The Garden in September...with Ani Gurnee 

'Pink Magic' Aster

And so it is September already. And amongst the papers, I have come upon the list made last March of all the things I was going to accomplish this summer, of which only one item has been addressed. Another garden season careens irretrievably to a closing, and it is inevitable that most projects will be on next year's list. Frustrating!  

And yet, over the years, it has dawned on me that sometimes this time lag works in my favor. Ideas that evolve and mature over a longer time period actually become much better ideas. When I look back at the original site drawings I did for my garden I can think, "whew! Thank goodness I didn't have the means to head in THAT direction!" This became my stock refrain: that all existing ideas will be that much better for gestating one more winter. So don't chastise yourself! Consider the coming months a bonus of time for the further development and refining of all those thoughts.  

Here are some ideas for the coming month:

• Get out the books and magazines and study each photo for cues about combining forms, textures, colors, and heights. What elements serve to give the whole diversity and unity?
• Drive around and look at what other people have done. Neighborhoods, especially older established areas, are a goldmine of information and a chance to respond viscerally to what attracts you and what does not.
• Move around your garden and study the micro-zones of sun and shade, hot and cool, windy and sheltered, private and public. Where might you develop a special sitting area? Would it more likely be used in the morning? The afternoon? The evening? How many people would it want to accommodate? What is its proximity to the kitchen? Is it right outside the door or does it represent the far point of a journey across the garden? It is often overlooked how the long-term functional success of an outdoor area is so extremely dependent on the details of siting and orientation.
• As for now, think of the dry soil of September as an opportunity to work up the ground, incorporating compost and bark deep into the soil for long-term aeration and loft.  
• Establish a winter cover crop on each vegetable bed as it is harvested.
• Late summer and fall is one time of the year when it's best NOT to prune trees. Pruning can stimulate re-growth that doesn't have a chance to harden off before winter. In the cold, that soft growth dies, rots, and becomes a disease entry point.
• Looking for late color?  Many of the large, robust, extravagant and color-saturated perennials come into their own in the last months of summer. Check out the Echinacea, the Rudbeckias ('Herbstonne' at 7 ft is one of my favorites). Eupatoriums, Veronicastrums, Heleniums, Asters, Monardas, the list is endless. These large plants can shine from the far end of the yard.  Many of them originate in the high-grass prairies of our Midwestern states, as does the grass Panicum virgatum - switchgrass - with which they combine magically.
• Don't short yourself on immediate gratification. Buy that sad little 4-inch pot at the clearance sale that - with a shot of nitrogen - may yet give you six weeks of sweet blossoms. I just discovered Red Perilla (Perilla frutescens). Dark burgundy big frilly leaves - how did I ever miss that one for so long?  Had to have it!  I can walk around with it and explore a hundred different contexts it might be used in before it expires, and next year be ready to grab it up the minute it hits the racks.

And so, you have managed to lean back in your chair for the time it took to read this, and perhaps your eyes are scanning the garden for potential. Enough of bliss, back to work!  Even if that hammock out there under the tree stands only as a symbolic icon of possibility, somehow it is the journey even more than the promised destination that quickens our hearts!  

Ani Gurnee is a popular and greatly-adored guest speaker at the nursery.

Ani is the owner of Aulos Design and she can be reached at 360-445-2028.

Ani will be teaching many gardening classes at Christianson's Nursery in September and October (our Autumn Class Calendar is provided below).  She will also be teaching a six-week class at the  Anacortes Senior College called 'Gardening & Landscaping Basics'. This class runs from October 11 through November 17 and meets Tuesdays from 3:30-5:30 pm. For more information, visit Anacortes Senior College.   

Autumn Sales Events  

September 2 - 15 

Fall is for Planting ~ 30% off

roses, perennials, vines,and hydrangeas

 

September 16 - October 6

Fall is for Planting ~ 30% off 

rhododendrons and azaleas, fruit, flowering and shade trees (7' to 14')

October 7 - 20

Conifer Sale ~ 25% off 

tall and dwarf evergreens including spruce, fir, cypress, pine, juniper

October 21 - 31 

Hedging Sale - 25% off

laurel, boxwood, photinia, Japanese holly, Leyland cypress, privet and arborvitae (to 8')

Grasses: A Symphony of Motion

Have you ever tried to put together a planting with the intent of its looking like a part of nature, and kept feeling that something was missing? Next time you go out in the countryside where the wild flowers are blooming, look closely.  One of the first revelations may very well be that grasses are everywhere. In fact they probably outnumber flowers and are interlaced intricately with everything, the very essence of the scene - the unifying, overarching presence.

The flowering plants do not sit like discreet blobs upon a plane, but arise ephemerally from an unbroken sweep of dense green blades.  Notice that the grasses themselves are in bloom, with a lacy understated delicacy, very different from the other flowers.  Notice also the number of species overall. In a very lush diverse area there may be three or four grass species.  Look at the tranquility they bring to the palette with their subtle variations, their unique textures that, not as isolated specimens, but in mass, draw everything together as a single whole. The jewel colors of the flowers are not pitted harshly again each other but scattered in a restful sea of green.  And observe the degree of animation when the breeze moves across the whole - a symphony of motion that no bed of flowering perennials ever achieves.

Think on these things. To observe the visual role grasses play in the wild may be the window through which they become to you first curious, then interesting, then mesmerizing, and finally, essential.

