Gardening: What did you learn this growing season? Here are 5 of Mike Hogan's takeaways
While the growing season nears completion and we inch closer each day to the first killing frost of fall, it is useful for gardeners to take stock of the successes and challenges of their gardening efforts during the growing season. Every gardening season is different from the previous one, and each season provides lessons for gardeners to learn and valuable experiences which should guide the plans which gardeners make for the next season.
No matter how much experience we have as gardeners, we should be learning new things each season to help us improve our gardens and home landscapes for next season. What did you learn this gardening season? Here is what I have learned this season.
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1. New or different plants are fun
This season I learned that I can have the explosion of color which shade-loving impatiens provide in full sun locations in my yard by planting sunpatiens, a relatively new hybrid of traditional impatiens with larger New Guinea impatiens. The result of this crossbreeding is a large, sturdy annual flowering plant with interesting yellow and green foliage and flowers in a variety of stunning colors. My sunpatiens have provided a continuous source of color all season long and show no sign of slowing down this first week of October!
2. I must coexist with wildlife
While rabbits, foxes, and chipmunks have always frequented my gardens and landscape, a herd of Whitetail deer moved into our neighborhood this season and now peruse my plants each day for their evening meal. I have now learned to evaluate each new plant and potential planting location in my landscape for its potential appeal to these new four-legged neighbors.
I have also learned that deer have not read the literature which contain lists of deer-resistant plants! My neighborhood deer passed over my hostas, which typically are like candy to deer, and repeatedly grazed my asters—a plant known to be resistant to deer. After arriving home one afternoon to find a young doe up on my deck eating dwarf petunias in pots, I also learned to keep the gate at the top of the deck steps closed at all times!
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3. Climate change will affect how I garden
It is difficult to fully envision exactly how a changing climate will affect how we garden in Greater Columbus, but this season, I learned that plant selection and rainwater management will need to change in my landscape. Some annual flowers such as begonias in full-sun locations in my yard failed to thrive with the increased number days where temperatures topped 90 degrees. The few lantanas I planted thrived in the heat. I will be planting more lantanas in the future.
The increased intensity of rainstorms we are experiencing will also have an effect on my garden. After intense rainfalls, water now pools in places in my gardens where it had not historically. My rain barrel is not large enough to hold the amount of water produced by these more intense storms. And the reduced frequency of rainfall will require me to provide more frequent irrigation to my most moisture-needy plants.
4. The many benefits of sedums
I have learned to love sedums, dozens of different species and varieties of sedums. These plants thrive in many different environmental and soil conditions, and require little water and care. Sedums come in a variety of colors including some which turn beautiful shades of red in fall, and they are the first plants to poke through snow-covered ground in late winter. Some species of sedums also provide an important late-season food source for pollinators and other insects. I have learned to leave the foliage standing in winter for visual appeal in the bland winter landscape, and to provide habitat for overwintering insects.
5. Lawns are incredibly resilient
This summer really demonstrated the incredible resiliency of our cool-season grass lawns. Higher temperatures and a mini-drought experienced in June caused many non-irrigated lawns in Greater Columbus to go dormant and turn brown. When heavy and frequent rainfall returned in July along with more moderate temperatures, these lawns were once again green and lush, more like conditions we typically see in spring.
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Finally, I have learned that as a gardener, I can never have too many plants! What have you learned this gardening season?
Mike Hogan is an associate professor at Ohio State University and an educator at the OSU Extension.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Five things Mike Hogan learned during summer gardening season
