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It's still August, but this week it is beginning to feel a bit more like fall. I spent Sunday morning and most of Monday in my garden- the drier air and cooler temperatures gave me energy I hadn't felt in a long time. If you are like me,
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Blue and orange go together so well at this time of year. Ceratostigma is blue plumbago, a long blooming perennial ground cover for sun or partial shade. Add in some marigolds (yes, we have a fresh crop in stock) and your garden is suddenly beautiful again.
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you are getting back into your garden after doing the minimum during the brutal heat and humidity of the past few weeks. At first I found it pretty overwhelming- crabgrass everywhere, weeds, deadheading to do, staking of plants blown over by storms... never mind the planting of fall veggies that I was determined to accomplish before returning to Natureworks on Tuesday. Then I remembered a mantra from many years ago:
Pull Ten Weeds
I wish I could remember who said this to me, or where I read it. But it has helped me in the past and it helped me this time. Don't think about everything that has to be done. Just pull ten weeds. There, see? You made a difference. And that's how I managed to tune up my garden, feed my veggies, plant a whole lot more, do a ton of staking and deadheading, and harvest enough food to feed us for many days.
Right now, you should be FEEDING your container plantings and the annuals that you have planted in your gardens. You should also continue to feed your fast growing vegetables. I took home Neptune's Harvest Tomato and Vegetable Fertilizer and used it on all of my Smart Pots and veggies in containers. For containers, I topdressed with Pro Start and watered them in with Organic Plant Magic. They needed it.
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| Fall beets nicely mulched with shredded straw. Happy veggies grow better in straw mulch! |
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The other thing that you should be doing now is topdressing your mulch. When I was on Garden Talk radio on Saturday, Scott Reil spoke words of wisdom in response to a caller's question- he said he is constantly adding straw mulch every time he works in his vegetable garden. The soil should NEVER be left bare and a thick layer of straw mulch keeps the soil cool, keeps the moisture in, and breaks down adding important organic matter. We've got the straw, plenty of it. It's also ideal for spreading on newly seeded lawns. You should also mulch all of your newly or recently planted shrubs, trees, and perennials with shredded bark mulch. We just got in a nice load of premium Dark Bark that is rich and brown and ideal for this purpose.
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| Green is one of the colors of August. Our lawns are coming back to life and NOW is the time to learn how to renovated them. Join us Saturday morning at 9:30 for a free workshop. |
Crabgrass. Ugh. It's everywhere all of the sudden. Because we haven't done much lawn mowing during the drought, the crabgrass along the edges of my garden beds is starting to go to seed. Diane shared with me her wise words- this is one of ONLY times of the year that we recommend BAGGING all of your grass clippings when you mow. Because the crabgrass is going to seed, you should remove it from the lawn. I raced around the edges of my garden beds and pulled it out in advance of my husband mowing on Wednesday. Speaking of lawns, this Saturday is Diane St. John's free organic lawn care workshop:
Plan NOW for your Organic Lawn Fall Renovation
It is in the Teaching Tent at 9:30. Why now? Contrary to common belief, FALL is the very best time to renovate (or plant) your lawn. Why? How? What do I do? All these questions and many more will be answered this Saturday. I wish
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Helenium is also called Helen's Flower
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I could convince my husband to attend. He is determined to make our front lawn a thing of beauty in the neighborhood and he has a lot of work ahead of him. Diane makes is seem doable, manageable. She is a great teacher, explains things carefully and clearly. We will be getting in another shipment of beneficial nematodes very soon. The very best time to put them down to control grubs is in the fall- it is much more effective than in the spring. The retail staff asked me to tell you that all you have to do is let them know and they will take your name and call you or email you as soon as the nematodes arrive so you won't miss out on the one shipment we will be getting in.
Red is also one of the colors of August. Yes, we have all sorts of stunning red flowering perennials such as red bee balm, 'Mariachi Ranchera' Helenium, and red Crocosmia 'Lucifer'. All are magnets for hummingbirds. But why not, while you are here, pick up some organic red lettuce, red cabbage, or red Swiss chard seedlings and pop them into your garden somewhere. You don't even need a dedicated vegetable garden. You can use them to pop some extra color into perennial borders for fall.
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Red bee balm, a hummingbird's delight.
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White flowers? White vegetables? Every year the Perennial Plant Association asks professionals in the field to vote on the perennial of the year. This year it is Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'. We have an enormous stand of this beautiful, easy to grow,
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Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'
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white flowering perennial in bud now as you drive into Natureworks. What about a white vegetable for fall? I am enamored of baby 'Mikado' turnips. I first tasted them at a dinner party late last fall and decided to plant some last month. Surprise! They only take 30 days to be ready to eat. They are so delicate and delicious. I harvested them and placed them on a vegetable platter for a party on Sunday.
What a hit. I was so thrilled I planted another packet, along with a few rows of radishes, Monday evening.
