Connecticut Garden Journal

Many gardeners love the look and feel of a wildflower meadow. Plus, many of us are trying to reduce the amount of lawn we mow and create places for pollinators to thrive. Wildflower meadows are a perfect solution. Fall is a great time to sow wildflowers. When planted after a few frosts, that would be mid to end of November in most parts of Connecticut, the soil is cool enough that wildflower seeds...

Our dahlias and cannas have been tremendous this year with the warm fall weather. But frost has finally put them to rest. Now it's time to dig and store them for winter because dahlias and canna lilies aren't hardy in our climate. To store them, cut the foliage to ground level. Then carefully dig up the entire clump of dahlia and canna lilies to inspect them before storing. Gently knock off the so...

Halloween is almost here and it's time to get those jack-o'-lanterns ready to go. While carving an orange field pumpkin is the method of choice for many gardeners, you can also decorate other fruits to create a spooky, Halloween appearance. The first jack-o’-lantern wasn't a pumpkin at all. In Ireland, kids would carve turnips and put candles in them to scare away the evil spirits on All Hallows E...

It's been a rough year in my orchard. A late freeze in winter killed some blossoms before they even opened and a late May frost zapped those that did open. But surprisingly, one fruit tree did fine. That's my American persimmon. Most gardeners know persimmons as that Asian fruit in specialty grocery stores. Although most Asian types aren't hardy here, the American persimmon are and they're worth g...

With the cold weather coming soon, you might want to save some favorite annual flowers. It's a shame to let a nice flowering plant die and there are ways to take what we usually think of as an annual and turn it into a perennial. Pelargonium geraniums, fuchsias, coleus and begonias are just some of the flowers we often grow as annuals that can be overwintered to grow again next year. While the tem...

As you walk around garden centers this time of year, you can't help noticing all the gourds on display. There are two different types of gourds. The small, warty, soft shelled gourds are mostly used for decorations and will start rotting after a few months, especially if they're touched by frost. The larger, hard shelled gourds are the cool ones. These can be dried to form a hard shell that can la...

We normally think of earthworms as good for the soil. But not all earthworms are the same. Earthworms originally came from Europe with the colonists. Now there are worms from other parts of the globe that are harmful to our forest and garden soils. The Asian jumping worm or snake worm is native to parts of Japan that have mostly evergreen and oak trees. Our thinner leafed maple leaves are a great...

Our hydrangeas are putting on quite a show. Whether it be the blue or pink flowered Hydrangea macrophylla or the white to burgundy colored Hydrangea paniculata , hydrangeas are beautiful right now. But we all know what's coming soon weather-wise, so let's talk about cutting hydrangeas for the table and drying them for winter. When cutting hydrangeas for the table, wait until the flowers are fully...

Many gardeners are starting to think about fall garden cleanup. But there are some new ideas about cleaning the flower and vegetable gardens in the fall. To garden more ecologically friendly, we're learning what not to do come Autumn.  Many pollinators and beneficial insects are getting ready for winter in the flower garden. They will tunnel into hollow stemmed flowers, such as zinnias and echinac...

Even though the weather has been more summer-like, it is September, and the natural rhythms continue. One of those rhythms is birds are getting ready to either migrate or spend the winter here. To help our feathered friends, plant shrubs that produce berries that birds love and need for energy and survival.  While birds will eat many different berries this time of year, including from invasive shr...

Late summer is sunflower time. With our cloudy, rainy summer, our sunflowers have taken their time to grow large and flower. But now they are in their glory. Many gardeners think of the large headed, 10 foot tall 'Russian Mammoth' sunflowers when they think of this plant. But there are so many different selections now with smaller sized flowers, multi-stemmed plants and different flower petal colo...

When I think of flowering bulbs I usually think of spring bloomers such as tulips and daffodils. But I'm reminded of another group of fall flowering bulbs that add a blast color to the late summer garden. Let's start with fall flowering crocus and colchicum. These two bulbs look similar to the spring flowering versions, but bloom now. Fall crocus is also known as saffron crocus. The orange stigmas...

The veggie harvest is coming in fast and furious right now. It's important to stay on top of the harvest or else, your small veggies can turn into unruly monsters that don't taste so great either. So, here's a simple guide of when to harvest some of the most popular veggies. Our bush and pole beans are producing tons. It's best to harvest these on the young side as the beans are more tender. When...

