wildflowers

SOME NATIVE PERENNIALS TO PLANT IN FALL

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Asclepias tuberosa
Coreopsis Rising Sun
Echinacea purpurera
Echinacea angustifolia
Liatris spicata
Lupine Minarette Hybrids
Monarda Panorama Hybrids
Ratibida columnifera
Monarda fistulosa

SOME NATIVE PERENNIALS TO PLANT IN FALL

Fall is a very good time to plant potted perennial plants.  Garden soil is still warm, enabling roots to grow quickly, therefore allowing perennial plants to establish well.  Root growth will take place all through the autumn, finally ceasing when the ground freezes in mid-November or even in December, depending on the year.  In autumn fewer weeds germinate so it is easier to keep beds clean while newly planted perennials establish themselves.  Fall planting ensures a heavier spring or summer bloom, too.  These same factors apply to the many kinds of bulbs we plant in fall.  Below is a list of excellent plants for Western Montana, including native wildflowers and some drought-tolerant perennials.   

Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa   18”-2 ft. x 2 ft. wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  This native plant blooms in summer with bright orange flowers which are an important nectar source for bees and butterflies.  The leaves are important as a nursery for Monarch butterfly larvae.   Butterfly weed grows well in dry, poor soils so it needs less water than most garden perennials.

Coreopsis Coreopsis grandiflora  18”-30” x 2 ft. wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  Coreopsis is another native perennial that blooms for a long season, from early summer into fall.  The flowers are brilliant yellow and attract butterflies and bees.  Coreopsis likes a little more water than butterfly weed, but is drought tolerant once established.  It is quite easy to grow.

Echinacea Echinacea purpurea  3-4 ft. x 3 ft. wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.   This coneflower is native to the eastern half of the U.S.A. where it grows in dry woods and tall grass prairies.   Once established, coneflower is drought tolerant, needing about as much water as coreopsis.  The roots are used medicinally.   Flowers of the wild form are of soft purple and the bloom period lasts for months, beginning in mid-summer.   Echinacea is another excellent pollinator plant, attracting bees and butterflies. 

Echinacea Echinacea angustifolia  18”-2 ft. x 2 ft. wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  This native echinacea prefers drier conditions than E. purpurea so is very well-adapted to our dry summers.   The plants are a bit smaller also.  The roots are used medicinally and the flowers are an excellent nectar source for bees and butterflies.   Flowering period is early through late summer. 

Blazing Star Liatris spicata  30” x 18” wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  A wonderful native plant with soft purple plumes of long-lasing flowers that attract bees and butterflies.  The flowers can be used for cutting and last a long time.  Plants are easy to grow, needing about as much water as coreopsis, lupine and Echinacea purpurea.

Lupine Lupinus polyphyllus (Minarette Dwarf Hybrids) 16” x 16” wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  Minarette hybrid lupines are descended from a species native to Montana.  They are very well-adapted to our climate and attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  Flower colors of this strain of lupine are beautiful and include bicolor forms as well.   The plants flower in June-July. 

Monarda fistulosa  2 ft. x 2 ft. wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  The common names for this plant are bee balm and wild bergamot.  This species is native to North America and has showy white to purple flowers that attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.  This wild species prefers a moist soil, where it will bloom larger and longer in mid to late summer. 

Bee Balm Monarda didyma Panorama Hybrids 30” x 30” wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  These hybrids of a native eastern U.S. species are colorful, fragrant and attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.   Colors range from pink to red, burgundy, scarlet, purple and white.  Flowers appear July-September.  Bee balm likes a moist soil; the same conditions as M. fistulosa. 

Mexican Hat Ratibida columnifera  12”-36” x 18” wide (plant in full sun) zones 3-9.  The flowers of this native species look like a little orange and yellow sombrero.  The plants are drought tolerant and easy to grow.  Bees and butterflies love the flowers.   

 

 

DECEMBER GARDENING CALENDAR

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Shown in the photograph above is North Crow Creek Canyon in the Mission Mountains of Western Montana.  I have a beautiful view of the canyon from my front yard.  Snow is piling up now that winter is here.  December is probably the least busy month for gardening of the year in colder climates like ours.  Here are a few things we might need to do.

