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The New
Wyobraska
Fall
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Whether its due to global
climate change or a naturally occurring climate
cycle of some sort, Wyobraska’s autumn is becoming a
dramatically different season than it was just 20
years ago—and mostly for the better. An average
temperature increase of five degrees or so has moved
the first hard frost well back into October in
recent years, allowing most of the more widely used
landscape plants to enter dormancy before that first
hard frost strikes. This not only eliminates the
injury to still tender plant tissues that had been a
fairly common occurrence with September freezes, but
it also is allowing the full fall color potential to
develop in most trees and shrubs.
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Miscanthus is an appealing
ornamental grass because is foliage is rigidly
upright—a distinct difference from the arching
foliage that is characteristic of most grasses.
And, again, unlike most grasses whose seed heads
rise several feet above the foliage, the feathery
seed heads of miscanthus form directly above its
upright stems. Miscanthus are quite well adapted to
grow in Wyobraska landscapes, but their only
drawback as an ornamental grass in Wyobraska has
been that our growing season has been too short for
the seed heads to form on most of the cultivars.
However, thanks to the extended warm weather this
fall I have already seen four or five previously
non-blooming miscanthus with a full complement of
seed heads. |
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Previous Articles
Fractions March 15
Yardner March 8
Urban
Legends of Trees March 22
Que
Serra, Serra March 29
Grocery Store or Garbage Dumpster Plants April 5
Planning Your Landscape Project April 12
Planting
Cool Trees April 19
Keeping
Trees Alive April 26
Thrillers, Chillers, Spillers May 03
Will
You Still Love Them May 10
Ornamental Grasses May 17
In
Memory of Cedar Trees May 24
Gardening is not Childs Play
Versatile
Viburnums June 6
Yardner Plants
June 13
2007
Garden Walk and
Blue Spruce Decline
The Birds
& Bees of Butterfly Gardening June 28
Summer
Landscaping July 5
Cutting Your Lawn Down to Size July 12
Some Like it
Hot!! July 19
When a Tree
Falls on 5th Ave
July 26
Green
Landscaping August 2
American Idol-Landscape Aug 9
Fall is
for Planting Aug 16
Is your Landscape Neat or Messy? Aug 23
The
Seeds of a good Landscape Aug 29
Big Red Fall
Color Sep 6
Fall Landscaping Tips Sept 13
Fall Lawn Care Sept 20
The Colors of
Autumn Sept 27
Fall is for Xeriscaping Oct 04
2006 Articles |
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The extra 30 or so days added
to the fall end of the growing season is likewise
making it possible for a few great fall blooming
perennials to fully develop and add even more flower
power to Wyobraska’s already long list of great
landscape and garden perennials. I have overheard a
number of gardeners talking about the exceptional
blooming of fall asters this year. The short
purple-flowered ‘purple-dome’ aster is probably the
most widely planted around Wyobraska and has been
putting on quite a show for almost a month now. The
even later and taller red aster ‘September Ruby’ is
now in full bloom, and barring a 15 degree morning
between now and then, will be in full bloom until
after Halloween. This perennial looks more like a
small green shrub through the summer, and then is
covered with pinkish-red buds in late September that
don’t usually fully open until October.
One other later blooming
perennial that is worth mentioning that is putting
on quite a show this fall is ‘fireworks’ goldenrod.
This large clump forming goldenrod is the latest
blooming of all the goldenrod cultivars. While some
goldenrods begin blooming in late July, this one
doesn’t begin to show color until early September.
Like its name implies, the flower has a distinct
fireworks quality, and with our longer falls in
recent years, this may well become one of those
“must have” perennials.
If you think you’ve seen more
ornamental grasses around the region this year, it
may just be because more of the miscanthus that have
been in Wyobraska landscapes for several years are
developing seed heads thanks to the longer growing
season. Miscanthus is a grass that is native to
eastern Asia, and which has been used as an
ornamental grass in landscapes perhaps longer than
any other. There are almost too many cultivars of
this species sold in the nursery trade to count, but
some of the better know cultivars or miscanthus
around Wyobraska are ‘zebra grass’—so named because
of its horizontally banded variegations, ‘silver
feather grass’, and miscanthus ‘morning light’. |
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It may be a good idea to delay
one of the annual rites of fall due to the extended
warm fall weather—blowing out the sprinkler system.
Many homeowners have turned off their sprinkler
systems for the winter starting in mid-October, but
with 2007 being one of the driest years of the
continuing drought, I suggest not blowing out the
sprinkler system until early November. There is
always a risk that a sudden hard freeze may do some
damage to the backflow preventer and above ground
pipes, but it may be well worth your time to learn
how to temporarily shut off your sprinkler system
for a night or two and operate the timer manually
for a few extra weeks, this year. Few circumstances
are harder on trees, shrubs, and lawns than to go
into winter with dry soil. One has to assume that
our weather will continue to be dry—well, at least
until it begins to rain or snow again. And since no
one knows when that will be, keeping your landscape
watered might be well worth the few extra minutes to
turn the sprinkler system on and off yourself this
fall.
Finally, the other benefit of
the extended warm weather is that it gives Wyobraska
another great season to enjoy, so take a walk, go
for a bike ride, or get out into your garden or
landscape for a little landscape project, take the
kids or grandkids to buy a pumpkin, and enjoy our
new warm fall weather—for however long it lasts.
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