Horticulture Tips: Autumn Edition
After nearly a year of planning, the zoo’s horticulture team is ready to transform the zoo’s grounds for autumn! It’s important for us to plan ahead and coordinate with our plant providers well in advance to make sure that we’re able to get the variety and quantity of plants that we select. We source our plants from three outstanding local nurseries: Genuardi Gardens & Greenhouses in Norristown, The Rhoads Garden in North Wales, and Behmerwald Nursery in Schwenksville. Those plants will live both in containers and in the ground throughout the zoo this fall.
Pansies are a cool-weather flower and do a great job of filling in for our spent marigolds and petunias (They’re also edible! Add some flowers to your salad for a healthy dose of rutin, which strengthens capillary walls and helps prevent varicose veins). We’ve had three growing seasons to test and refine our pansy selection since the horticulture department’s inception in 2015. Certain cultivars thrive in the zoo’s environment more than others (your mileage may vary!). We’ve found that the solid yellow and orange varieties tend to fade quickly, while the Delta and Matrix have shown greater longevity. These are patented varieties of pansy that have been bred for large blooms, heat tolerance, a branching growth habit, and reliable color throughout the late summer and autumn. We’re especially fond of the Matrix Yellow Blotch because – appropriately enough – it resembles a jaguar’s spots. Our team is looking forward to trying the Matrix Raspberry Sundae Mixture for the first time this year. Regular deadheading will keep these plants looking tidy and promote blooming throughout the entire growing season. Just a few minutes a day is all you need to sustain happy, vibrant flowers. Pansies are capable of overwintering in the ground nicely. We’ve observed that more than 50% of the zoo’s pansies planted in the fall return the following spring, which saves us both time and money. For the best chance of survival, beds should be covered before storms to protect from heavy ice and snow. Regular mulch will do the job or, if you’re feeling festive, you can give your Christmas tree a second life: save its branches and keep them on hand for when you see a storm in the forecast.
Chrysanthemums, or mums, have plentiful long-lasting blooms and are perfect for providing color and drama to your garden through the late fall. They’re a major component of the zoo’s seasonal displays. Although they can be perennial in our hardiness zone if planted correctly (in the spring and in well-drained soil), we have no expectations for them to return next year. Many of the mums you may see in stores now have been indoors for their entire lives and are forced to bloom early. Therefore, they don’t have enough energy left over to grow roots and establish themselves before going dormant. Without a strong root system, plants cannot withstand the winter’s brutal freeze-thaw cycles and will be pushed out of the soil. This is called frost heaving and you can clearly see its effects on our pitiful Pennsylvania roads.
For our photo ops, we’ll include corn stalks donated by the Norristown Farm Park, hay bales, and purple millet grass. These will help fill in the displays and make the bright colors of the pumpkins and mums pop.
Our team is excited to create a brand new pollinator garden behind the scenes this fall. The zoo currently maintains two beehives which are not yet on exhibit, but their resident honey bees could frequently be found on our main path collecting nectar and pollen during the summer. Although they’re capable of traveling miles away from their hives, we’re happy to provide a reliable food source in their direct vicinity. Any well-planned garden will offer year-round visual interest. Similarly, an effective pollinator garden incorporates plants with staggered bloom times to ensure a steady supply of nectar and pollen throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Coral bells, coneflowers, goldenrod, and asters will help the bees to do their job of preparing honey to sustain the hive through the winter.
Written by Lindsay Friedenberg, EPZ horticulture staff
Plant Tips for Fall from a Horticulturalist
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” (origin unknown).
Labor Day and the beginning of the school year are bittersweet signs that summer is coming to an end, but the arrival of fall brings the opportunity to make big moves and get some quality time in the garden. In a series of upcoming posts, we’ll explore the horticultural team’s fall plans as well as growing winter vegetables, spring bulbs, shrubs & trees, and turf and cover crops during the months ahead. Autumn leaves are falling, and they lend the perfect backdrop and ambiance to your time spent in the garden.
We understand how tempting it is to add some life and color to your landscape as soon as the weather warms up in the spring, but unfortunately, gardening prematurely in wet conditions can lead to major setbacks. To understand why, we’ll need to zoom in and take a look at the soil. It may not appear too exciting on the surface, but there is an entire universe hidden beneath our feet. Soil is an incredibly lively and productive ecosystem with countless bacteria, fungi, and fauna forming a life-supporting structure capable of decomposing organic matter, releasing nutrients, and maintaining the ground’s structural integrity. For our purposes, that means a robust medium with plenty of available nutrients and oxygen for our plants. Wet soil becomes compacted when it’s stepped on or worked with, which squashes those important air pockets and makes it more difficult for roots to grow. Plants in compacted soil are trying harder to survive and have less energy to create flowers and bountiful foliage.
Many diseases need moisture to spread, so it’s wise to avoid working with even well-established plants while they’re wet. As a rule, we only deadhead at the zoo when the garden beds are dry in order to avoid inadvertently transmitting pathogens from one plant to another with our gloves or tools. This is also a good reason to avoid watering your plants at night, when they are unable to dry quickly under the sun.
The cool and comfortable weather of fall is a relief for us humans working outside, and the plants enjoy it too! There is still a fair amount of rain, but it isn’t excessive enough to waterlog the gardens. Cooler temperatures help to mitigate transplant shock. Plants purchased this time of year are bigger and stronger than spring seedlings (plus they’re usually sold at a discount so that nurseries don’t have to protect them over the winter). New fall plants still have several months to grow in the ground before they go dormant, and by the time the next spring arrives, they will have adapted to their new surroundings. Their roots are ready to absorb those persistent spring showers, which promotes vigorous growth and the ability to handle scorching summer heat with aplomb. Overall, the survival rate for big plants established in the fall is higher than those installed in the spring.
The upcoming months are full of opportunities to do amazing things with your landscape. You’ll be able to appreciate the immediate benefits of gardening, such as exercise and stress relief, while setting yourself up for success in the spring. Stay tuned for more information and tips for how to make the most of this enchanting time of year!
Written by Lindsay Friedenberg
Glosssary
Horticulture – The science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants.
Cover crop – a crop planted primarily to manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife.
Fauna – Animal life.
Deadhead – To remove a faded blossom on a flowering plant.
Pathogens – A specific causative agent (such as a bacterium or virus) of disease.
Transplant shock – The stress or damage received in the process of moving a plant from one location to another.
Seedling – A young plant grown from seed; a nursery plant not yet transplanted.
Dormant – Not actively growing but protected from the environment.