Autumn in the Garden: The Pleasures of Dining Alfresco

There is a brief and lovely season when the garden seems made for dining.

Summer has surrendered its oppressive heat. The sun falls at a gentler angle. Evenings arrive earlier, but not yet with winter's haste. The garden that was almost too hot to enjoy in July becomes inviting again, and supper outdoors seems not merely possible but positively necessary.

Autumn is the season for dining alfresco.

A Table Beneath the Open Sky

There is no need for an elaborate outdoor kitchen or a professionally designed entertaining space. Some of the most memorable garden meals require little more than a sound table, comfortable chairs, good food, and agreeable company.

Set the table beneath an old tree, on the terrace, beside the herb garden, or wherever the evening light is particularly beautiful.

Autumn itself will provide much of the decoration.

A bowl of apples or pears makes a perfectly respectable centerpiece. So does a collection of small pumpkins, gourds, pinecones, or branches clipped from the garden. Chrysanthemums, asters, goldenrod, ornamental grasses, and late roses can furnish flowers without making the table look as though it has been prepared for a wedding reception.

Keep things simple. The garden has already done most of the decorating.

The Particular Pleasure of an Autumn Evening

Outdoor dining in summer often becomes a contest between man and climate. There are mosquitoes to repel, glasses to keep filled with ice, and the uncomfortable realization that everyone present is quietly perspiring.

Autumn is more civilized.

As the evening cools, one can linger over supper rather than retreating gratefully into air conditioning. Conversation stretches a little longer. Candles become more noticeable as daylight fades. The scent of wood smoke from somewhere beyond the garden may drift through the air.

And food somehow tastes better outdoors.

Perhaps it is appetite sharpened by cooler weather. Perhaps it is simply that eating beneath the sky awakens some old instinct in us. Bread passed across an outdoor table, soup served from a heavy pot, roasted vegetables, cheese, apples, and a warm dessert seem especially appropriate when leaves are beginning to fall.

Bring the Harvest to the Table

Autumn meals naturally lend themselves to the garden.

Fresh herbs can still be clipped moments before supper. Late tomatoes may linger in warm climates. Greens return as temperatures moderate. Squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, figs, pecans, and other seasonal produce offer the sort of substantial flavors that seem right when evenings grow cool.

A garden supper need not be complicated.

A pot of soup with good bread can be enough. So can roast chicken with root vegetables, a savory tart, or a platter assembled from cheeses, fruit, nuts, bread, and preserves.

The object is not to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen while everyone else enjoys the garden.

Candlelight Changes Everything

Few things improve an autumn table as easily as candlelight.

Lanterns can mark a garden path or illuminate the edges of a terrace. Candles in glass holders protect the flame from a wandering breeze. A few placed down the center of the table create warmth without overwhelming the natural setting.

Outdoor lighting should generally reveal the garden rather than conquer it. A garden illuminated like a football stadium loses much of its mystery.

Allow a few corners to remain dark.

There is considerable charm in watching the last daylight disappear from the tops of the trees while the table gradually becomes an island of warm light.

Bring Out the Blankets

Eventually someone will say, "It's getting a little chilly."

That is not necessarily the signal to go indoors.

Keep several throws or light blankets nearby. Draped over the backs of chairs or folded in a basket, they are both useful and attractive. A warm sweater, a blanket over one's knees, and another cup of coffee can extend an evening considerably.

In colder regions, an outdoor fireplace or fire pit can become the natural gathering place after supper. Where autumn remains mild, as it often does in the South, candlelight and a light wrap may be all that is required.

Use What You Already Have

There is no rule declaring that outdoor dining requires special outdoor dishes.

Old china, ironstone, stoneware, wooden boards, baskets, linen napkins, and ordinary drinking glasses often look more at home in a garden than coordinated sets of plastic dinnerware.

A well-used wooden serving board piled with bread and cheese has considerably more character than something purchased merely because the package says "outdoor entertaining."

Baskets are useful for carrying bread, napkins, fruit, or utensils from the kitchen. Trays make the return journey easier. Earthenware pitchers can hold flowers as readily as drinks.

The best garden table looks as though it belongs to the household rather than having arrived yesterday from a showroom.

Supper Among the Plants

Part of the pleasure of dining outdoors is noticing the garden differently.

We usually encounter our gardens while working in them. There is always something to prune, weed, water, divide, transplant, or otherwise improve.

