My dear Fellow gardeners,

We seem to have lost our warm weather and fall is here at last, bringing the beautiful reds, yellows and golds – I was surprised to see it actually hailing yesterday so I thought that you might enjoy this little poem ;-

The Mist and All

I like the fall, The mist and all.
I like the night owl’s lonely call –
And wailing sound of wind around.

I like the grey November day,
And bare, dead boughs,
That coldly sway, against my pane,
I like the rain.

I like to sit and laugh at it –
‘And tend my cozy fire a bit,
I like the fall, The mist and all
By Dixie Willson

My grandson came to held clean up the garden – I was so surprised when David asked if he should burn the leaves!!! Haven’t I taught them anything!! No he did not burn them; they were run over several times with the lawn mower and placed on my gardens. He emptied the containers and the soil is also on the gardens – hopefully you have all done the same thing.

Those beautiful colours that are everywhere really deserve more attention than we give them. If you have not been out for a drive yet, I suggest that you go quite soon. It is said that the brilliant colours that we are seeing now are really there all summer, in the tissues of the leaves. We cannot see them – somewhat like stars in the daytime, because they hidden by the green pigment called chlorophyll. In the fall – usually in October, as is happening right now, the chlorophyll starts to disintegrate and allows the colours to emerge. This is an outstanding attribute of deciduous trees – these are the trees that drop their leaves in autumn. People think that the leaves are actually torn off by the wind, this is not so – the leaves are cut off by the tree itself. If this were not so, then forcible removal of each leaf would cause an open wound, through which disease and parasitic organisms could enter at will. Long before the leaf falls from a twig, a layer of scar tissue starts to form at the base of the leaf stalk so that when the time comes for the leaf to “fall” the point where it was attached is very well protected by a waterproof covering.

I have been asked for a list of trees and shrubs that will give good colour in the Fall.
List of trees and shrubs that will give you a wonderful show of colour in the fall are as follows:

Common Name of Tree------Botanical Name--------Autumn Foliage Colour Red Maple--Acer rubrum--Brilliant Scarlet
Sugar maple--Acer saccharum--Red and yellow
Pignut hickory--Carya glabra--Yellow
Katura tree--Cercidiphyllum japonicum--Yellow to scarlet
Red oak--Quercus rubra--Bright red
Scarlet oak--Quercus coccinea--Crimson
American ash--Sorbus Americana--Pink and purple

SHRUBS-------Botanical Name---------Autumn Colour

Mountain maple--Acer spicatum--Orange and red
Japanese maple--Acer palmatum vars--Crimson
Service berry--Amelanchier--Red or yellow
Red choke-berry--Aronia arbutifolia--Red
Barberry--Berberis Thunbergii--Red
Dogwoods--Cornus spp.--Red and purple
Winged euonymus--Euonymus alatus--Rose
Staghorn sumac--Rhus typhina--Red, purple and yellow

I have been asked about a strange growth on a cherry tree – it looks like a cluster of twigs maybe an untidy very large bird nest.

I think that what you have here is what is known as “A Witches Broom”. The strange growth clusters are caused by fungal activity particularly Taphrina spp. Or occasionally by mites feeding on branches, which cause localized cell disruption (something like cancer in us).

Symptoms are: Clusters of dense twiggy growth, which looks like a bird’s nest on tree branches; these are more noticeable in the winter time, when there are no leaves on the tree.

Plants that are attacked are: Acacia, birch, (Betula) cherry and plum (Prunus) and hornbeam (Carpinus) these trees are regularly seen bearing witches’ brooms, but some other plants may also carry them.

Prevention: There is no prevention for this problem

Control: Remove and burn the affected branches; they are in fact, often left as they do no apparent harm to the host plant and are pretty neat looking!!!

Fairy rings:

Soil: borne fungi (Marasmius oreades) feed on organic matter and grass roots in the soil.

Symptoms: Two dark circles of lush grass form, with the area between containing only dead grass and moss. Light brown toadstools (do not eat them) may appear in the fall on the outer ring of grass.

Plants attacked: Fine quality turf grasses. (which is why I never get any fairy rings) especially in intensively managed lawns.

Prevention: Remove as much organic matter and debris as possible when preparing the ground for a new lawn.

Control: Applying a dilute solution of cresylic acid to the infected area and for at least 60 cm, 24 inches around the infection may provide some control – or just pretend that you really do have fairies at the bottom of your garden!!!!!!

