Fall traditions for the garden

Maritta Perry Grau
Frederick County Master Gardener

(10/1) Fall decorations. Golds. Browns. Yellows. Oranges. Rooting for grandson and others at local high school football and soccer games (Go, Adam! Go, Brian!), yelling for the Orioles’ finals, cheering on the Redsk—er, Commanders. Switching from short sleeves to long sleeves and sweaters, capris to long jeans. Ghosts, witches, colorful leaves hung around the house, and fall-themed decorations in the windows. Carving pumpkins. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin log rolls. Apple cider and homemade ginger snaps. Pumpkin latte. Putting up dancing ghosts around the cherry tree in the front yard.

I love fall traditions.

But besides the traditions of games, good eats and drinks, wardrobe and household changes, traditions of a different nature extend to our fall yard and garden.

We’ve brought in a few herb cuttings or plants, such as basil, rosemary, thyme, and parsley. We’ll also pot up to overwinter inside, some of summer’s decorative plants: angel wing begonias, coleus, geraniums, and tender succulents.

We’ve dug up and are drying out caladium, elephant ear roots, and calla and canna lilies to store in a dark netted storage bin in the cool basement. I always make sure to bag and carefully label daffodil bulbs, which are poisonous, and never store them where they might be confused with onions. Favored colors of zinnia, marigolds, and celosia seedheads have been gathered, dried and stored for spring planting.

And it looks like we’re adding a new tradition this year: getting rid of the Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima. You’ve probably read about this horribly invasive tree already. Peek around in your own garden, and you’ll probably spy it popping up in lots of places, even after you’ve repeatedly cut it down. Unfortunately, cutting it down is a bit like cutting down thistles or pulling up bind weed vines—the roots that remain in the ground send up even more shoots.

From various web sites, I’ve learned that Tree of Heaven can grow as much as 15 feet in one year and is able to grow in all kinds of soil, even in sidewalk cracks. Not only that, but it produces a lot of pollen which can cause allergies, and its leaves, branches, seeds and bark all can irritate the skin. It’s also allelopathic—that is, it produces a chemical that may kill off other plants near it. And if all that weren’t enough, it is the main host for the also horrific, invasive spotted lanternfly, which in turn destroys many crops and other plants.

So how do we add getting rid of this tree to our fall (really, year-round in this case!) traditions? Well, first, if the plant is quite small, we dig it up, trying to make sure to get all the roots. Web sites advise that if the tree is big enough that you have to saw it, you should try to cut it down as close to the ground as you can. Be ready to immediately apply a systemic herbicide to the cut surface.

According to thespruce.com, you have to apply the herbicide within five minutes after cutting the tree, because "otherwise, the surface will have closed up and the herbicide won’t penetrate the tissue." goes on to advise that you check the stump periodically, always removing any new growth, followed by the systemic herbicide each time. It may be several months before the Tree of Heaven finally dies.

While other chores include removing any diseased plants and debris from our garden beds and trimming back irises, lavender, and coreopsis, we don’t cut down the coneflowers and black-eyed Susans or rake the garden beds bare of all plants and leaves. Our beds may look a little messy to non-gardeners, but the seedheads of various flowers provide lots of food for overwintering birds, Just last week early one morning I saw six yellow finches feeding on the coneflower seedheads next to our front porch.

In addition, leaving at least some debris to disintegrate on the garden beds is another way of protecting our beneficial pollinators--garden insects and birds. Some insects will lay eggs in the hollow stems of plants; some under the leaves; some in the soil. In bad weather, while birds may take shelter in trees and shrubs, they also seek shelter and food (yes, they’ll eat some of the beneficial insects/larvae, but also lots of predators) in piles of garden debris such as tree/shrub trimmings of branches and logs, perhaps tidied away in a far corner of the yard.

I have always loved the exuberance of an English cottage garden, but I must admit the chrysanthemums, Russian sage, black-eyed Susans, bee balm, lambs’ ear, irises, and other plants that crowd the beds make it hard to weed, especially when bind weed and morning glory vines get so entwined in the masses of perennials. The Old Coach is advocating now for a tidier, more formal garden with fewer and smaller plants and more space between individuals. With that plan, he says, it will be easier to spot the vines and eliminate them before they are climbing all over the perennials. Hmmm. He may be right. But…oh, I do love that cottage garden style!

Finally, one more tradition to sort out is how we put our lawn to bed for the winter. Did you know that Maryland has a lawn fertilizer law? It states that residents may not apply fertilizers that contain phosphorus or nitrogen to our lawns between November 15th and March 1st, and soil tests are required before applying phosphorus. And why? To protect the quality of our water—too much nitrogen in our water sources is not healthy for us.

So, if you feel the need to fertilize your lawn, you have only a few weeks left in which to make those applications. You are still allowed to apply potassium and lime, as the state does not consider those chemicals a threat to water quality. An exception to the November/March blackout is made for licensed lawn-care professionals, who are allowed to "apply up to 0.5 pounds of soluble or insoluble nitrogen per 1,000 square feet" of lawn up through the end of November, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

And looking ahead to winter, the Maryland State Department notes that we are not supposed to use fertilizer products to melt ice or snow from steps, driveways, sidewalks, etc., for much the same reasons as applying phosphorus and nitrogen to the lawn: it affects the quality of the water we all use. "Applying fertilizer to hard or frozen ground provides a direct pathway for nutrient runoff into storm drains that feed into the Chesapeake Bay."

Although I have recommended the use of corn gluten on lawns in the past, I have recently learned that it is no longer recommended. According to an article by Debra Ricigliano for the University of Maryland Extension Service, "Corn gluten is … not recommended for use on Maryland lawns for weed prevention because the recommended rate for weed control would exceed the amount of nitrogen allowed by the Fertilizer Use Act of 2011."