Sitting down changes the view.

From the dinner table you may notice the ornamental grass glowing in the setting sun, the fragrance of a late-blooming shrub, birds making their final rounds before dusk, or leaves beginning to turn at the top of a tree.

For once, nothing needs doing.

That may be one of the greatest luxuries a garden can provide.

Don't Wait for a Special Occasion

Perhaps the greatest mistake with outdoor dining is saving it for company.

Certainly, a garden supper with family and friends can be wonderful. But Tuesday evening is an occasion, too.

Carry an ordinary supper outside. Take morning coffee to the garden. Have lunch beneath a tree. Put a small table and two chairs somewhere pleasant and actually use them.

Gardens are not merely landscapes to be maintained or admired through windows. They are places in which to live.

And autumn, with its mellow light, cool evenings, changing leaves, and sense of the year drawing inward, reminds us that these pleasures are temporary.

Soon enough the table will be empty, the chairs damp with winter rain, and the garden resting beneath bare branches.

So while the evenings are golden and the air is cool, set the table outside.

Light the candles. Bring out the good plates. Pour something worth lingering over.

And stay until the stars come out.

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Growing Ornamental Alliums: Architectural Flowers for the Spring Garden

 

Few spring-flowering bulbs make quite the statement of ornamental alliums. Their great globes of purple, lavender, pink, white, and occasionally yellow seem to hover above the garden on remarkably straight stems. Some are modest little plants suitable for the front of a border; others produce flower heads the size of softballs—or larger—standing three or four feet above the ground.

Better still, ornamental alliums are generally easy to grow, return year after year when properly situated, attract pollinators, and are usually passed over by deer and rabbits. For a gardener who wants considerable effect without considerable fuss, they earn their keep.

What Are Ornamental Alliums?

Alliums belong to the same genus as onions, garlic, chives, shallots, and leeks. The genus Allium contains hundreds of species native across much of the Northern Hemisphere, with particularly rich diversity in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and western North America.

The ornamental varieties are grown primarily for their flowers rather than their usefulness in the kitchen. Their family resemblance is nevertheless easy to discover: bruise a leaf or cut into a bulb and the familiar onion or garlic scent usually gives the game away.

The flowers are composed of dozens—or sometimes hundreds—of tiny individual blossoms arranged in rounded umbels. From a distance, the effect is that of a single great ball of flowers.

Why Grow Ornamental Alliums?

Their chief virtue is architectural form. Tulips and daffodils make broad sweeps of spring color, while alliums introduce strong vertical lines and nearly perfect spheres.

They are especially valuable because many varieties bloom during the transition from the main spring bulb season into the early perennial season. Just as the tulips are beginning to bow out, the alliums can take the stage.

Alliums also have several practical virtues. They generally prefer ordinary garden conditions, need little attention once established, provide nectar and pollen for bees and other insects, and their onion-scented foliage and bulbs make them relatively unattractive to browsing deer, rabbits, and many rodents.

Even after flowering, the dried seed heads remain handsome. Left standing among perennials and ornamental grasses, they can provide structure well into summer.

When Should Allium Bulbs Be Planted?

Plant ornamental allium bulbs in autumn, generally from September through November, depending upon your climate.

The important thing is to get them into the ground after the soil has begun to cool but before it freezes hard. They need the winter chilling period to establish roots and prepare for spring growth.

In warmer Southern gardens, there is seldom any reason to rush. October and November are often excellent planting months, and planting may continue into early winter where the ground remains workable.

If bulbs arrive while the weather is still quite warm, keep them cool, dry, and well ventilated until planting time. Do not seal them in plastic where moisture can accumulate.

Choosing the Right Location

The ideal allium site has full sun and excellent drainage.

Most ornamental alliums perform best with six or more hours of direct sunlight each day. A little afternoon shade may be tolerated in hot climates, but deep shade usually produces weaker plants and poorer flowering.

Drainage is more important than rich soil. Allium bulbs dislike sitting in cold, wet earth. Heavy clay that remains waterlogged through winter can cause bulbs to rot.

If your garden has poorly drained soil, amend it with organic matter where appropriate or plant alliums in raised beds or naturally elevated areas. Avoid low spots where winter rain collects.

A well-drained sandy loam is close to ideal.

How Deep Should You Plant Alliums?

A useful old bulb-planting rule works well: plant the bulb about two to three times as deep as the bulb is tall.

