For those of us in cold winter climates, mid-fall is the time to say a gradual goodbye to flowers. Annuals will soldier on until the first hard frost, but they are slowing down in anticipation of the inevitable. Most perennials have finished up, with the exception of a few Montauk daisies, tall sedums, fall crocuses … Read more
I grew up in western New York State, where winters were long, snowy and frigid. But even under those conditions, gardeners loved their roses and did their best to safeguard them against winter’s worst. My father, who was a romantic and a rose lover, went through an impressive annual winter rose preparation ritual that required … Read more
When I am alone in my garden in late October I often think about music, especially Ralph Vaughn Williams’ elegiac settings of English folk tunes. My favorite is the haunting “Fantasia on Greensleeves,” because the musical images just seem right for the season of variable weather, early sunsets and mornings when the grass glistens with … 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
The night temperatures are growing cold enough so that last week I turned the heat on in my house for the first time since spring. The plants have caught a whiff of the oncoming season, but most of them are still going strong. The roses shine, almost literally, in the autumn light, with a color … Read more
