Our season is changing quickly now.  28 degrees overnight made for a fine fog this morning.  We finally had that first hard frost that I dread.  It is suddenly too cold to be outside-unless you are working.  Buck has drained the pool. I have chopped back every perennial on the property.  The roses look ridiculous without their perennial friends; they are such awkward and gangly growing things. The garden has an air of resignation about it.  At least the tulips are planted.  I am as busy planting pots with bulbs as I am redoing the shop for the holidays. Having one foot in winter and another in the spring to come is a way of coping with the winter that is surely on its way here.  I have occasionally planted left over tulips in crates for the spring, but this year I planned ahead.  The shop will have lots of pots of all manner of bulbs come spring.  I bought tulip mixes, grape hyacinth mixes, white daffodil mixes-even trout lilies. Some pots I will layer-my first time trying that.  Fortunately the garage here is of considerable size, so all the pots will have an unheated but indoor space for the winter.    

My Tuscan kale pots rank up there as one of my most favorite annual plantings.  Mandevillea does just fine left to its own devices.  Plectranthus and kale are stiff and solid growers; the swirling vines lightened that heavy look. They grew such that the pots looked small-this I liked.

Plectranthus has no tolerance for frost whatsoever-as you can see. It is dramatically unhappy with the turn of events. Even that cold tolerant kale looks defeated.  Overnight the thick stems and felted leaves have turned to mush. My once handsome pots look like a compost pile. I looked at this for a few days before emptying the pots.  Buck asked me if I was hoping they would perk up-this made me laugh.  Maybe I was. 

If a leaf is chilled below the dew point of the surrounding air, and that surface is colder than freezing, frost will form. Frost-scientists call this spicules of ice that grow out from that surface. Sounds bad, doesn’t it?  If there is a wind, frost arrows might form.  Hoarfrost refers to those white ice crystals you see deposited here on this kale.  Heat loss from these leaves makes their surface colder than the surrounding air; the water in the air condenses, and freezes. 

Air hoar, surface hoar, crevasse hoar, depth hoar, advection or wind frost, frost flowers, rime-of course there is plenty of scientific discourse on the subject.  Plectranthus, like tomatoes, is killed by frost.  Hardy perennials shed their leaves, go dormant, and survive freezing.  Evergreens shrug off the freeze and stay green throughout the winter.  The needle like foliage helps to conserve moisture during that time when the roots cannot take up water. The survival mechanisms of hardy plants are amazing.

Trees can be damaged over the winter from frost.  Very cold air temperatures on a very sunny day can result in frost crack to the bark.  When the grapes on the pergola here at the shop were young, we wrapped the bark in white tree wrap.  This helped to reflect the heat of the sun on a cold January day.  Now that they are better than 10 years old, the vines seem to withstand our winter weather without injury.

The walk across the lawn this morning-crunch, crunch.

Though I do not talk about it much, a considerable amount of my time is spent as an administrator.  Though I would much rather be designing anything-a topiary sculpture, a series of containers,  a pergola, flowers for a wedding, a series of steel pots, a landscape, a vignette in the shop, a perennial garden, I am in fact a small business owner.  My simple version of what business ownership means to me can be summarized as follows.  My love of landscape and gardens, my interest in people who have the inclination to garden, my need to create-my plan is that my business enchants my clients, and sustains the evolution and expression of my entire group.

Sustenance is a word fraught with meaning to every gardener.  Healthy soil sustains everything that roots into it. Countless plants provide sustenance-grapes, tomatoes, chard, cauliflower, potatoes, corn.  The farmers in this country feed lots of people-I am grateful to them for the cippolini onions, garlic, chard, beet greens and tomatoes I bought last Saturday at market.  Sufficient water encourages new trees and shrubs to root.    I am particularly interested in my clients having success with their landscapes, their gardens, their pots, as I know they will get sustenance of some kind from it if they stick with it. 