Large ornamental allium bulbs are commonly planted about 6 to 8 inches deep, while smaller species may need only 3 to 4 inches.

Place the bulb with the pointed end upward. If you genuinely cannot tell which end is which, plant it on its side. The emerging shoot is quite capable of finding daylight without our assistance.

Space large alliums roughly 6 to 12 inches apart, depending upon the variety and the effect desired. Smaller species can be planted much closer together.

For the best display, resist the temptation to plant solitary bulbs at regular intervals like fence posts. Alliums usually look better planted in groups or loose drifts.

Designing With Alliums

This is where alliums become especially useful.

Large varieties are superb rising through lower-growing perennials. Their stems are sufficiently narrow that they do not create a heavy visual barrier, yet the flower heads appear above neighboring plants like purple punctuation marks.

Try them among catmint, hardy geraniums, salvias, peonies, roses, lamb's ear, daylilies, or ornamental grasses.

Companion planting also solves one of the few aesthetic shortcomings of the large alliums: their foliage often begins to yellow before the flowers have finished blooming.

This is perfectly normal.

Planting alliums among leafy perennials conceals the declining foliage while allowing the flower stalks to rise above it. It is a far better solution than cutting the leaves prematurely.

Don't Cut the Leaves Too Soon

As with daffodils, tulips, and other bulbs, the leaves manufacture and store the energy needed for next year's flowers.

After flowering, allow the foliage to yellow and die naturally before removing it.

The flower heads are another matter. You may cut them after bloom if you prefer a tidy garden, but there is no necessity to do so. Many gardeners deliberately leave the dried globes standing because they remain striking long after their color has faded.

Some are excellent in dried arrangements as well.

Watering and Feeding

Newly planted bulbs should be watered after planting to settle the soil and encourage root development.

Once established, ornamental alliums are fairly drought tolerant. During active spring growth they appreciate reasonable moisture, but constantly wet soil is considerably more dangerous than occasional dryness.

In ordinary fertile garden soil, elaborate feeding programs are unnecessary. A light application of compost or a balanced bulb fertilizer in spring can be useful where soil is poor.

Avoid excessive nitrogen. You are trying to grow flowers, not exceptionally luxurious onion leaves.

Some Alliums Are Giants—and Others Are Not

The word "allium" sometimes brings to mind enormous purple globes, but the genus offers much more variety.

Allium giganteum is among the famous tall types, producing large purple flower heads on imposing stems.

'Globemaster' is celebrated for its enormous violet-purple globes and makes an extraordinary specimen in the perennial border.

'Purple Sensation' is somewhat more restrained and extremely useful for mass planting, producing rich purple spheres in late spring.

'Mount Everest' provides the same strong architectural form in white.

At the other end of the scale are smaller ornamental alliums that work beautifully in rock gardens, along paths, and toward the front of borders. Some naturalize readily and gradually form attractive colonies.

There are even yellow-flowering species, such as Allium moly, which bear cheerful clusters of star-shaped flowers rather than the enormous purple spheres associated with the better-known ornamental hybrids.

Do Alliums Come Back Every Year?

In a suitable climate and well-drained soil, many ornamental alliums are reliable perennials.

Some gradually multiply by producing offsets around the original bulb. After several years, crowded clumps can be lifted and divided when dormant.

Performance varies by species and climate, however. Certain spectacular hybrid alliums may persist for years without spreading aggressively, while smaller species may naturalize with enthusiasm.

Good drainage is usually the difference between an allium that settles down for a long residence and one that quietly disappears.

Deer, Rabbits, and Pollinators

Alliums offer an unusually agreeable combination for the garden.

Bees and other pollinating insects are strongly attracted to the flowers, while deer and rabbits generally dislike the onion-like compounds in the plants.

No plant should be advertised as absolutely deer-proof—deer have been known to revise the gardening books when sufficiently hungry—but alliums are among the better choices for gardens troubled by browsing animals.

This also makes them useful companions for more vulnerable spring bulbs.

Growing Alliums in Containers

Ornamental alliums can also be grown successfully in pots.

Choose a substantial container with excellent drainage and use a free-draining potting mixture. Large varieties need enough soil depth to accommodate their sizeable bulbs and tall stems.

They can be planted alone or incorporated into layered bulb containers with tulips, daffodils, crocuses, or other spring bulbs.

