As some of us put the gardens to bed

[Cheryl Isaak]

What is your favorite garden memory of the season?

Mine has to be discovering that an expensive daylily that I thought had died was alive and blooming this year.

Back to weeding and other fall clean up C

[jangchub]

My favorite thing is that I was able to not water. I have not watered the lawn one time. All the native plants are thriving and it's a great feeling to let go of plants which didn't make it. Making this decision has taken a lot of angst out of my gardening life!

[Cheryl Isaak]

I rarely water my gardens other than containers or veggies (when I grow them). Makes life so much easier. I do water new items for a month or so, but I use the water from my dehumidifier.

Cheryl

[Jim Kingdon]

Hard to pick just one, but a few were:

• Bearded Irises, planted last fall, came up vigorous and beautiful this spring.

• Okra, something I've never grown before, took off. Tall plants with beautiful (short-lived) flowers and lots of okra to eat.

• Mistflower, thoroughwort, and goldenrod all blooming now. In this sense it is hard to think of the season as over. The fall planting season (perennials, mostly) is in full swing now that the really hot weather should be over.

[dr-solo]

best... finding that the peonies I put in the frig last fall (from next door who ripped them all out) and forgot to plant until July not only came up, one of them put out a flower.

worst.... the person who used to help my mother garden, who I hired to help me out pulled up my mother's aster (my mother died 3 years ago). Last time she pulled up all the arabis I had been bringing along to be huge spreads. sigh.

Ingrid

[Pennyaline]

The best thing about this time of year in this climate is that everything blooms again. Heat stress shuts the garden down for a while, but the least bit of relief, even if it's only shorter days, brings it back loaded for bear. Flowering shrubs have a flush of new blooms, and tomatoes and peppers set blossoms after weeks of heat-induced dormancy. Sadly, few of any of blossoms will see fruition. Frost will kill them before that can happen.

Daytime temps have been in the seventies and eighties here, a huge relief from 90 and 100 degree temps of just a couple of weeks ago. Night time temps range from the 50s to the 70s. The air smells like leaves. Strawberry plants are almost ready for cut back and cover. There is one lone watermelon left on a vine. Tender herbs want to move back home.

[jangchub]

Well, here in central Texas if we want trees to remain healthy or for any turf to remain green we need to water. My water bill in summer is generally twice that of winter bills. I do water my tubs of brugmansia's and this winter the greenhouse is going up for production of brugmansia's to sell in spring to the locals so I will use rain water for those. I have 6 collection barrels now and it takes me through the winter nicely for greenhouse production.

V

[jangchub]

And now that it has cooled off here in Texas, daytimes are 90 and nights are 70! I get cold at night!

v

[Cheryl Isaak]

I love my fall bloomers too. I have a "mum" that I was given years ago that starts blooming in October and will go through all but the hardest of frosts. I've had fresh color on it in December (ok,it is sheltered but still...)

Cheryl

[Cheryl Isaak]

Sigh - I don't hire help in the garden any more. One pulled up 90% of my perennial ageratums.

Cheryl

[jangchub]

I know this too. No matter what I've done, including taking photo's of plants and handing it to the person hired to NOT pull these out, they are pulled. I have a pretty extensive collection of salvia out there and some pretty rare, now gone. Eh.

I find the best way is if I work with someone. The good news is that over the years my husband has learned quite a bit about weeds, pruning and he now feels confident enough to go out there and do things on his own. Big stuff, not the little stuff.

A big trick of having him help me is that I back off and if he makes a mistake I don't go all full of histrionic on him.

Getting good workers is difficult and I pay ten dollars an hour (which is pretty generous for what I ask people do).

v

[Jim Kingdon]

I hear ya.

But when the puller in question is your partner/spouse, it isn't quite that simple :-).

The current method seems to be a tag and/or stake next to every wanted plant. We'll see how that works. Volunteers which we might want to keep will be the real challenge.

[Ann]

[e-mail] expounded:

Well, I get double that - but I don't pull up perennial ageratums :o)

[jangchub]

Yes, but it's a relative amount. Down here, someone can live nicely on ten dollars an hour. Not in the lap of luxury,but in a pretty beautiful apartment complex, own a car, etc. Come down here and I will pay you 20 dollars an hour any time! My garden is a tangle of weeds this year. Poor thing.

v

[dr-solo]

[Jangchub]

If I still lived up on Long Island the pay would be much more. It's relative. I am not taking advantage of anyone; and I'm not saying you implied that I am. I would love to be able to do it all myself, but those days are over.

V