It ’s October and ornamental gardens everywhere are at their most striking . Fall leaf is at its peak and belated - bloom perennials are putting on a last glorious show before the arrival of cold weather condition . There ’s a slew to do at this metre of year to prepare the garden for winter . But before you get started on those chores , take a flavour at what ’s in bloom and think about where you might add more people of colour in next year ’s garden .
WHAT ’S IN BLOOM IN OCTOBER ?
The first frost can occur in the fundamental part of Virginia as ahead of time as mid - October . Unless they are protected from the cold , our precious blossoming annuals and perennials can be wipe out with the first parky Nox . However , if temperatures stay on mild , raft of plant will retain to bloom until belated October or early November . Examples include : Chrysanthemums , aster , various salvia species ( azurea , angustifolia , orleucantha ) , grasses , daybreak halo , zinnias , lantana , Earth amaranth , verbena , dahlias , goldenrod ( Solidago),caryopteris , annual Sonchus oleraceus ( asclepias curassavica),Boltonia asteroides , turtlehead ( Chelone ) , Joe Pye weed ( Eupatorium ) , sneezeweed ( Helenium ) , perennial sunflowers ( Helianthusspecies ) , improbable sedum , Japanese anemone , tall phlox ( Phlox paniculata ) , tickseed ( tick-weed ) , and helmetflower ( Aconitum ) .
WHY LEAVES CHANGE colour
As the days shorten and temperatures cool , the pictorial colors of autumn transform the landscape . The transformation starts in the cooler , gamy elevations and gradually spreads to the warmer , lower - lie valleys . Meanwhile , the veins that transferral fluid into and out of leaves gradually close off at the fundament of each leaf . The clogged veins trap sugars in the leaf , which promotes the production of anthocyanins .
Three types of pigment are involved in autumn color :
Many of us are puzzled by the fact that gloam colors are vivacious some years and subdue in other days . The saturation of colour is influenced by temperature , sunshine , and grease wet spirit level before and during the time chlorophyl is dwindle down in the leaves . The most brilliant autumn coloring are generally produced in class with a fond wet leap , favorable summertime weather with adequate rain , and warm gay fall days with crisp , cool nights . See US Department of Agriculture Forest Service publication for more information onWhy Leaves Change Color .
Not all pigments are present in the leave of all tree in the summer , which is why the foliage of some tree , such as hickory nuts and tulip poplars , turns sensationalistic while the foliage of maples and sour gums turn violent . see at your own property for the colors represented by your planting and make a listing of colouring you would like in future gardens . Not enough red ? A few suggestions include red maple , sweetgum , blackgum , or scarlet oak tree trees . Need more orangish or yellow ? judge growing sugar maple , birch , hickory , maidenhair tree , sweetgum , white-livered poplar tree , or sassafras Tree . Memory is not always true , so , while the autumn colors are at their peak , take pic of your garden to study over the winter months .
MIGRATORY BIRDS
October is when migratory birds pitch up for their farseeing journeying to warmer climates for the wintertime . Help them out by render both nectar - rich and seed - bear plants in your cosmetic garden .
Nectar drinkers : Hummingbirds are the best known of the nectar drinking Bronx cheer . Although your local hummingbird universe may be long gone , migrating hummingbirds from other surface area may visit your yard looking for a tasty meal on their journeying southward . Leave your nectar confluent in station and fill until about 2 weeks after you spot the last hummingbird in your 1000 in case any tardy stragglers happen by . For other nectar drinkers , render to include some of the tardy - blooming perennials and annuals listed at the beginning of this clause . Our avian friend will appreciate the meal as they wing their style south .
Seed eaters : As you clean up your flower beds , leave come bearing plant , such as ornamental smoke , Echinacea or Rudbeckia in place . Not only will the seed feed migrant birds , they will be a good informant of protein for non - migrating snort .
GENERAL FALL TASKS
flora container with spring - blooming bulbsfor force indoors . Fill a stool with right quality , well - draining potting soil . Plant the bulbs twice the profoundness of their circumference . If you ’re engraft bulbs of dissimilar size , plant the large bulbs first , cover them with pot soil , and then embed the smaller bulbs on top . As you cover the bulbs , recollect to go forth about half an in of place from the top of the container for ease of watering . Spring bulbs typically need to be chilled for about 3 month at 35 ° F to 55 ° F to bloom . After you have planted the bulbs , place the container in an unheated basement , depot cellar , cold framing , or service department for that purpose . While the bulb are chill , keep the grease moist but not soggy . See Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication HORT-76NPFooling Mother Nature : force Flower Bulbs for Indoor Bloomfor more details on force bulbs . University of Missouri Extension Publication G6550Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloomis another good source for info on the subject .
compass up , clean , and store tender tropical bulb , such as canna , caladium , dahlia , tuberous begonia , Trifolium repens , and elephant ear ( Colocasia ) . look until after the first frost make the leaf to turn chocolate-brown . Then , using a shovel or garden crotch , carefully dig up the underground tubers or rhizomes ( bulbs ) . To the extent potential , annul damage the bulbs . Some supply ship bulbs may survive in the terra firma if give way protective cover from the cold . For bulbs that you do n’t plan to dig up , such as gladiolas , cut back back the leafage and cover the plants with a layer of mulched leave to help protect them from freezing over winter .