Remember that containers expose bulbs to greater temperature fluctuations than garden soil. In very cold climates, pots may require winter protection.

A Flower With an Old-World Character

There is something both formal and whimsical about ornamental alliums. Their geometry would be perfectly at home in an old European garden, yet those improbable spheres hovering over a perennial border have an almost modern appearance.

That combination is part of their charm.

Plant a few among established perennials and they provide accents. Plant dozens and they create a remarkable spring spectacle. Mix varieties of different heights and flowering times, and the display can continue for weeks.

Most importantly, they ask remarkably little in return: sun, well-drained soil, autumn planting, and enough patience to leave the foliage alone until it has finished its work.

Give them those things, and ornamental alliums will rise each spring like brightly colored globes above the garden—orderly, architectural, and just eccentric enough to keep things interesting.

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Don't Throw Away Autumn: What Fallen Leaves Can Do for Your Garden

  

Every autumn, nature delivers one of the finest soil amendments available—and then we spend a surprising amount of time raking it up, stuffing it into bags, and hauling it away.

Fallen leaves are not garden waste. They are part of the garden.

Walk through an old hardwood forest and consider what happens there. No one bags the oak leaves. No one carts away the hickory and maple leaves. Year after year, they fall, accumulate, decay, and return their nutrients to the earth. Beneath them lies that dark, crumbly woodland soil gardeners are forever trying to imitate.

Your garden can benefit from the same ancient process.

Leaves Are Nature's Mulch

A layer of fallen leaves protects the soil much as mulch does. It moderates temperature, reduces evaporation, cushions the earth against pounding rain, and helps suppress weeds.

This is particularly useful going into winter. A covering of leaves can help protect the crowns and shallow roots of perennial plants from sudden swings in temperature. In the South, where winter weather can seesaw from shirtsleeves to hard frost in a matter of days, that insulation can be especially valuable.

Whole leaves can sometimes mat together, particularly large leaves such as sycamore or magnolia. Running them over with a lawn mower or shredding them before use produces a looser mulch that admits air and water more readily.

Spread shredded leaves a few inches deep around shrubs, trees, and established perennials, keeping them slightly away from trunks and crowns.

And there you have it: mulch that costs nothing but a little autumn labor.

Feed the Soil, Not the Landfill

Leaves contain nutrients that trees have drawn from the soil during the growing season. As those leaves decompose, some of those nutrients become available again.

Just as important is their organic matter.

Organic matter helps improve soil structure. In sandy soil, it increases the soil's ability to retain moisture and nutrients. In heavy clay, it helps create a more open, workable structure. Over time, decomposing leaves contribute humus—the dark organic material associated with fertile, living soil.

Throwing leaves away interrupts that cycle.

Keeping them on your property allows some of what the trees borrowed from the earth to return home.

Make Leaf Mold

One of the simplest uses for autumn leaves is also one of the best: make leaf mold.

Despite the rather unappetizing name, leaf mold is wonderful stuff. It is simply leaves allowed to decompose, primarily through fungal activity, until they become a dark, soft, earthy material resembling woodland humus.

Making it can be remarkably uncomplicated.

Pile leaves in an out-of-the-way corner, place them in a simple wire enclosure, or collect them in a ventilated container. Shredding the leaves first will speed decomposition, and keeping them somewhat moist will help.

Then wait.

Nature is not in a hurry.

Depending upon the leaves, moisture, climate, and degree of shredding, the process may take a year or more. The finished leaf mold can be worked into garden soil, spread around plants, or used as a soil-conditioning mulch.

It is especially useful for improving the soil's ability to hold moisture.

Add Leaves to the Compost Pile

Autumn leaves are also excellent "brown" material for compost.

Kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, and other green materials tend to be relatively rich in nitrogen. Dry fallen leaves provide carbon. A mixture of the two creates better conditions for decomposition than either material alone.

This presents an opportunity worth planning for.

Instead of putting every autumn leaf into the compost pile at once, save some dry leaves in bags, bins, or a covered enclosure. During the following months, add handfuls or layers whenever you add kitchen scraps or other nitrogen-rich material.

In effect, autumn can provide part of your composting supplies for the entire year.

Shredded leaves decompose more quickly, but whole leaves will eventually break down too. The microbes are patient even when gardeners aren't.

Leave Some Leaves for Wildlife

There is another reason not to make the autumn garden too tidy.

