The growing season is winding down, and it’s time to check on the progress of the border garden we introduced in our May 9 issue. The bed, designed by landscape architect Bob Hursthouse of Hursthouse Landscape Architects and Contractors in Bolingbrook, offers multiseason interest in a small space. The 45-square-foot bed is 15 feet long by 3 to 4 feet deep, with shade on one end and full sun on the other.
In our July 4th issue, we talked with Hursthouse and other designers about ideas for maintaining the border and adding summer interest with annuals, tender tropical plants and bulbs. Now, the border garden is transforming from a blend of blue, pink, white, burgundy and green, to autumn’s gold and russet tones.
As temperatures drop, the fothergilla will offer brilliant shades of red to gold to brown before dropping its leaves. The hosta will become green and gold before melting away with the other perennials after a few hard frosts. The boxwood stays deep green while the clematis leaves become crispy brown and its flowers become silky beige puffs.
Now we take a last look at what needs to be done to get the border ready for winter and keep it looking good.
“I like to see how the perennials do once they get established,” Hursthouse says. “Some will be too happy [and grow out of bounds] and some will not be happy enough.”
After casting a critical eye over the plants — cutting them down, dividing or replacing them if need be — Hursthouse considers spring-blooming bulbs. “There are some natural nooks and crannies in front of the boxwood, fothergilla and the daylilies where you can plunk bulbs in the foreground and between the perennials.”
A little border cleanup also is needed. Disease has been a big problem in local gardens this summer, says landscape designer Marcy Stewart-Pyziak of The Gardener’s Tutor in Manhattan, Ill. It has been a stressful year for plants — a dry spring and a damaging frost in May just as leaves emerged, followed by heavy rains, unseasonably cool weather and late-summer dryness — ripe conditions for fungi to disfigure leaves.
“Fungal leaf spot and mildew has affected many plants,” she says. “You want to cut down diseased plants, plants that are flopping over one another and things you don’t want to reseed, like the campanula,” she says. “I’m cutting back some of my daylilies now to cleanup the border but you do want some things left standing for winter interest.”
“Do a really good fall cleanup to prevent problems next year,” says Doris Taylor, plant information specialist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “Discard the diseased leaves, otherwise the fungus stays in the compost pile.” You can prevent fungal leaf spot and mildew by using a fungicide in spring just as leaves begin to open.
Leave the grasses standing for winter interest. Cut them to the ground in late March. The `Star Gazer’ lily, bleeding heart (Dicentra `Luxuriant’) and campanula can be cut down for fall cleanup, but don’t touch the fothergilla, boxwood or ornamental grasses.
“Boxwood should be trimmed in the spring if it needs it,” Taylor says. “Don’t prune the fothergilla now because that blooms on new wood and you’ll lose next year’s blossoms.”
Garden centers offer several cold-tolerant annuals that can be planted in the border now, says Lynn Russo, horticulturist for Douglas Hoerr Landscape Architecture in Evanston. “Kale, pansies, fall mums, scented geraniums, blue-flowered heliotrope, even the annual sages will hold up well and give you color.” If you don’t have a lot of fall-blooming perennials, now’s the time to shop.”
Russo’s favorite fall perennials include the burgundy-leaved, pink-flowering Sedum matrona. “A lot of the sedums provide winter interest and there’s an abundance of asters that bloom now.” Her aster picks include `October Skies’ for its striking blue blossoms on 30-inch plants and `Jinai,’ with light blue flowers on 4-foot-tall plants. She also recommends the late-blooming cimicifuga (Bugbane) for the border’s shady section.
Once you get the plants in the ground, don’t be tempted to fertilize, Russo says. “You want them to harden off, not encourage new growth.” She recommends mulching the border with mushroom or leaf compost.
You could divide some perennials now, such as the hosta and campanula, says Kathy Riley of Garden Gals, a perennial maintenance service in Wheaton. “You can do this safely until the third week or so in September.” This gives the plants time to establish a good root system.
Riley also recommends planting daffodil bulbs through October. “Everybody loves tulips, but the squirrels love them even more,” Riley says. For this design, Riley suggests the tall `King Alfred’ (yellow) and `Mount Hood’ (white) daffodils. She would plant drifts of bulbs of scilla and muscari in front of the border.
This is a good time to evaluate the garden to see what worked and what could be improved. “In every bed or border, I make sure there is something blooming from April through October,” says garden designer Carol Becker of Sage Advice, a landscape design firm in Park Ridge. “I like a variety of textures and height, but don’t overlook plants for a sensory effect.” Becker uses taller ornamental grasses for sound and movement, fragrant shrubs for scent and occasionally adds edible plants.
One of Becker’s favorite perennials for late-season color is the pink-flowered Anemone `September Charm.’ The fall-blooming anemones can get to be 5 feet tall. They are dramatic late in the season, she says.
The red fountain grass (Pennisetum rubrum) used in the container could remain as is for fall. Silver-leaved dusty miller (senecio), pansies or kale are good choices for a fall planter, she says, as is one small evergreen such as boxwood, although it likely won’t survive winter in the pot.
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Border basics
The plants in Bob Hursthouse’s border garden, which is 15 feet long by 4 to 5 feet wide, are hardy in Chicago’s Zone 5 conditions and offer multiseason interest. They include:
Buxus `Green Mountain’
Campanula glomerata `Joan Elliott’
Clematis `Henryi’
Dicentra `Luxuriant’
Fothergilla gardenii `Beaver Creek’
Geranium x cantabrigiense `Biokovo’
Hemerocallis `Summer Wine’
Heuchera `Plum Pudding’
Hosta `Golden Tiara’
Lilium `Star Gazer’
Pennisetum `Little Bunny’
Sedum kamtschaticum
Fill in the blanks
For seasonal interest through November, container plantings might feature flowering cabbage, red-twig dogwood stems or kale, pansies and ivy. In the ground, fill in openings with kale, pansies and chrysanthemums.
Planning for spring
Narcissus `King Alfred’
Narcissus `Mount Hood’
Muscari
Scilla
Fritillaria
Learn more
Classes are one way to add skills to your gardening repertoire:
– “Fall Garden Care,” 1 to 3 p.m., Sept. 19: Tim Johnson, director of horticulture for the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, will discuss techniques to prepare your garden for fall and winter. Learn more about caring for trees, shrubs, perennials and lawn. Johnson will give pointers on planting shrubs and spring-flowering bulbs. The class will be held at the botanic garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe. Cost: $30 includes parking. To register, call 847-835-8261, or see www.chicagobotanic.org.
– “Fall Flowers and Foliage,” 7 to 9 p.m., Sept. 23: Marcy Stewart-Pyziak, owner of The Gardener’s Tutor in Manhattan, Ill., will show how to develop a palette of plant combinations for multiseason interest. Learn how to blend eye-catching colors and textures in the fall garden. The class will be held at The Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois Route 53, Lisle. Cost: $16 includes parking. To register, call 630-719-2468, or see www.mortonarb.org.
— Nina Koziol
