In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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September 17, 2007

Summer gardens that extend into fall

Sacramento Bee file/Owen Brewer

It’s that somewhat untidy time of year when I’m itching to get pruning shears in hand and cut things back. But I know I need to stop for a minute, take a step back and look closely at the garden.

There is a kind of stark beauty in the golden stems and black seedpods of coneflowers and black-eyed Susans. The ornamental grasses are in full bloom, and it’s a matter of time before their green blades turn to gold and winter’s rains and winds will bleach them to a pale straw color. The sedum is in full bloom, but in another month or two its brick red flowers will turn cinnamon colored, then black, then gray as a skeleton.

If you grow the right plants, your fall - and winter - garden can be as exciting and colorful as spring and summer. There are scores of perennials that die back gracefully, that are as fetching and beautiful in dormant colors as they are in bloom.

A few of my favorite multi-season perennials include:

Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora stricta): One of the most graceful grasses I know. Its slim, straight blades sway in the slightest breeze. Come winter, the dusky purple inflorescences turn golden atop green blades.
Yarrow(Achillea): I prefer the tall, clumping sorts like Coronation Gold. The sunny and golden yellow flowers hold their color for weeks, and then turn a golden yellow color. No matter how much rain beats down on them, they stand up.
Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa): A woody shrub that sends up tall stems with whorls of yellow flowers. Once the petals fall away, the seed capsules are left. Good in dry arrangements.
Maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis gracillimus): Blades turn golden yellow in fall. Doesn’t need to be cut back until new growth peeks out in January.
Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): Drooping pink petals and spiky orange cones gradually turn brown, then blacken as winter sets in. Striking with ornamental grasses.
Black eye- Susan:(Rudbeckia sp.) Stems turn dark brown, seed heads even darker. Great with ornamental grasses.
Sedum Autumn Joy: My all time favorite for all year interest. Starts out with green rosettes peeking out of the ground in the spring. makes tall clumps of succulent green foliage, then in autumn produces brick red flowers that turn cinnamon color, then blacken, then bleach out to gray by winter's end.

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