Check stored vegetables and fruit often; inventory seeds and test germination of last year’s seed.  Plan your 2017 garden and order seed.  Keep perennials and bulbs planted next to the house covered with snow to insulate them from extreme cold.  Make sure all young fruit trees have their trunks wrapped and place wire netting around trunks to prevent damage from rabbits and voles.   Mulch hardy tree seedlings and bulb beds with pine or fir branches.

Save wood ashes all winter long to spread on beds in spring on plants that enjoy alkaline soil conditions.

VEGETABLES

Admit air to cold frames and cover frames at night.  Uncover on mild days, but do not let sun shine on frozen plants.  Pick off any decaying leaves.  Cover frames every night with mats, blankets, straw, ferns or insulating row fabric.  Late cabbages, kale and greens should be under hoops covered with row cover fabric.

Check stored vegetables often: potatoes, onions, carrots, and cabbage, etc.  Also check stored flowers and fruit: dahlias, glads, cannas, apples, pears.  Cabbage likes high humidity (80-90%) and a storage temperature of about 35 degrees.  Potatoes, glads and dahlias prefer about 45 degrees and high humidity.  Onions and garlic need air, with about 60% humidity, so hang and keep them dry, storing at about 35 degrees.  Apples need about 30-35 degrees with high humidity.

Force asparagus in hot beds.

FLOWERS

If there is no snow, cover perennials and roses with evergreen branches to protect them.  Spread thin, flaky manure over pansies, carnations, pinks, tulips, penstemons and phloxes.  Spread composted manure over the vegetable garden.  Over the winter the manure will break down and feed the soil.  Any pathogens will be gone by the time you begin planting vegetables in mid-March.

For house plants: start amaryllis, watering lightly at first with warm water.  Keep in a warm place and gradually increase watering as the stems elongate, but do not keep the plants wet.  Moist soil is best.  Watch for spider mites on houseplants, mini roses and amaryllis.  If you see them, wash the whole plant first with plain water; then spray with insecticidal soap or garlic/herb spray every 3 days for 2 weeks.  Another method to control spider mites is to spray foliage every day with water.  Spider mites do not like frequently  wet foliage.  Do not over water houseplants this time of year, especially geraniums, which are nearly or totally dormant now.

Late in the month, after the 20th, start seeds of begonias, geraniums, primroses, Dahlias, pansies, and lisianthus.

For potted auricula primroses and other hardy plants in cold frames, keep admitting air into the frames when it is warm enough and keep frame covers handy if the weather gets very cold.  Cover outdoor primulas with light straw.

FRUIT

Check stored fruit often for spoilage and discard any rotting fruits.

TREES, SHRUBS AND ROSES

Take cuttings of lavender, pyracantha, sumac, spirea, mock orange, wiegela, wisteria, and robinia.  Place cuttings in a mixture of ½ peat and ½ perlite.  Insert small stakes into the pot to act as supports.   Place plastic bags over the tops of the pots and sink them into sand or soil inside a cold frame situated out of direct sun or in shade .  The cuttings should root over the winter.

NOVEMBER GARDENING CALENDAR

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NOVEMBER GARDENING CALENDAR

GENERAL

Early in the month, prepare beds for next spring’s early crops; add manure and trench into furrows to receive frost (this will break down and lighten/feed the soil).

Check over which varieties of flowers and vegetables you liked or disliked, which ones did well, and make a note of it.  Keep records up to date.  Check stores of fruits and vegetables and discard spoiling ones.  Clean all your tools, oil wooden handles and replace cracked ones.  Drain gas and oil out of lawnmower for winter.

VEGETABLES

Finish planting garlic, shallots, and Egyptian walking onions.

Have row covers ready for remaining crops in the field; also have covers ready for cold frames.    Carefully store row covers before winter; make sure the fabric is dry before folding and storing.

Early in the month, if not done earlier, harvest and store cabbages.  To store them, turn them upside down to dry, take off extra leaves and place them in a trench of sand and cover with a wet-proof cover open at both ends to keep them dry.  Close the ends of your cover with straw when frosty.  Also, to store beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, salsify for winter: dry and cut tops off.  Dig a pit in a dry place if possible.  Put down 2 inches of sand, then roots, then more sand, alternating.  Then cover with sand again and straw to protect them.

