Garden Gate – October 2019

46 GARDEN GATE | OCTOBER 2019 | ISSUE 149

2 | Take in the view Plant in layers, with low-growing plants, such as hakonechloa, in f ront, taller ones, such as asters and three-

leaved coneflower, in back, and everything else in between. Then you can see all the flowers and foliage at once.

Filling Up the Borders

Botanical

Names

Boxwood

Buxus

sempervirens

Hakonechloa

Hakonechloa

macra

Korean boxwood

Buxus microphylla

koreana

New England aster

Symphyotrichum

novae-angliae

Three-leaved

coneflower

Rudbeckia triloba

FALL MULCH With all the

nearby trees there are lots of

leaves on the ground in fall. Sandy

gathers them up and runs them

through a chipper/shredder to

chop them up. After she cuts back

her perennial borders in late fall,

she spreads a 3- to 4-inch layer

of leaf mulch, watering in the top

layer to keep them from blow-

ing away. In spring, she pulls the

mulch away from the perenni-

als’ crowns but leaves the mulch

everywhere else. The thick layer

of leaf mulch keeps weeds to a

minimum. An added benefi t is

that over time the decaying leaves

have enriched the soil.

WaterLogue app for some of her

own. This phone app allows you to

apply fi lters so your photos look

like paintings.

Even though the garden looks

good all year, fall is Sandi’s

favorite season with 5 to 6 weeks

of “Wow!” color. Asters are a big

reason for that—they keep the

garden going until frost. One way

to help tall asters, such as ‘Har-

rington’s Pink’ in photo 2, stand

up straighter and fl ower more is

pruning. In early June Sandi cuts

plants back by a third, giving them

a bowl haircut. This way in fall,

plants will have more fl owers as

they bloom lower on the stems.

Eʣ

nlarging borders to make room

for more plants was one of the

fi rst projects Sandi tackled, taking

them from 1 foot to a little more

than 6 feet deep.

You won’t see big drifts or

groups in this garden—Sandi

wants as much variety as possible.

Take a look at photo 2 and you’ll

notice no plants are repeated—

it’s color that ties it all together.

She says she has zero talent for

painting on canvas, but what she

can do is put colors and textures

together in the garden to create

photo-worthy combinations. She

loves seeing visitors take shots of

her garden and enjoys using the

‘Harrington’s Pink’

New England aster

Three-leaved

coneflower

Hakonechloa

GG14944_51_FG.indd 46GG14944_51_FG.indd 46 6/27/2019 3:54:14 PM6/27/2019 3:54:14 PM

46 GARDEN GATE | OCTOBER 2019 | ISSUE 149

2 | Take in the view Plant in layers, with low-growing plants, such as hakonechloa, in f ront, taller ones, such as asters and three-

leaved coneflower, in back, and everything else in between. Then you can see all the flowers and foliage at once.

Filling Up the Borders

Botanical
Names

Boxwood
Buxus
sempervirens
Hakonechloa
Hakonechloa
macra
Korean boxwood
Buxus microphylla
koreana
New England aster
Symphyotrichum
novae-angliae
Three-leaved
coneflower
Rudbeckia triloba

FALL MULCH With all the

nearby trees there are lots of

leaves on the ground in fall. Sandy

gathers them up and runs them

through a chipper/shredder to

chop them up. After she cuts back

her perennial borders in late fall,

she spreads a 3- to 4-inch layer

of leaf mulch, watering in the top

layer to keep them from blow-

ing away. In spring, she pulls the

mulch away from the perenni-

als’ crowns but leaves the mulch

everywhere else. The thick layer

of leaf mulch keeps weeds to a

minimum. An added benefi t is

that over time the decaying leaves

have enriched the soil.

WaterLogue app for some of her

own. This phone app allows you to

apply fi lters so your photos look

like paintings.

Even though the garden looks

good all year, fall is Sandi’s

favorite season with 5 to 6 weeks

of “Wow!” color. Asters are a big

reason for that—they keep the

garden going until frost. One way

to help tall asters, such as ‘Har-

rington’s Pink’ in photo 2, stand

up straighter and fl ower more is

pruning. In early June Sandi cuts

plants back by a third, giving them

a bowl haircut. This way in fall,

plants will have more fl owers as

they bloom lower on the stems.

Eʣ

nlarging borders to make room

for more plants was one of the

fi rst projects Sandi tackled, taking

them from 1 foot to a little more

than 6 feet deep.

You won’t see big drifts or

groups in this garden—Sandi

wants as much variety as possible.

Take a look at photo 2 and you’ll

notice no plants are repeated—

it’s color that ties it all together.

She says she has zero talent for

painting on canvas, but what she

can do is put colors and textures

together in the garden to create

photo-worthy combinations. She

loves seeing visitors take shots of

her garden and enjoys using the

‘Harrington’s Pink’

New England aster

Three-leaved

coneflower

Hakonechloa