Autumn, The Magic Hour in the Garden

Season 4, Episode 47, September 28, 2022

(Japanese anemone growing in Carol’s garden.)

Granny Hobbies, anyone? Carol and I decided our entire lives consist of granny hobbies! Gardening, puzzles, baking, drinking tea? How about you? Got any granny hobbies? Write and let us know.

On this week’s episode, we discussed anemones, compact plants, Hopwood Hall and so much more!

Good news! The mornings are getting cooler. Autumn is, after all, the golden hour of the year.

Carol eradicated oriental bittersweet from her garden and wrote a blog post about it. She also ordered fall-blooming crocuses… saying something about making her neighbors think she has magical gardening powers by having crocuses bloom in the fall.

I planted some pansies in my front borders and put my yellow mums in terra cotta containers to set them off in the shade. Then, I mulched around the pansies. I also garden coached two clients.

First up, our flower topic was anemones. I was confused about them, and Carol set me straight. I’ve grown the small bulbs that bloom in spring, Anemone blanda, aka Grecian windflowers, but I’ve never grown Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Japanese anemones. I now know why. Being the Goldilocks of the flower world—not liking it too wet or too dry—they wouldn’t like my garden. However, if you want to try either type, Brent & Becky’s Bulbs carry both!

There’s also a native, Anemone canadensis, available from Prairie Moon Nursery. Knock yourself out.

As for our vegetable topic, we discussed compact plants. I’ve not grown many compact vegetables, at least not on purpose, but Carol grew 'Heartbreaker' tomatoes from Territorial Seed Co. Now, I’ve seen those, and they are darling. Heart-shaped tomatoes with a cute name? I might be tempted.

If you want to grow compact vegetables, there are two authoritative books on the subject that we know of: Micro Food Gardening: Project Plans and Plants for Growing Fruits and Veggies in Tiny Spaces by Jen McGuiness (Amazon Link)  and Gardener’s Guide to Compact Plants: Edibles and Ornamentals for Small Space Gardening by Jessica Walliser. (Amazon link)

Then, we moved on to the Bookshelf. Somehow I found Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater (Amazon Link.) Slater is quite famous in England. Who knew? He’s written several books, and he has a website. I liked the book very much. It reminds me a little of The Chef's Garden by Farmer Lee Jones (Amazon Link), but it has its own je ne sais quoi. Like I’ve said before, I like cookbooks where vegetables are the stars.

As for our Dirt, everyone cheer because Better Homes and Gardens Turns 100 this year. CBS Sunday Morning did a piece on the magazine from its humble beginnings to its current on and offline empire status. It was fun.

Carol dragged me down a rabbit hole with the fabulous story about Hopwood Hall. You can catch the videos of Hopwood DePree’s reconstruction journey on YouTube and in his book, Downton Shabby (Amazon link.)

Okay, here are our usual end-of newsletter reminders.

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For more info on Carol and her books, visit her website.  Visit her blog May Dreams Gardens.
For more info on Dee and her book, visit her website.  Visit her blog, Red Dirt Ramblings.

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