Fairy host, from the wild, come and tend this plot awhile; come dancing from the hollow hill, To raise the power and do your will, Make your revels in my garden, May this soil be fairy trodden. Each herb and flower, each garden tree. Set each lovely spirit free! May all be hung with globes of light. From deepest Elfame, fair and bright. Fairies, heed this pledge I tell To honour you and treat you well – this is a spell to bring those fairies to your garden and have them help your plants and flowers grow – Best done by the “light of the moon” Let me know if it works!!!!!!

What is the tree that has foliage that looks like mountain ash, has a lower like wisteria but is yellow and where can I buy one?

It is a Goldenchain tree, (Laburnum vossi). It grows very well in zone 5 and 4 if well protected, grown either by a house or amongst other trees. As to where you can buy one – try Peter Green in the spring (maybe he can order one for you) Anne Griffin , Rural Routes, Horlings or maybe Johnson's Greenhouse – Fisher’s Nurseries is the other place near Pontypool turn off the 115 highway, I would suggest that you call first – and remember to take your rubber boots, for there is always an abundance of water amongst the trees and shrubs for sale!!!!!

September 21st was the autumnal equinox, and thus the lush growing season drew to a close, for the growth that started in the spring, ripened through the warm summer and climaxed gloriously – just this past week. It is not the end of the gardening season; rather it is a time to take stock of what is in the garden now and even the new beginnings, before the long winter starts. The falling leaves will soon cover the woods, fields and gardens.

November rains and February snows will pack them down and slowly they will decompose, the humus will enrich the soil, and the bulbs etc., that we are planting now will sprout in the rich black earth and the cycle begins again.

This is the time to walk around your garden – with your trusty notebook in hand – time to think about what pleased you – the liquorice plant this year outdid itself, but my cannas were a disappointment, a new plant called Rocket and another Piectranthus Mona lavender are still blooming and have been such a delight , the mini-roses too are still blooming – on and on - this is all the information that you will need to record – it does not have to be a long epistle – unless you wish to elaborate. I hope that you took photos of your garden – not only will they give you a lot of pleasure during the winter snowstorms, but they will be a good tool for planning your 2005 garden.

This next little tid-bit is for the Clematis (Klem-a-tiss) lovers among us. The name by the way comes from the Greek klema, meaning a twig, usually of a vine. Clematis belong to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), if you cut the flowers for an indoor arrangement with a little of the old wood, they will last for many days.

C. x jackmanii (jak-MAN-ee-I) was the first of the so-called large flowered varieties. Its purple flowers measuring 5 to 6 inches across.

The parents of the Jackman clematis are said to be C. viticella, sometimes called “Italian clematis” (even though it was introduced to England from Spain in 1569) and C. lanuginose, the woolly leaved clematis was introduced from Ningpo (now Ningbo) China, by the plant explorer Robert Fortune in 1850. Its exceptionally large flowers, (usually 8 inches across) made it a logical choice to be seas a parent of later hybrids.

First raised in England at the “Woking Nursery of George Jackman and Sons” in the 1860’s C x jackmanii was exhibited in Boston in 1866 by Francis Parkman (1823-1893), better known as an historian than a horticulturist. Parkman author of The Book of Roses, was a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and had a garden by Jamaica Pond, near the Arnold Arboretum in Boston.

C.2 jackmanii blooms from June or July in the north, until the frost, in both sun and shade. It will grow 6 to 18 feet high and grows on new wood. The flowers have four or five petals – actually – sepals, or modified leaves. They are purple with reddish accents. Neltje Blanchan wrote the following about C 2 jackmanii in the American Flower garden in 1909:

“Until one’s attention is called to it, no one would believe how common is the custom of planting the large-flowered purple Jackman’s clematis against red-brick buildings. Yet, when it spreads its royal bloom over them, nothing in the great range of garden possibilities is more excruciatingly awful.”

I laughed and laughed at this snobbish description!!!

I hope that you will all finish cleaning up your gardens this week and take a well earned rest - Ann Griffin has a sale of all kinds of goodies, bulbs 30% off and wind "thingy's" containers and perennials - good for Christmas gifts - speaking of which I am selling my airtight wood stoves, I can no longer cope with the wood gathering - in fact have not done so for a long time now, propane is so much easier and cleaner.

I still have to clean out my aquarium and get the fish out of the pond - they have grown huge over this summer and I am afraid have had babies - hopefully my grandsons will be here before the water freezes, it is a big job on one's own and I am still not feeling to all these tasks – another week and I will be back to normal.

Good gardening to us all - do get out and see the beauty that Mother Nature is showing us Hats, gloves, sunscreen, hats, scarves, hot water bottles? No that is past!
Lovingly, Beryl