One of the stars of the perennial flower garden is phlox. Phlox paniculata and Phlox maculata are the two most common tall, garden phlox species. They feature plants that grow 2- to 5-feet tall, grow best in full sun and like well-drained, moist soil. You can grow them in part shade, too, but they won't flower as well and are more susceptible to diseases. Tall garden phlox are clump forming perenn...

The tomato crop is ripening and lots of gardeners are enjoying cherry tomatoes, sauce tomatoes and big, fat juicy slicers. But for some, all is not tomato sandwiches and smiles. Various conditions and insects can cause tomato fruit damage. I've talked about tomato hornworms and blight before and you can check out those topics on my website . Today, I want to talk about other problems. Tomato skins...

While flower gardens are exploding with color, another place to look for some color in mid-summer is with shrubs. Here are some summer bloomers that can compliment all the other flowers in your garden. Summer sweet or Clethra alnifolia is a versatile, deciduous, native shrub. It grows in full sun to part shade up to 6 feet tall in a range of soils. It has few pests and even deer and rabbits don't...

It's berry season. We lost many berries to a late frost, but our blueberries and grapes look fabulous. So, I'm hyper focused on protecting them from our main culprit; birds. We've tried a number of ways to keep birds off our berries. At first, we tried hanging reflective objects, including holographic tape, in the berry patch. A breeze moves the objects and the light bounces off them scaring the b...

The recent spate of hot weather has really pushed along many of our vegetables and flowers. Cool loving plants such as peas, lettuce, spinach, viola and primroses are wrapping it up and the heat lovers, such as tomatoes, squash, melons, zinnias, basil and verbena, are taking over. As the cool season annuals fade, I'm a big proponent of succession planting. Succession planting means whenever there'...

While I don't mind the scratches and scrapes I get working in our yard, I don't like the itchy rash I get from poison ivy. Poison ivy is a tall vine that climbs dead or living trees and shrubs. The chemical that causes the rash, urushiol, is present in all parts of poison ivy plant. Even in winter if you damage a stem or root, you can get a rash. Some people are severely allergic to urushiol, so s...

There are some insects in our vegetable garden that reproduce fast. One of them is the squash bug. This garden pest overwinters under rocks, in weeds and under debris around the garden. In June they lay copper colored eggs on the undersides of summer squash, zucchini, winter squash and melon plant's leaves. The eggs hatch in about 10 days into small versions of the adult, grey, squash bug. The gre...

When I say earwigs, some people still think of the old, folkloric myth that earwigs can crawl into your ear and eat your brains. Although they like dark, moist places, sorry, they aren't that aggressive or interested in us. Earwigs are beneficial to the garden and are more complex than you think. Earwigs look more formidable than they are. They can climb up your flowers or veggies and feed on the...

It's strawberry season. Taking the kids or grandkids to a pick-your-own strawberry farm is great, but what's even more fun is growing strawberries yourself. Strawberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow and there are types for every garden. The June bearing strawberry varieties, such as 'Jewel' and 'Sparkle', produce an abundance of fruits now, then are finished for the season. They're great...

The plant known as the “king of the herbs” hales from India and has been cultivated for more than 5000 years. It's in the mint family and now is grown around the globe. Yes, it's basil. While many of us of Italian descent think of basil as the Genovese, large leafed type, there are many more varieties and tastes of this herb. ‘Sweet Dani’ is a lemon flavored variety. There’s also a ‘Lime’ flavored...

If you're looking for a mid- to- end of summer splash in your flower garden, grow dahlias. This tuber starts out slowly in our cool spring soils, but picks up speed in summer. By August, whether you grow the small, low growing types or the large dinner plate dahlias, they all put on quite a flower show. Dahlias are not hardy in our cool Connecticut soils, so they need to be replanted each year. Wa...

Often gardeners are in a dilemma about what ground cover to grow around perennials and under trees and shrubs in a shady area. I've got two solutions. Sweet woodruff ( Galium oderatum ) is a perfect ground cover for full to part shade. It has fragrant, lance-shaped, bright green leaves all summer and dainty white flowers in spring. It's easy to grow and adapts to a wide range of soil types and moi...