A layer of fallen leaves provides habitat for an astonishing assortment of small creatures. Beneficial insects, spiders, beetles, caterpillars, and other organisms may overwinter among fallen leaves or beneath them. Some moths and butterflies spend part of their life cycles in leaf litter.

Birds know this very well.

Watch a brown thrasher, towhee, or other ground-feeding bird scratching through leaves. It isn't admiring your landscaping. It is looking for supper.

Removing every leaf from every corner of the property can remove some of the shelter and food sources upon which these creatures depend.

That doesn't mean your front walk needs to disappear beneath six inches of oak leaves. There is room for order and stewardship together. Clear the lawn, paths, gutters, and places where heavy accumulations might cause problems, but consider leaving leaves beneath trees, around woodland borders, and in less formal portions of the garden.

A garden need not look abandoned to remain alive.

What About Leaves on the Lawn?

A light scattering of leaves can often simply be mowed into the lawn. A mulching mower chops them into small pieces that settle between the grass blades and gradually decompose.

A thick blanket is another matter.

Heavy layers of whole leaves can block sunlight and air, hold excessive moisture, and smother turf. If you cannot see much grass beneath the leaves, it is probably time to rake, mulch, or collect some of them.

But "collect" needn't mean "discard."

Move them to flower beds. Put them beneath shrubs. Compost them. Make leaf mold. Store them for later.

There is almost always somewhere better for a leaf than a garbage bag.

A Word of Caution

Not every fallen leaf should necessarily be returned directly to the garden.

If plants have suffered badly from certain diseases, infected foliage may harbor organisms capable of causing trouble again. Good sanitation can be an important part of disease management. When dealing with seriously diseased material, determine whether composting, disposal, or another treatment is appropriate for the particular disease.

Also avoid piling leaves thickly against tree trunks, shrub stems, or the crowns of perennials. Mulch should protect plants, not bury them.

As with most things in gardening, moderation and observation are better guides than rigid rules.

The Old Way Wasn't So Foolish

Before plastic bags, municipal leaf collection, and truckloads of commercially packaged soil amendments, gardeners had little reason to regard leaves as rubbish.

They composted them. They piled them. They dug them into gardens. They allowed them to rot beneath shrubs and trees. They understood something that modern convenience can make easy to forget:

A garden produces many of the materials needed to sustain itself.

The leaves falling across your yard this autumn are part of next year's garden.

They can become mulch around your perennials, carbon for your compost pile, shelter for overwintering creatures, organic matter for tired soil, and eventually the dark humus from which new roots will grow.

So rake where you must. Shred where you can. Compost some. Pile some. Leave some beneath the trees.

But don't throw away autumn.

The garden has spent an entire season making it for you.

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Fall Is for Planting: Why Cooler Weather Gives Plants a Better Start

  

When summer begins to loosen its grip and the first cool mornings arrive, many gardeners assume the gardening season is winding down. The lawn grows more slowly, leaves begin to turn, and thoughts drift toward rakes, pumpkins, and putting the garden to bed.

But for planting many trees, shrubs, perennials, and ground covers, fall isn't the end of the gardening season at all. It may be the best part of it.

Spring gets most of the attention. Garden centers fill with flowers, seed catalogs arrive, and warm sunshine tempts us outdoors. Yet spring planting has one considerable disadvantage: summer is waiting just around the corner.

Plant in fall, and the whole equation changes.

Cooler Air Means Less Stress

Newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials must perform two jobs at once. They need to maintain their leaves and stems above ground while establishing a new root system below.

During hot weather, that can be a tall order.

High temperatures increase the amount of moisture plants lose through their leaves. A newly planted specimen with a limited root system may struggle to replace that water quickly enough. Add blazing sun and a few rainless days, and a plant can become stressed remarkably fast.

Fall's cooler temperatures reduce that strain. Plants lose water more slowly, the soil doesn't dry quite as rapidly, and transplant shock is generally less severe.

In other words, the plant can spend less energy merely surviving and more energy getting settled.

The Soil Is Still Warm

One of the great advantages of fall planting is easily overlooked: the air may be cool, but the soil is still warm.

Soil temperatures change much more slowly than air temperatures. After months of summer sunshine, the earth retains considerable warmth well into autumn.

That creates an excellent environment for root growth.

