Sept. 28-Oct. 4: In the garden, it’s time to…
Now that the weather has started to cool down, at least at night, it's OK to divide perennials, especially hostas.
Appreciate the ivy for once in your life. I know I've spent time the past few years talking about cleaning vines out of your trees, but right now that ivy is bursting into full bloom and surrounded by bees and butterflies. That's because the annoying invasive evergreen ground cover is actually the juvenile form. When it reaches adulthood, especially if it climbs trees or walls, it changes form, eventually becoming a shrub-like shape with round leaves and tons and tons and tons of flowers, which are truly loved by — at least in my yard — at least seven kinds of bees and four different butterflies.
Handle your hostas. Now that the weather has started to cool down, at least at night, it's OK to divide perennials, especially hostas. It's easy to see which hostas we want more of, since these are the ones that still have whole, unscorched leaves on them. Remove seed stalks, pop up the clumps, and divide them into smaller groups or individual plants, and space them out in the landscape. You can do this with many of your perennials right now, except the ones that are still six feet tall and awkward. Doing it right now ensures that the roots have lots of time to spread and get comfortable before the ground freezes.
Winterize your amaryllis. If you are looking for Christmas or early January bloom, you need to stop doing nice things for your amaryllis. If you have them in individual pots, not mixed in with other houseplants, it's time to end watering and put them in a place where they won't get any rain. You want the leaves to stop actively growing, so the bulb can go dormant and go down into your basement or up into your attic for a couple months' rest.
Sally McCabe is associate director of community education at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (phsonline.org) and a co-owner of Cobblestone Krautery (www.cobblestonekrautery.com).