Ani will be teaching a class at the nursery this Saturday about the amazing variety of ornamental grasses and how to integrate them into your garden. Please join us! 

 'Using Grasses in the Garden'

 11 am - noon 

Saturday, September 10

For class registration, please call us 360-466-3821 (class fee: $5)

Autumn Class Calendar 

Saturday, September 10 

Using Grasses in the Garden

Speaker: Ani Gurnee

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland 

Informational Session with Guest Speaker from SPF 

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm 

Saturday, September 17  

Heavenly Hydrangeas 

Speaker: Marianne Binetti 

11:00 am - 12:30 pm 

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Saturday, September 24  

Revitalize Your Garden Design

Speaker: Ani Gurnee

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Saturday, October 1 - Giant Pumpkin Festival  

Savory Pumpkin Cooking

Speaker: Suzanne Butler 

10:30 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Country Wines: Crafting your own fruit wines from nature's harvest 

Speaker: Bob and Dorcas Toombs from 'My Own Vintage' in Mount Vernon 

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm  

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Sunday, October 2 - Giant Pumpkin Festival     

Tool Care and Maintenance 

Speaker: Ani Gurnee 

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm 

reservations required (class fee: $5)

A mobile tool sharpening service will be at the nursery from

2:30 pm - 5:30 pm so bring your garden tools!

Saturday, October 8    

Trees and Shrubs for Fall & Winter Interest 

Speaker: Ani Gurnee 

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Saturday, October 15   

Preparing Your Garden for Winter 

Speaker: Ani Gurnee 

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Fall Color Garden Walk with John Christianson  

1:00 pm

reservations requested (complimentary)  

Following John's garden walk, plan to have Tea at the Granary served by Margie Hart.
This tea features sandwiches, scones, fruit, and dessert. Call La Conner Flats at 466-3190

to reserve your spot for this popular event ($14 per person). 

Saturday, October 22   

Garden Photography Workshop 

Speaker: John Holtman 

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $5)

Saturday, October 29   

Weaving Rose Hips in Wreaths and Swags  

Speaker: Laura Campbell   

11:00 am - noon

reservations required (class fee: $35)

Fall Berry Garden Walk with John Christianson 

1:00 pm

reservations requested (complimentary)   

Following John's garden walk, plan to have Tea at the Granary served by Margie Hart.  

This tea features sandwiches, scones, fruit, and dessert. Call La Conner Flats at 466-3190

to reserve your spot for this popular event ($14 per person). 

For class reservations, call us at 360-466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200 

To see full class descriptions, please visit the 'Classes & Events' page on our website  

Autumn Events Calendar 

Giant Pumpkin Festival

October 1 and 2

 9 am - 6 pm both days 

Our Giant Pumpkin Festival coincides with the 

 13th Annual Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms 

and will be great fun for all!            
 

Local Food  � Live music � Classes & Activities

Apple Cider Pressing � Tool Sharpening Service 

and of course...  

The Giant Pumpkin Contest!

Saturday October 1  

 
Saturday, October 1

10:30 - noon           Savory Pumpkin Cooking Class
1:30 - 3:00 pm        Country Wine Making Class
11:00 - 2:00 pm      Apple Cider Pressing
1:00 - 4:00 pm        Live Old-Time Music
2:00 - 4:00 pm        Giant Pumpkin Contest Weigh-in
4:00 pm                  Giant Pumpkin Award Winners Announced       
 

Sunday, October 2

1:00 - 2:00 pm       Tool Care and Maintenance Class
2:30 - 5:30 pm       Tool Sharpening Service at the nursery      

Bring your favorite tools to the nursery on October 2
and start the new season with everything in ship shape!

A few words about our Giant Pumpkin Contest...

Giant Pumpkin entries will be accepted:
9 am - 6 pm  Friday, September 30
9 am - 1 pm   Saturday, October 1

Giant Pumpkin Weigh-In:  Saturday, October 1, from 2 pm - 4 pm

Giant Pumpkin Awards:    Saturday, October 1, at 4 pm

$500 cash prize for the largest pumpkin! 

$100 gift certificate for 2nd place and $50 gift certificate for 3rd place

Entry forms for the giant pumpkin festival will be posted on our website in mid-September. One of the contest rules will be that you must provide a photograph of your pumpkin growing in your garden so you can start taking pictures now.

October 1 -29: 4th Annual Scarecrow Contest    

Join in the fun this October as we host a 'Scarecrow Party' in the Propagation Greenhouse. Our Fourth Annual Scarecrow Contest is open to all ages, individuals, families, groups, and businesses. Scarecrow entries will be displayed inside the front area of our Propagation Greenhouse. Nursery visitors will cast their votes for the People's Choice Award and the winning entry will receive a $100 Christianson's Gift Certificate.

• Scarecrow entries must be fully assembled by the entrant(s).
• Entries must be checked in no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, October 17.
• If your scarecrow has perishable parts, it should be submitted closer to October 17.
• Winner need not be present to win.
• Entrant(s) will be asked to pick up their scarecrow between October 30 - 31st.

November 4, 5 and 6:  Holiday Open House and Art's Alive! 2011

We are once again celebrating Art's Alive! with a Holiday Open House , featuring a variety of artists, including Northwest fine artists Jack Dorsey and Kristy Gjesme , as well as handcrafted chicken coops by Tim Chomiak that are truly one-of-a-kind works of art.  There will also be music, holiday decorating demonstrations, and fresh apple cider and molasses cookies. More details to come!

Closing thought...