Fall Flowers in Vermont

Fall is around the corner and our early mums are showing color. If you see mums in full bloom right now here in Vermont it is because they have been tricked, with the use of dark covers, to think the days are shorter than they really are, forcing the flowers.

Once the mums really get going I like to use them for bouquets, as they are long lasting. Typically I will combine whatever perennials are blooming with with annuals I have on hand. One of my best performing annuals this year has been "All-Around Purple " gomphrena" which has supplied blooms on long stems for months now.

'All-Around Purple' Gomphrena

Another annual that I like for bouquets is didiscus, kind of a light blue Queen Anne's Lace. I hope next year I remember to somehow stake this one.

Didiscus

'Little Joe' Eupatorium ('Joe Pye Weed') is supposed to be a a diminutive version of the species, at 3-4' feet. Not so in my garden - it's still at least 5 feet tall, but the flower is smaller and more refined than the species and it lasts a good long while in a bouquet.

'Little Joe' Eupatorium

Sanguisorbia canadensis ('Canadian Burnet') does its thing right now. I like the foliage of this plant all season and am always happy to have some spikey white flowers for bouquets in the end of summer. Verbena bonariensis is always a favorite of mine providing loads of flowers and I never go without pink lavatera. I don't find the white lavatera is as long lasting in bouquets. It also seems more attractive to insects.

Lavatera 'Silver Cup'

I was a reporter for a daily newspaper for seven years and managed to write something just about every day. You would think keeping a blog would be a piece of cake. Apparently not.

Fall Photographs

I officially closed my business for the season Oct. 1. All but one of the mums sold at farmers' market (some seen here before loading)



I stopped on my way home to take some of the same photos that I'm sure "leaf peepers" take.



We had a lot of rain last week, flooding the fields across the road to the point that three people got in a canoe and paddled around in a pond that covered a hay field.



One of my very favorite plants for winter interest is miscanthus ‘siberfeder’. It stands up to all kids of weather, is lovely in every light, and is still upright and proud in the spring.




I also sell Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foester" which was named the 2001 perennial plant of the year, but I only do that because people ask for that one. It grows too fast for my taste and quickly becomes just grass in the garden. I prefer a stand of grass that adds vertical structure my plantings. I haven't had much luck with other grasses, but will keep trying.

When I left the Department of Agriculture 20+ years ago my staff gave me a small weeping crab apple tree which I popped in the lawn by the driveway. It has grown well every year and always provides food for the birds that stick around late into the fall. This year the fruit yield is unbelievable.











The robins will think they have landed in heaven.

More Fall Perennials

Amanda at St. Johnsbury Farmers' Market ...

We are entering the Mum season big time right now and tend to sell almost all the plants we take to our two farmers' markets.



They look good and "the price is right" ($3.50 - $6.50.) I am so ready to wrap up the season and start planning seriously for next year. There are four greenhouses filled with mums and of course they're outside too.





Meanwhile, I am scarfing up any late blooming perennials I can find for bouquets and combining them with remaining annuals.



The bouquets really are pretty and I sell them for $5 each, because it's a fun project for me. But I tell people if they want one made specifically for an event ... it will be a lot more.

Cimicifugia (bugbane or snakeroot) is in full bloom right now. It is a tall graceful specimen plant that does fine here in full sun or part shade.



Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford' has nice bronze leaves when grown here in full sun (other ligularias prefer more shade) and the yellow daisy blooms are welcome in the fall.



Buddleia (buterfly bush) is marginally hardy here. This one variety, 'Pink Delight' did well here for five years, and this fall it is still alive, but not blooming much. I remember these plants being huge and covered with blooms in Connecticut.



Clara Curtiss is the one true "perennial mum" that seems to thrive here.


Another mum that does overwinter, but has been a big disappointment for me, is 'Rosy Igloo.' This is the promotional shot of the bloom, but in fact it's quite small and (to my eye) dull.


As my Dad used to say - Onward!