I am sustained in no small part by my banker Linda Saperstein. For years she has made the administration of my business easier via National City Bank. I am a very small business, but she has always treated me with spot on attention and respect.  NCB has now become PNC bank- she did not skip a beat. I got lots of help from her, handling that change.   I had a letter/question from the bank; call our 800 number, it said.  20 unsuccessful minutes later, I called Linda. Never call the PNC 800line, she tells me today.  That’s what I’m for.  Call 1-800-Linda, ok?  She not only handled my request, she made me laugh. 

I have been thinking about her all day. I love how willing, able and available she is.  Our European shipper will collect everything Rob purchased; Linda electronically transferred the funds needed to their bank.  The process of collection, packing and shipping from overseas begins when the shipper has the funds to pay Rob’s bills.  Linda made that happen with dispatch.  Should you be interested in a banker who answers her phone and knows your name, call Linda Saperstein at PNC Bank.  As far as I am concerned, PNC Bank’s real name is Linda Saperstein.

My fall is in full swing; it was cold and blustery all day today.  I come to work sporting at least 3 layers.  My office door at home is open all evening so the corgis can come and go as they please-not tonight.  Too cold.  The leaves are starting to turn color in earnest; the lindens at the shop are so beautiful this time of year, dressed all in that intense citron shade of yellow.

I have written before about how limited a fall plant palette can be.  But in fact, limitations can spark some some imaginative solutions.  There are times when I have so many choices that all the time I spend so much time considering the options makes what I eventually choose looks exhausted-this would be a spring scenario.  These fall pots have the expected yellow and orange pansies, but get their volume from birch twigs and preserved eucalyptus. Not all natural materials have roots, and need water.        

Ornamental cabbage and kale, and pansies are fall staples.  But who wants to look at staples? My farmer’s market has no end of natural materials-the bittersweet and pumpkins in this window box add so much to the cabbage and pansies.  One of my most favorite fall materials-romanesco broccoli.  The lime green florets are of an astonishing configuration; the swirling leaves add a little sass to any staple fare. I have placed these broccoli heads in pots, and used then as finials on fence posts.  What is your idea?   

Broom corn is just that-a plant which when harvested can provide material for brooms.  The fresh stems at market are beautiful and colorful, and you can be assured they will last the entire fall. I am crazy for tuscan kale and ornamental cabbage, but this fountain of broom corn in the center makes the whole arrangement look like a substantial celebration of fall.  

Dusty miller is an underused plant for fall pots.  It regularly survives the winter in my zone.  The silver color is great in the fall-but should you not have access to tall plants, your pots could get a big leg up from some preserved  spiral eucalyptus. Though not one bit hardy in my zone, eucalyptus takes well to preserving, and color.  The dusty miller and pansies in these pots get a big dose of emphasis from a central mass of eucalyptus preserved and dusted with white.     

I have no objection to a fall planting that makes much of the fruits of the harvest, or other natural materials.  My fall season is short, and brusque.  This means that I do not object to materials for fall pots that do not have roots-I actually welcome the diversity they represent. The creeping jenny in these pumpkin pots had beeen there all seaason-I saved  them.  Creating a fall planting from 4 great pumpkins with outstanding stems, and loads of mini pumpkins and gourds was great fun. A container whose surface is planted flat with mixed pansies does not entertain my eye nearly as much as this does.  

Gardeners need some entertainment in the fall.  The closing of the season is not my favorite time.  I am cutting back, cleaning out, and cleaning up. Some fall containers with great color and texture can make the changing of the seasons a little less distressing. 

These antique urns flanking the front door of the shop have not one thing in them with roots. White glazed birch branches and preserved green eucalyptus are a centerpiece for a collection of green and white gourds. This “planting” celebrates the end of the season.  I hate to give air time to my disappointment that the season is changing, and moving towards winter.  I would rather do my best to create a little excitement about the moment.  

Those of you who live in temperate climates-I do not envy you.  I truly like the end of a season as much as I like the beginning.  I like being limited, and challenged. This is part of what is the great fun-should you decide to be a northern gardener.