September in the Garden
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- September
- 26
In many ways, September is my favorite month in the garden. The pressure’s off. There’s stuff to do if you feel like it, or you can just kick back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
The remaining annuals, like these cosmos, have crisp, bright tones this time of year.
You can also be pretty ruthless with your editing this time of year. If something doesn’t look good, just rip it out or cut it back. Powdery mildew on your peonies? Cut off all the foliage and you’re done for the year. Leggy, underperforming petunias? Sorry guys, off to the compost pile with you.
Many of the late summer bloomers, like this butterfly bush, are still going strong.
I also like the wonderful mix of seasons you see this time of year as summer turns to fall.
Summer annuals like cleome …
… sitting right next to fall seedheads, like this Queen Anne’s lace:
… and purple coneflower:
… and globe thistle:
Ah, and let’s not forget the asters, which pop into bloom every September.
These purple ones look really good with goldenrod.
Most of the herbs in my garden still look good in September, too. Do you grow nepeta (catmint)? I can’t get enough of it. It goes from May to October and nothing bothers it.
This is a single nepeta plant that’s about four years old.
I used to cut it back in July to get it to rebloom in late summer. This year, it never stopped blooming. Here’s a closeup of the blooms.
African blue basil has been another favorite this year. Nonstop blooms since May.
Other than peppers and tomatoes, I don’t bother with many vegetables. Lousy year for tomatoes (foliage dieback from the ground right up to the tops of the plants), but good year for peppers. Hot cherry peppers:
I have tons. Any good ideas on what to do with them?
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 8:36 am by Bill Cary.
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Bill Cary grew up in Louisville, Ky. His gardening was limited to growing parsley and impatiens on the windowsill of Manhattan walkups until the mid-1990s when he bought a rundown old chicken farm on 8 acres in the Hudson Valley. Now he spends his weekends chasing deer, hacking away at invasive shrubs and vines and wondering why he doesn`t have more meadow and less lawn.