It wouldn't be August without a lineup of yellow flowers. Daisies top the list, and they are abundant in every landscape. My yard is filled with self-sown, gigantic sunflowers which the goldfinches adore. Here at Natureworks, you will find a beautiful display of Rudbeckia 'Henry Eilers' and 'Herbstonne', both dramatic 5-6' tall clumps of perennial yellow daisies that attract butterflies galore and make great cut flowers. For the sun or partial shade, we still have a few plants of glowing, golden Patrinia scabiosifolia which looks a bit like a yellow Queen Anne's lace.
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The bees love Rudbeckia 'Herbstonne'. It blooms all throughout August and September, even longer if you do the June pinching once or twice.
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Another fabulous combination for right now is Chrysopsis mariana (a native yellow aster that is quite early blooming) with Coreopsis 'Star Cluster'. Both of these plants kept on looking happy through the heatwave and are still blooming strong.
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| It doesn't get easier than this in August: Chrysopsis mariana and Coreopsis 'Star Cluster' steal the show on our benches. |
Blue? What's blue right now in our gardens? KALE!!! Yes, plant kale plants now and you will have fresh, nutritious greens to harvest up till Thanksgiving or beyond. We have so many kinds to choose from. When you come for a visit, you will notice a lot of our kale plants are hiding under floating row covers. That is because we are keeping them from being eaten by the cabbage caterpillar, a tiny green creature that can eat up these seedlings very quickly. We now sell not only the thin white fabric row covers, but also the easily bendable metal frames which makes them a cinch to put in your garden to protect your plants. I don't know of an organic vegetable farmer in the northeast that doesn't rely on these row covers to protect their crops. The other alternative to control this munching caterpillar (the white moths that are flying around your kale plants lay the eggs) is to use Bacillus thuringiensis, a botanical insecticide.
Purple? My favorite purple flower in August is ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis, which reaches 6-7' tall and is flowering in every wet meadow I drive by. It is also flowering in my yard and many of the gardens of my clients. It is magnificent, and butterflies adore it. We also sell its smaller cousin, Vernonia lettermanii 'Iron Butterfly', which grows only a mere 24" tall. It has feather leaves that add a nice texture to the garden even when it is not in bloom.
Red, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet- all of the colors of the rainbow are here at Natureworks in flowers, leaves, and food. Late August sits on the cusp of transition time. The weather is changing, the light is changing. The kids are going back to school. Harvest fairs are starting to happen. We get serious about projects around the house and in the yard as our energy returns. Back to school, back to work, back to the garden we go.
I look forward to seeing you soon...
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Why We Do This-The Next Instar of
Monarch Caretakers
It's Wednesday afternoon at Natureworks and twelve-year-old Monarch enthusiast, Kit Libby comes in with a milkweed plant: "Is this the common type?" she verifies. Last year, Kit came in with her Dad for our Monarch talk and didn't want to be included in the "kid stuff", she sat down during the lecture and absorbed every last word.
Immediately after the talk, she was training for the Turkey Trot with her Dad- she spotted a milkweed plant off the trail and found one monarch caterpillar chowing down- "He was already in 5
th instar" she rattles off the facts. She took him home and jumped into raising, "I wasn't ready yet" she admits, but she quickly became a monarch addict.
She went looking out for eggs everywhere she went, finding a good stand at her nearby train station. She brought them home and got to raising. She only had a few plants in her backyard, so she started riding her bike to collect more leaves- "The monarchs were like- You have to bike. They make me go all over the place. Exercise is important kids!" And bike she did, and this year she's back at it.
When she's riding around with her Grandmother who is in town from Florida and she notices milkweed, she shouts "Grandma! Pull over!" This year, she's buying more milkweed plants, she's caring for 18 caterpillars and 12 eggs. "They poop so much, I started using it as fertilizer on my plants outside."
Kit's story is the reason we're doing this. We've heard so many inspiring stories about young people who are taking the torch and impacting the future of monarch populations. Kit was such an inspiration, we had to recognize her for the great work she's doing and thank her for helping us and the monarchs out. Keep it up, Kit!
Why We Do This-The Next Instar of Monarch Caretakers written by Jillian Shea
P.S. If you are planning on harvesting milkweed and raising monarch butterflies, you should be aware that the milkweed sap can cause a toxic reaction in some people. Link to the following article and learn how to protect your eyes and your skin from this sap.
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Native Grasses- Grow your own Bird Food
Last Saturday morning, Suzanne gave a wonderful workshop at Natureworks about attracting birds to your gardens. One of the plants she had on display and talked about were ornamental grasses. The seed of our NATIVE ornamental grasses are a very important food for the birds. When you think ornamental grasses, you may not be thinking about our native varieties. For decades we have been planting Miscanthus and Pennisetum. What I am referring to here are a wide range of grasses that are native right here in the United States. Because our ornamental grasses are on sale for one more week, I thought you might like to learn about a few that you may not know.
In the picture above, native grasses are used as a MATRIX planting at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. This is a technique used by Piet Oudolf and the Dutch Wave designers where grasses are planted very close together to cover the ground and perennials come up through them like punctuation points, such as the Liatris shown above.
Some of the native grasses we now have in stock at Natureworks are:
Panicum 'Ruby Ribbons'- bred by Mark Brand at the University of CT, this grass has blue-green blades that turn to burgundy-red now and get redder as the fall progresses. This striking color is shown above, and in flower, with Rudbeckias. The birds love the seeds, especially the goldfinches.