Admit air to cold frames and greenhouse on sunny days; pick off any mildewed or moldy leaves.  Force asparagus in hotbeds.  Manure outdoor asparagus and rhubarb to 4 inches deep.  Weed onions, leeks, spinach, mache, cresses.  In frames: when it is cold, cover lettuces, cabbages, etc.  Harvest late and frame–grown cabbage, spinach, carrots, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.

FLOWERS

Finish dividing and replanting perennials before winter freeze-up.  Transplant seedling perennials and flowers into flats; keep them in a cold frame or cold greenhouse.  Mulch primroses, bleeding hearts, and any marginally hardy perennials with pine or fir branches.  Pot up double daisies; keep in frames.  Move potted flowers to frames to protect them from heavy rains.  Take and root cuttings of Pulsatilla.

Cut back established pansies, collect violet seed, continue to ventilate frames.  Prepare pansy and violet beds for planting.

Finish planting bulbs out and plant bulbs to be forced in pots.  Weed bulb beds and spread bone meal if not done last month.  Put poultry netting over newly planted tulips, crocus and hyacinths to discourage squirrels.

In the greenhouse admit air; the plants will be at rest.  Keep foliage dry, do not over water or not at all!  If mold appears, dust with sulfur.  Plunge pots of border auriculas, primroses and carnations up to the rims into gravel or soil in a frame.  Be sure to give air.  Cover frames if frosty and cold, letting no sun shine on them when frozen.  If you have bulbs, perennials, roses or shrubs growing in pots outside, be sure to sink them up to the rims into soil, sawdust or gravel to protect them from cold over winter.

FRUIT

Weed fruiting shrubs, add manure to raspberry beds.  Finish storing apples, pears, etc.  Clean all leaves and mummy fruit around trees to prevent disease and discourage insects.  Sow seeds of fruit trees and rootstocks.  Make hardwood cuttings of Prunus and Vitis cultivars.

TREES, SHRUBS AND ROSES

Finish planting deciduous shrubs and trees.  Layer clematis, divide Mahonias; take cuttings of lavender, Forsythia, Rubus and lilacs.

OCTOBER GARDENING CALENDAR

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OUR PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS A BLOOM OF ‘DART’S DASH’

A RUGOSA ROSE FROM THE 1930s

GENERAL

Bring in any remaining vegetables to ripen, or cover them with a row cover designed to take frosts into the mid-20s.  Plant bulbs, wildflower mixes and hardy annuals.  Harvest apples and pears, and sow seeds of hardy trees and shrubs.

VEGETABLES

Have row covers ready for tender plants that might succumb to fall frosts.  Crops can still be harvested in cold frames and under row covers into November.  Ventilate plants in frames and give air and water freely.  When it is cold, cover with mats or straw and do not let the sun shine on an open frame full of frozen plants.

Finish digging potatoes early in the month in case we get a heavy frost.

Harvest Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, spinach and herbs.  Harvest and store cabbages late in the month: Turn them upside down to dry, take off extra leaves and place them in a trench of sand and cover with a wet-proof cover open at both ends to keep them dry.  Close the ends with straw when frosty.  Thin spinach and lettuce planted last month.  If you have protected your pepper plants from frosts and heavy frost is on the way, pull up the plants and hang them upside down to ripen fruits.  Harvest ripe squash and pumpkins, leaving a one to one and a half inch stem.  Dig, divide and transplant garlic and shallots.  Hang onions to dry in an airy cool place.  Cut asparagus and perennial herbs back before winter.  Carrots may be left in the ground and covered with two feet of straw, leaves or peat moss to pick as needed most of the winter.

FLOWERS

Plant bulbs this month, finishing by November 1; give a top dressing of bone meal to the previous season’s bulbs beds.  Divide and replant peonies and plant wildflower seed.

Divide perennials late in the month, after cool weather begins, into November.  Sow seeds of late-blooming perennials (to sprout in spring).  Trim lavenders and other shrubby herbs to a few inches and give them a light dressing of manure.

If not already done, dig tuberoses, dahlias, amaryllis, glads and other tender bulbs.  Spread them out to dry in a warm room, clean off hair roots and decaying foliage and pack them up in dry boxes of sawdust.  Keep your bulbs in a cool, dark, dry, frost-free location.  Weed established bulb beds and spread bone meal as a top dressing.

