As the holiday season looms, some of the rosebushes in my garden are still producing a few flowers. They are all beautiful in the late autumn light, but perhaps the most striking is the rose-pink rugosa rose. It has grown large, thanks to the abundance of fall rain, but now its leaves have turned bright … Read more
Walking or driving down the street in fall can be perilous. In my part of the world, the drivers are bad enough at all times, but from September through Thanksgiving, both drivers and pedestrians also have to contend with the falling acorns, beechnuts and other tree-born fruiting bodies falling from the sky. An acorn hitting … Read more
In my garden beds, I generally consider Virginia creeper—Parthenocissus quinquefolia—to be a nuisance. The seeds, “planted” by passing birds that eat and excrete the fall berries, germinate readily in inaccessible places like the base of the privet hedge that bounds three sides of the front yard. Disguised by the privet leaves, the fast-sprouting creeper vines … Read more
When fall truly descends on the garden, with autumn leaves making piles in the corners and the last of the flowers breathing their final gasps, I miss the color and the life that marks spring and summer. I especially miss fragrance. While all the seasonal change is going on, I rush out to cut the … Read more
The name ‘sneezeweed” seems akin to “ragweed” and immediately conjures up visions of runny noses, watery eyes and seasonal misery. Most people would not deliberately plant something with that kind of unsavory reputation. There is nothing to be done about horticultural guilt by association. It is reassuring to know that “sneezeweed” does not have ragweed’s … Read more
