gum or oak tree that is turning color, make that the focal point of your fall-theme garden and then notice what shrubs in your neighborhood also look becoming in their true fall colors. The bright red burning bush, or Euonymus alatus “compacta,” is one of the best for our climate because these huge shrubs demand very little water and adjust to lots of different soils. Just don’t be fooled by the plant tag when it lists this shrub as “compact.” The dwarf burning bush still grows to more than 6 feet tall and just as wide.
Perennials that look great this month can also be added to your fall garden bed. Sedum “Autumn Joy,” the hardy asters and for shaded areas the tall and elegant Japanese anemones, will all return year after year with very little care — and none of them have drinking problems so you’ll still get fall color even after a dry summer.
Q. I have a clump of Sedum “Autumn Joy” that survives in a dry spot of my garden where nothing else wants to grow. I love the long-lasting blooms, but both my neighbor and I have the same problem with this perennial. It sprays outward from the middle of the clump and then the stems lay over on the ground. A bit too relaxed looking. We have seen this same plant standing stiff and upright in a few gardens and wonder what the secret is. C.W., Bonney Lake
A. The secret to well-behaved perennials is early discipline in the spring. Pinch, cut and snip back late-summer and fall-flowering perennials such as mums, sedums and asters in the month of April or May if you want strong and bushy plants that don’t lay on the ground or need staking. A good way to remember this is to celebrate every Mother’s Day by getting snippy and instilling discipline — think of spring pruning as part of a good parenting plan. The more you train your plants when they are young, the stronger they stand when they mature. Cut the new growth of Sedum Autumn Joy and it’s relatives to within 2 inches of ground level around Mother’s Day in May. Not only will you have more compact plants in the summer and fall but every cut stem can then be inserted into the soil and will quickly root to form a new plant. Just pluck off the lowest leaves before you insert the cut end into the ground.
Q. What is the name of the plant with orange flowers that look like paper lanterns? T.P., e-mail
A. That would be Chinese lantern plant or Physalis alkekengi. It is a perennial plant often grown as an annual in our climate and it prefers a light soil that drains well and at least half a day of sun. Plant Chinese Lanterns from seeds in the spring and you’ll not only enjoy the bright, orange papery calyxes in the fall (these seed pods follow the white summer flowers) but take some cut stems indoors and they‘ll look great all winter as dried flowers.