 

 

FRUIT

Harvest apples and pears for storage when the trees are dry.   To test for ripeness gently twist fruit gently one way or the other.  If it comes off easily it is ready to pick.  Place harvested fruit in heaps in a shed to dry further for 10 to 14 days.  Examine each fruit for bruises, which will cause rot in storage.  Wipe each one dry, wrap in paper and store in barrels; or, wipe dry and place in dry sand in the barrels.  Keep in a cool, dry cellar away from frost.

TREES, SHRUBS AND ROSES

Transplant trees, shrubs and fruit trees late in month.

Watch for leafhoppers on roses and spray before severe frosts occur to get last generation before winter.  To protect tender roses over the winter in cold areas, mound each plant with soil about 6 inches deep and place a layer of evergreen branches over that.  In the spring the soil can be removed gradually, about an inch at a time.  In the spring, uncover the plants gradually.  Use a gentle jet of water from a hose once a week or so, finishing about May 20.   If a heavy late frost threatens, place the evergreens over the crown of the plant again, removing them when weather warms.

 

FALL IS FOR PLANTING TREES, SHRUBS, ROSES AND WILDFLOWER SEED!

 

 

 

 

A GARDEN FOR POLLINATORS

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A GARDEN FOR POLLINATORS

 

Some plants are pollinated by wind, others by water and some are even self-pollinating.  However, most flowering plants depend on bees, birds, flies, beetles, butterflies or other creatures to pollinate their flowers.  In recent years pollinators have declined in numbers worldwide, due to destruction of their native habitats or have had their numbers reduced by pesticide use.  We can help preserve and increase numbers of pollinators by creating safe, productive homes for them around our own homes, without pesticides and with less water.

The size of a pollinator garden can be based on the space available, but even a small plot or containerized garden can provide habitat for several species.  Imitate the natural native landscape as a guide to the design of your garden.  A sunny area with good drainage is best.  To provide nesting places, leave or add logs, tree stumps, rocks, and piles of branches.  Standing dead trees are excellent habitat for mason bees, woodpeckers and owls.  A spot of bare soil will help certain pollinator species: for butterflies, provide a moist, muddy depression so they can drink and feed on minerals in the soil.  A sprinkle of sea salt will provide even more minerals.

A garden planted with native plants is probably the best way to encourage all our pollinators.  Double or “improved” flowers with no pollen or nectar are of no use to them and non-native plants are less likely to offer food for young.   Since pollinators are present from early spring through late fall, try to plant a variety of plant types (shrubs, perennials and annuals) so you will have flowers all season.  Plant in groups of several plants of each species, as you would see in nature.  Planting a native wildflower mix will provide a good range of plant species and will provide color all season.

Bumblebees can tolerate cooler temperatures than other bees and appear early to feed on golden currant (Ribes aureum), service berries (Amelanchier alnifolia), and chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).   Bumblebees nest in abandoned rodent burrows, under logs, rocks, or even under grass clippings.  Most native bees prefer yellow, blue and purple flowers.  Green sweat bees and leaf-cutter bees prefer aster-like flowers such as sunflowers, gaillardia and coneflowers.  Orchard mason bees emerge early and are very efficient pollinators of fruit trees; native plants they prefer include penstemon, astragalus, chokecherry, and serviceberry.

Montana has 220 species of native butterflies.  It is a good idea to provide both nectar-rich flowers and plants for their eggs and larvae.  For example, the beautiful yellow and black two-tailed swallowtail butterfly lays its eggs on serviceberry leaves.  Branches, leaf litter, bark and rocks provide winter cover for butterfly eggs, larvae, or pupae.

 

Moths are also excellent pollinators.  You might have seen the striped sphinx moths appear around dusk to feed on evening primrose or honeysuckle.  Some other Montana native insect pollinators are flower beetles, hover flies and pollen wasps.  Pollen wasps have antennae with bulbs or “clubs” on the ends and do not bite humans; they live on pollen and make mud nests on twigs or rocks.

Hummingbirds are beautiful, tenacious creatures that transport pollen over long distances.  Three species of hummingbirds (rufous, black-chinned and calliope) migrate to Montana every season.  Hummingbirds prefer tubular-shaped flowers, such as native orange honeysuckle, monarda and penstemon, but will feed on many species that offer nectar.