The great day of autumn reckoning in my garden is almost at hand. The New England asters, which have provided a magnificent, impressionistic spectacle in the front beds, are holding tenaciously to their last blooms. Over the coming weekend I will cut back all the tall stalks, leaving only the ‘Monch’ asters to continue billowing … Read more
The fall bulb catalogs are arriving day by day, their pages full of impossibly big tulips, daffodils of every description, and hyacinths whose portraits are so vibrant that you can almost smell them. I really should get my orders in—and I will in a week or so–but for right now I need more immediate gratification. … Read more
The gardening season at my house is ending as it began, with bright blue and white crocuses dotting the beds. As in the spring, they are poking bravely through the garden rubble that I haven’t yet had time to clean up. People who see them think that climate change has fooled the spring crocuses into … Read more
I have always loved the October light, which is so distinctive that novelist John Gardner, who had poetry in his soul, used it in a book title. On any sunny October Saturday, the light is mellow and golden, illuminating the plants in ways that are absent in summer. While it gilds the landscape, the light … Read more
I need some cheap thrills for my autumn garden. Usually I think about this too late—in mid September at the earliest. This year, however, I am determined to get a jump on the season and the thrills. The kind of thrills I am looking for come from autumn flowering crocus and colchicum. These plants bear … Read more
