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In celebration of National Public Lands Day, we encourage you to get out and explore your closest designated National Park, Historic Site, Recreational Area, Monument, Military Park, Seashore, Scenic Trail, or Reserve, and take in the natural beauty that has been preserved within our local seven-state region.
The wait is over! The irrefutable favorite season of Northeasterners and Midwesterners everywhere, the Autumn Equinox is ready for its annual debut this Sunday, September 22nd. In celebration of cool mornings, dark early evenings, bonfires, hayrides, and an abundance of pumpkins and apples in our futures, this week we’re introducing some of our favorite fall selections meant to bring color, texture, and variety to the landscape or container planting.
Last week, we celebrated the arrival of our native aster blooms as they begin to unfurl around the nursery. As promised, this week we’ll be exploring their phylogenic cousins, the goldenrods. It’s almost like September is designed exclusively for the parade of yellows, purples and blues that categorically make up the perennial palette of autumn, all belonging to the second largest flowering family worldwide: Asteraceae. The golden plumes of our native goldenrods, which are considered critical keystone species, are identifiable beacons of the end of summer, recognizable to even the most novice plant lovers.
Now that September has officially arrived (also known as the unofficial start of autumn, if you’ve been eagerly counting down the days to spooky season like I have), both us lowly humans as well as our plant companions are ready for well-deserved break from the summer heat. As the nighttime emerges more quickly and the sun seems wont to rise in the brisk early mornings, the purples, blues, and yellows that signal the arrival of autumn slowly begin to unravel. Asters and goldenrods are the champion perennials of late summer to early autumn, their complimentary hues playing against one another in the landscape. At a time when many other native perennials are at a standstill, these two provide critical nectar sources for pollinators late in the season.
