Flowers (annual and perennial)

Aster Plants

This time of the year when many of the spring-blooming plants are long done and the summer-blooming ones are fading out. You want a little more color to take you to frost and beyond, try fall-blooming aster plants. These plants are deer and rabbit resistant.

Purple aster
Purple aster

Try my favorite flower, the aster.  Much tougher than mums, they will come back for many years. Many varieties growing from 1 to over 4 feet tall with a rounded growth shape. The colors are from white to pink and red to purple. If you pinch the stems back in June, you will get more buds.

China aster

Do not get these workhorses confused with the China aster or pompon aster. These are single to double flowers which bloom in the spring and again in the fall as annuals. China asters have bigger blooms but are much more delicate to grow.

The wild aster is a white flower blooming on roadsides and other places this time of the year. The word aster is Greek for star. There is a species native to most countries including this country. Queen Victoria planted them and Thomas Jefferson cultivated the China aster.

Lawns

Prepare my Lawn for Winter

How do I prepare my lawn for winter? Keep watering if it dries out. This will allow the grass to go dormant healthy.

Now, this is the time to control your perennial weeds. In the fall the weeds are growing, most of the time there is less wind, and the temperature is cooler. Use any broadleaf herbicide for lawn use, follow the directions.

Late season fertilizer application will help the lawn go dormant and be there for early spring growth. You can fertilize until October 1. Make sure your ground is moist before applying fertilizer.

If you have a thatch problem, now is the best time to remove it, allowing 4 to 6 weeks to recover before the soil freezes. If the thatch is thicker than ½ inch, remove it.

There is still time to overseed your lawn to make it thicker. If you are going to sod the area, start now.

Landscaping decor

Garden Fountain

Missing the sound of running water from a stream in your backyard. Don’t have enough room for a little stream, try a garden fountain. You can buy a kit or make your own.

Old sprinkling can with water flowing into a wash basin
Old sprinkling can with water flowing into a wash basin


All you need is a basin to hold water that sits on the surface or level to the ground level. Use a waterproof basin that holds at least a couple of feet of water. That way you will not have to fill it up as often compared to a small depth. A water screen around the pump will protect the pump from debris like dead leaves and algae.

Water flowing from hand pump to wine barrel
Water flowing from hand pump to wine barrel


Get a fountain pump that can be placed in the water. They are measured as a gallon per hour or the height of the water being pumped. Do not get too small of one that will not push the water to the desired height.

Water flowing into multiple basins
Water flowing into multiple basins


You can use plastic tubing or copper pipe to get the water from the pump to where you want the water to come out. Use plants and rock to decorate.
I like the fountains that provide running water over the ones that produce a fine spray. The wind takes the spray and will drain your water basin in a hurry.

A fountain of teapot and tea cups
A fountain of teapot and tea cups