Fall Color Choices

Set aside some time now to enjoy the seasonal changes. Take a break from fall clean up, and make a few colorful changes to your home landscape. While your garden is almost done and things are slowing down, you can add a new look around your home by choosing some of the following for some easy and instant colorful changes.

Ornamental kale: easy care and can last well into the winter if planted in the ground. Plus it is native to North America, easy to grow and can reach eighteen inches in height. It likes well drained soil and thrives in temperatures below fifty degrees. Kale has lacey and feathery leaves ranging in color from green to red to white depending on the variety. Ornamental cabbage has similar traits but its leaves are wavy edged, and form rosettes with pink, purple, red, or white centers.

Fall pansies have gained popularity over the years. They add a punch of color to the earth tones of the rest of the fall landscape. They are easy to find at your local garden center. Choose compact plants with deep green foliage. Plant in well-drained, rich soil in a sunny to partly-shady location. Deadhead blossoms to extend flowering. These cool-weather lovers can actually make it through frosts and even single-digit temperatures. Some may surprise you with their return in the spring.

Chrysanthemums are the popular choice for fall color. They come in a variety of single and bi-colored blooms, and there are as many as thirteen different kinds of flowers- cushion, daisy, and pom-pom are common. Mums are a wise choice for instant color. Most come in decorative containers. Just take them home and display. Mums are disease and pest resistant, and they make a big statement with little effort. For the adventurous mums can be planted in the ground or left in their containers and stored in a garage for planting in the spring.

Pumpkins, you can pick your own, or find plenty at a road side stand, garden center or even the grocery store. It would not be fall without pumpkins, cider, and hayrides. Choose one with a firm skin with no soft spots and uniform, deep orange color. A nice firm green stem makes a pumpkin really stand out. Make sure it has a flat bottom so it can sit up by itself. Wait to carve it, cut pumpkins last only a short time. Better yet, pick some up for decoration now and go later for your jack-o-lanterns, giving you an excuse for another fun day at a local pumpkin patch.

For more information on any home horticulture topic, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at (570) 963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County

Emerald Ash Borer Moving toward NE PA

Forty-three counties are now under a quarantine intended to prevent the spread of the invasive, tree-killing Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The PA Dept. of Agriculture’s quarantine area stretches from the Ohio border to Columbia, Lycoming, Northumberland, and Tioga counties in the northern half of the state and Cumberland, Franklin, and Perry farther south. To our east, the pest is in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Emerald Ash Borer beetles can kill an ash tree within three years and so they pose a serious threat to Pennsylvania’s nation-leading hardwoods industry, which contributes nearly $25 billion to the state’s economy.

We all are asked not to move ash nursery, green lumber, and any other ash material, including logs, stumps, roots and branches, from the quarantine area. Because it is difficult to distinguish between species of hardwood firewood, all hardwood firewood and wood chips—including ash, oak, maple and hickory—are considered quarantined. Here are some simple every day ways that you can help protect our urban, suburban, and forested areas:

• Buy and burn only locally cut firewood (within 50 miles of its source).
• Already have firewood from another area? BURN IT. Do not leave it. Do not take it with you.
• Keep an eye out for EAB in your area.

Emerald Ash Borer adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly only from early May until September. Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees. When they emerge as adults, they leave D-shaped holes in the bark about one-eighth inch wide.

People who suspect they have seen Emerald Ash Borer should call the department’s toll-free pest hotline at 1-866-253-7189. For more information, visit Penn State’s EAB website at http://ento.psu.edu/extension/trees-shrubs/emerald-ash-borer; the National EAB website at http://www.emeraldashborer.info/; or contact your local cooperative extension office. In Lackawanna County ask for the Garden Help line at 963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu


Terry Schettini, Extension Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County

The A B Cs of Fall Gardening

A is for Assessing and Analyzing

• What worked well this year? Was there a type of plant or vegetable that grew well, were there disappointments? We had a very dry year, some things survived the drought. In comparison, last year we had too much rain. Making notes of the strengths and weakness of your gardening efforts and then reviewing them in the Spring will help make your garden successful and enjoyable. Consider making a photo record too, digital pictures are easy to take and transfer to your computer, along with notes, and resources.
• Have you had a soil test recently? Whether you are planting perennials, annuals, bulbs, or lawns, the nutrients are depleted over time. Fall is the perfect time to have the soil tested and amended so it will produce the best results for you. Soil test Kits are available for $9.00 at the Penn State Extension office.

B is for Bulbs and Birds

• “Bulbs” is an inclusive term describing a variety of fleshy underground matter that includes true bulbs like tulips, corms such as crocus, and rhizomes for example: lily of the valley and bearded iris. Spring flowering bulbs need full sun, well drained soil, but only minimal care. These bulbs, once they start to show, serve as reminders that better and nicer days are ahead. Years of selection and breeding have provided spectacular color and disease resistant varieties.
  
• There are approximately thirty-five species of birds that can be seen in your yard in the winter time. Think about a family project of attracting birds and caring for them during the harsh months of the year. With the right feed and feeders, birds will provide entertainment, action and color. Bird watching, indentifying, and journaling them are good ways to pass the dreary days of winter. So take some time in the fall to select a good feeder, provide shelter and water for them.

C is for Cleaning and Composting

• As the growing season slows down, less time is required to maintain the home landscape. Now is a good time to clean up while the weather is still nice. Take some time to edge around your plantings, remove any weeds and take out any insect eggs, nests, and debris. Taking them out now will prevent hundreds of seeds germinating in the Spring. Trim back any damaged limbs and branches. Sanitize and oil all your garden tools to prevent disease and corrosion. While you should continue to mow your grass, remember your mower should also be prepared properly for the winter. Change the oil and filter; check the plug, and lastly, drain the fuel. Doing all of this will extend the life of the mower and improve its performance.
• Your way of recycling naturally: start a compost pile with grass clippings and spent plants as you clean up your vegetable garden. You can also add the used potting soil from your container plantings. With the onslaught of falling leaves, they can be shredded with your mower and added to the compost pile too.
  

For more or specific information on fall garden care and other topics, please contact the Penn State Master Garden helpline at (570) 963- 6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County