Even after the top of a deciduous plant begins preparing for dormancy—or has already dropped its leaves—roots may continue growing as long as soil conditions remain favorable. Those weeks of quiet underground activity can make an enormous difference the following year.

The garden may appear to be going to sleep, but beneath the surface there is still work being done.

Fall-Planted Plants Get a Head Start

Consider two identical shrubs.

One is planted in October. The other is planted the following April.

The October shrub has the opportunity to establish roots during autumn, rest through winter, and resume root growth as conditions improve in late winter and early spring.

By the time summer arrives, it may have had many months to become established.

The April shrub, meanwhile, has only a short interval before it must face the heat of June, July, and August.

That doesn't mean spring planting is wrong. Gardeners have successfully planted in spring for generations. But where winters are reasonably mild, fall often gives hardy plants a valuable head start.

Instead of beginning summer as newcomers, they enter it with roots already in the ground.

Cooler Weather Makes Watering Easier, Too

Fall planting doesn't eliminate the need for watering. Newly planted trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials should still be watched carefully until established.

But autumn usually makes the job easier.

Cooler temperatures mean less evaporation from the soil and less water loss through foliage. Seasonal rainfall may also become more dependable in some regions.

A thorough soaking after planting is essential. After that, check the soil rather than simply watering according to the calendar. The goal is consistently moist soil around the developing root system—not soggy ground.

And don't forget plants simply because the weather turns cold. Evergreens in particular continue to lose moisture through their foliage during winter and can suffer if they enter a dry spell without adequate soil moisture.

Fall Is Especially Valuable in the South

Southern gardeners have an additional reason to appreciate fall planting.

Our summers can be brutal.

A shrub planted in late spring may scarcely have time to recover from transplanting before it encounters weeks of heat, intense sunshine, and high water demand. In much of the South, autumn provides a long period of relatively mild weather during which hardy landscape plants can establish themselves.

In areas with mild winters, root development may continue for surprisingly long periods.

That's one reason generations of Southern gardeners have planted woody ornamentals, shade trees, fruit trees, and hardy perennials during the cooler months. Long before anyone spoke of "plant establishment strategies," gardeners noticed what worked.

Sometimes the old ways became old ways for good reason.

What Should You Plant in Fall?

Fall is particularly well suited to many trees, shrubs, hardy perennials, ornamental grasses, vines, and ground covers. It is also, of course, the traditional season for planting many spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, crocuses, and tulips.

Hardy native plants can also benefit from autumn establishment, especially when they are well adapted to local soil and climate.

There are exceptions.

Cold-sensitive tropicals and other tender plants may be better planted after danger of frost has passed. Plants near the northern limit of their hardiness range may also need more time to establish before severe winter weather.

The lesson isn't that everything should be planted in fall. It's that gardeners shouldn't automatically assume spring is always the best planting season.

Give the Roots a Good Beginning

The advantages of fall planting can be squandered by poor planting technique.

Dig the planting hole wider than the root ball, but avoid planting too deeply. The top of the root ball should generally be level with, or slightly above, the surrounding soil. Backfill with the native soil unless the particular plant or site requires something different.

Water thoroughly to settle the soil around the roots.

A layer of mulch can help conserve moisture, moderate soil temperatures, and discourage weeds. Keep mulch away from direct contact with trunks and crowns. The familiar "mulch volcano" piled against a tree trunk does no favors to the tree, however tidy somebody may think it looks.

And resist the temptation to pamper a new plant with excessive fertilizer. Establishing a healthy root system is more important than forcing a burst of tender top growth.

Plant for the Garden You'll See Next Year

There is something particularly satisfying about fall planting.

Spring gardening is full of immediate rewards. We plant flowers because we want flowers. We sow vegetables because we are already imagining the harvest.

Fall planting requires a little more faith.

You dig a hole on a cool afternoon, set a seemingly modest plant into the earth, water it, mulch it, and then watch the season fade. Winter comes. The garden grows quiet.

But the plant isn't merely waiting.

Its roots are becoming acquainted with the soil. When spring finally returns, it doesn't have to begin entirely from scratch.

So when cooler weather arrives, don't be too quick to hang up the shovel. Take another look around the garden. Is there an empty corner that needs a shrub? A slope that would benefit from ground cover? A place where you've always wanted a flowering tree or a sweep of perennials?

Autumn may be telling you something.

Fall isn't merely the season when gardens wind down. It's one of the finest seasons for beginning again.

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