On the right is Panicum 'Shenandoah' in a meadow planting in Diane's yard. I also use that variety in many spots in my own yard. It is totally deer proof and the birds love it. I also like to cut the flowers for arrangements.
Sporobolus heterolepsis is called prairie dropseed. I fell in love with it when I traveled to Chicago and saw it used not only in great masses at The Lurie Gardens in Millennium Park, but also at the Chicago Botanic Gardens and The Ball Seed Company demonstration gardens. When in bloom, is smells of cilantro! It is a shorter grass with very soft, delicate flowers that reach about 24" tall when in bloom.
Bouteloua 'Blond Ambition' is actually native to the western U.S. but does great here in CT, especially in dry spots like the rock garden in Branford shown in the picture above. The flowers are so interesting, pointing to the side. This is an easily manageable, smaller grass that will turn heads in your gardens.
Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' is called undaunted muhly grass because it is much hardier than the other Muhlenbergias that have been sold in the trade in the past few years. Muhly grasses offer you a mist of soft pink flowers, like a cloud in the garden. I like to pair it with late blooming 'Sheffield' or 'Cambodian Queen' perennial mums in cut flower bouquets.
Grasses are such an important category of plants for today's modern landscapes. They are deer proof, drought tolerant, require minimal feeding, and they provide a wonderful food source for the birds. Oh, and for us, they are pretty and graceful and look fabulous blowing in the breeze or covered with frost. Yay grasses!
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Bi-Weekly Specials
through Wednesday, August 31st
30% Off All
Ornamental Grasses and Sedums
30% Off All
Shrubs
Check out the latest shrub display and give your landscape some bones, we'll make it easy for you to see which shrubs suit your space.
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And if that isn't enough... Diane has just returned from vacation and put TONS of plants onto our
Thrifty Gardener's Bench.
Half price! Lots of plants!
(she wants to buy more plants and needs to make room!)
WOW!
Come in soon while there is still a great selection!
Sale applies to in-stock items, while supplies last and does not apply to special orders.
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Upcoming Events
Thursday, August 25th
3:00-4:00 pm Cooking with Essential Oils
Yes, you can cook with essential oils! Join Mavi for this fun and tasty class filled with information on how to incorporate essential oils into your food. Of course, there will be treats to taste and recipes to be shared! There will also be handouts, give-aways, and prizes!
Registration in advance is required. FEE: $20. Class limited to 20.
Thursday, August 25th in Durham, CT
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Durham Farmers' Market
You can find us at the Farmers' Market at the Durham Town Green on Thursday, August 25th. This week's focus in our educational booth will be on caring for your lawn The Organic Way. Support your fantastic local businesses. Further information can be found on their facebook page, click here. Their web site can be viewed by clicking here.
Saturday, August 27th
9:30-10:30 am Plan Now for your Organic Lawn Fall Renovation
Did you know that Fall is the best time to renovate your lawn? Join store manager and NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional Diane St John as she takes you through the steps of maintaining and renovating a safe organic lawn. Bring your current soil test for interpretation. Allow us to help teach you safe, sustainable lawn care practices and join the ever growing
population of organic lawn homeowners.
Saturday, August 27th in Wallingford, CT
9 am - 12 noon
Wallingford Gardener's Market
Natureworks will be at the outdoor market located at Johanna Manfreda Fishbein Park (the Railroad Station Green) in the center of Wallingford at the intersection of Route 5 and Route 150, and runs from 9 am - 12 noon. We will have information about organic gardening, educational hands-on displays for children and we will also bring Monarchs too. Stop by and see us! Natureworks won't be there every week, but look for us near the gazebo on these dates: August 27 and September 10. Click the link below for info.:
Saturday, September 3rd
>> 7:00-9:00 am
Early Bird Sale. Coffee and a free $5 gift card for those who shop before 9 am.
>> 9:30-10:30 am
GARDEN SUMMER SCHOOL: Less Labor, More Color
Celebrate Labor Day weekend by learning how to LIMIT THE LABOR needed to care for your garden. Nancy will focus her walk on the easiest plants to grow that give you the most color for your garden without a big investment in time. She will talk about the newest techniques being used in modern landscape design to use less mulch, reduce staking and deadheading.
Nancy DuBrule-Clemente will be co-hosting
Garden Talk on Sept. 3rd.
The radio program, with Scott Reil, is being aired on WTIC 1080 AM
Saturday, September 3 and another show on October 1, 12:00-2:00 pm.
To listen live or to replay the archived
Garden Talk shows on your computer or other device,
You can also listen live on radio.com,
Unless otherwise noted, events are held on-site at Natureworks.
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Click a Quick Link for more Information
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Summer Hours
through September 3rd
Monday - Saturday 9 am - 5 pm
Sunday Closed
CLOSED Sunday, September 4th
CLOSED LABOR DAY, Monday, September 5th
FALL HOURS BEGIN Tuesday, September 6th
Monday - Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 10-4
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Natureworks Horticultural Services
(map)
518 Forest Road, Northford, CT 06472
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