Autumn Beauty...and a few garden chores

The perennial gardens are well past their peak now and I can hear crickets throughout the day. The back fields are glowing with goldenrod and though some of my container gardens are starting to look a little tired, this beauty pictured here was just at its peak as we welcomed September. Looking like a trillium on steroids, peacock orchids are a late season bloomer. Their sword-like foliage is a great accent throughout the summer and in late August, their delicate nodding flowers emerge. The common name, peacock orchid, is a misnomer but a pretty good descriptor. Not an orchid at all, they're actually a member of the Iridaceae family which includes gladiolas and iris. Their Latin name is Gladiolus Murielae and they're also known as Abyssinian gladiolus. It is native to the mountainous regions of eastern Africa and is not hardy for us NH gardeners. Just like glads, peacock orchid bulbs are planted in the spring after any danger of frost. They quickly send up beautiful upright leaves that make a great accent for the garden. I personally think they do best in containers, and I don't bother digging the bulbs in the fall. I did my first year, but the saved bulbs just didn't produce very well. The bulbs are inexpensive anyway. For the past couple years, I've bought a bag of 50 for around $15 on Amazon. That gives me two huge patio pots and one medium pot (20/20/10 ratio.) I can't stand to see mums at the big box stores in August. That's just rushing the season and while I get it's all about marketing, our gardens do not live by Walmart's or Home Depot's commercial schedule. Come mid-September, I welcome potted mums and asters wholeheartedly, though. Falling leaves, pumpkins and Chrysanthemums are such a classic New England color palette. Should I start cutting back the perennials? A general rule of thumb is wait 'til after first frost but any perennials that already look mostly brown and desiccated, go ahead and cut them back to two inches. I like to cut everything back in two sessions if possible. Cleaning out the garden saves you the trouble of doing it in the spring when everything's rotting and plastered to the ground. There are many exceptions, of course. Some perennials prefer to not be cut back at all such as hellebores and coral bells. Semi-evergreen, their canopy helps protect tender tissue underneath through the winter. Ornamental grasses provide us with winter interest, seeds for wild birds and protection for the plant's crown. That's just a few examples so, if in doubt, ask another gardener or Google. Compost and mulch are your friends! If your compost pile has some nice, aged soil formed (usually at least two years old,) fall is a great time to screen it and apply that bonanza of nutrition as a topcoat over perennial gardens. Years ago, I made a two by three-foot frame with eight-inch hardwood boards, covered with medium hardware cloth and it fits perfectly over my wheelbarrow for compost screening sessions. The results after screening are so rewarding! If you don't have a compost pile, gather up all those falling leaves and run them through a shredder. By shredding the leaves, they will break down easily and enrich the soil. If you don't shred them, you'll probably be peeling them off the emerging perennials in the spring and that's a pain. Plant some bulbs! You'll thank yourself next spring and summer when those bulbs you plant in October burst forth and give you some wonderful color. For best selection, you might have to mail order or order online. I prefer John Scheepers Plant Nursery out of Litchfield, Connecticut (johnscheepers.com.) The quality and top-size of their bulbs keep me coming back. Plus, they've got a great selection of less common bulbs like Camassia and Scilla and pages of Allium! Of course, they have a huge selection of tulips and daffodils, too. October is the month to plant bulbs. Don't make the mistake I did by grabbing those bargain bulbs and bare-root leftovers from Michigan Bulb in August. I might as well have put those couple $20s through the leaf shredder.