SEPTEMBER SENSIBILITIES
By Mark Stith (Southern Ledger Writer)
Finally, summer�s sweltering heat seems to be releasing its chokehold on the countryside. Which means I can go out in the garden for longer than a couple of minutes without feeling the immediate symptoms of heat exhaustion. Rains have been plentiful in my neck of the woods (did you know that October is typically the driest month of the year?). My, how things have grown.
I have a friend who doesn�t like morning glories at all. �Too messy for my garden,� he says, with a condescending sniff. I just don�t understand. To me, it�s like someone not liking puppies or babies.
They are more than welcome at my place. Yes, they crawl up almost anything and anywhere. Yes, some people consider them weeds. If these same people see morning glories late in the day, when the flowers have fizzled, I see their point.
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Oh, but they�re not called morning glories for nothing. No flower welcomes the day with more pure prettiness. I prefer the solid colors over the pinwheel-like selections, especially Heavenly Blue Improved (more flowers than the older variety).
If you like morning glories, you�ve certainly tried moon vine, its kissing cousin. Gorgeous, fragrant, dreamy-white flowers unfurl as evening comes. In fact, the buds open so promptly-within minutes-you can actually watch the blossoms open up. All the above must be started from seed, but you�ll have to wait until next spring. Believe me, it�s worth the wait.
Besides, there are several things you can enjoy doing in the garden now:
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Fall is for planting. That includes any evergreen shrubs, such as hollies, camellias, junipers, and azaleas. Not so for deciduous plants, including trees.
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Speaking of azaleas, it�s too late to prune them now. If you do, you�ll cut the flower buds off, which means no flowers next spring. No fun
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Camellias-both sasanqua and japonica-will start showing up in nurseries. I always buy plants in bloom, so I can be sure I like the color, but with lots of unopened buds, which means there�s more color to come. Sasanquas have a more loosely-formed, open type branching pattern, while japonicas are more vase-shaped and tightly-branched.
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