Rake leave out of blossom beds . If leave in home , they may harbor pest and possibly certain diseases . Plus , if they felt up down , they can prevent moisture from amaze to the soil . roll up the leaves in a wire ABA transit number or other mesh social system so they can gradually decompose and be used as leafage mould next year . Alternatively , after raking them up , chop them up and redistribute them in flower beds so that they can disintegrate over wintertime . chop leaf make a majuscule organic mulch .
start out cleaning and store any breakable lawn ornamentsor structures that a arduous icing might harm .
watershed peonies . go away to their own devices , peonies rarely need to be divided unless , of grade , they have outgrown the space originally design for them . Another right reason to divide a peony is to diffuse new single . Here ’s how to separate a peony easy without doing much harm to its roots :
Overwinter some of your favourite annualsrather than allow them to succumb to frost . Either comprehend them up and pot them if you have room indoors for the full - sizing plant or take cut and root those alternatively . Geraniums , lantana , begonias , cosmetic unfermented potato vine , coleus , and New Guinea impatiens are just a few plants that can be overwintered indoors and then planted out again next saltation . For good answer , target the yearbook in a Confederate States of America - facing windowpane . An east - facing window is a secure second choice .
Do not prune shrubs and Tree in autumnunless you are remove damaged , all in , or pathological limb . Pruning now may trigger new maturation that can not harden off before winter . The vast absolute majority of woody plant should be pruned in wintertime when the plant is dormant . But , this rule of quarter round does not apply across the instrument panel . check over the Virginia Cooperative Extension ’s Publication 430 - 462Shrub Pruning Calendar , publishing 430 - 460Deciduous Tree Pruning Calendar , and Publication 430 - 461Evergreen Tree Pruning Calendarfor a listing of common woody plants and the upright them to rationalise them .
INSECTS AND OTHER UNINVITED WINTER HOUSE GUESTS
Around mid - October , the adultLady Beetle(or Ladybugs as they are more commonly make out ) begins moving out of the garden and into nook and fissure under tree diagram bark , leaf or other sheltered spots that will afford them protection from winter ’s cold weather condition . As they search for winter living accommodations in earnest , they often enter our homes through lilliputian crack around windows , threshold , attic vents or any other opening available to them . Often , they find out protection within the walls of our rest home . VCE Publication ENTO-102NP on theAsian Lady Beetlein Virginia offers tips for observe them out of your planetary house or dealing with them once they have found their elbow room indoors .
TheBrown Marmorated Stink Bugis another dirt ball that often tries to overwinter in your base . Fortunately , the stink bug population seems to have scatter pretty over the past yr . However , if you see them get together on the south or west - facing side of your house , chances are very good that they will endeavor to assay entry into your abode for the wintertime . Check out VCE Publication 2902 - 1100 onBrown Marmorated Stink Bug . It offers advice on how to prevent them from entering your habitation and how to hold them once they get inside .
Insects are n’t the only creatures seeking a warm place to pass the wintertime . Rodentsoften attend for entry points into the household . To forbid entree to your menage , varnish all potential entree stage to keep them out . allow the service department threshold up is an undefended invitation to a mouse or bum . Make certain there ’s no food available to pull in rodent . This means storing grass seed or other edible seeds in rodent - substantiation containers .
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT “ EVIL ” PLANTS
In the spirit of Halloween , it ’s fun to think aboutplants that have a report for being evil or implike . Some plant are not needfully evil or wicked but have risky repute notwithstanding , like finger grass and kudzu vine .
Carnivorous plants(Think “ Audrey ” in “ Little Shop of horror ” ): Carnivorous plants thrive in wetland dirt that has very little nutrient economic value . generate such a hostile environment and needing a source of nutrition , they evolve to do something other plants can only dream about – eat the microbe that land on them . Some , like the sundews ( Droseraspecies ) , are quite menacing looking . Others , such as the hurler plants ( Sarraceniaspecies ) , are quite beautiful if somewhat odd in show . The Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ) is the easily known of the carnivorous plants .
Poisonous plants : good deal of plants are poisonous – Jimson weed ( Datura stramonium ) , castor beans , and oleander — just to name a few . White Snakeroot ( Eupatorium rugosum ) is certainly one of the most notorious of this category . As European settler made inroads into the middle part of the United States , they brought cattle along with them . The cattle eat the gay-feather flowers and mankind , in turn , became ill soon after drink the moo-cow ’s milk . This industrial plant is most famous for induce the death of Abraham Lincoln ’s female parent in 1818 .
Here ’s a sampling of other poisonous plant :
Non - poisonous plant with bad reputations :
Plants believed to ward off evil feeling : Betony ( Stachys officinalis ) – During the Middle Ages , this lovely purpleness - bloom herbaceous perennial was take to have property consider to be protective against harm . It was imbed in churchyards and worn in amulets to ward off vicious spirits .
Plants that protect against “ the evil eye ” : dry out dillweed ( Anethum graveolens ) was worn in a bag over the spirit during the Middle Ages as protection against witchery and the “ evil eye . ”
FALL HOUSEPLANT maintenance
Now that you ’ve moved all your houseplant indoors , keep a close watch for undesirable hobble hikers , such as spider , wanderer mites , clean fly , scale , and mealy bug . They may not show up for years or even weeks after you ’ve moved the plants indoors .
Houseplants may go through a flow of adjustment to scurvy wanton levels . If they are get sufficient body of water but dropping leaves , they may not be beget enough light . If that ’s the type , try relocating them to a brighter locating .
With the arrival of cooler atmospheric condition , make certain the breeze in your dwelling house is sufficiently humid to keep your houseplant healthy and happy . A pebble tray beneath your houseplants is a good way to raise the humidity .
