My Strawberry "Fern" is still making fruit. It and its many, many offspring are also still sending out runners, and it's driving me to distraction. I have told them to stop it. Yesterday I cut off all their long sappy green tendrils. It felt like murder. Moiduh. I have potted over a dozen, and some of those small plants are making fruit, too. I feel they must be wasting energy, trying to make even more plants, in September. Then again, the weather at the moment is back to summer.Possibly I should move the whole brood to the roof, to large pots that will soon have their tomato residents removed. The roof farm was not meant to be permanent fixture. It was a whim.
Speaking of Fern. It was grown by my plant pal, Jim Glover, whose Glover Perennials nursery selling wholesale, superb perennials and vines is on the North Fork of Long Island (if you live in this area lobby your local retail nursery to buy his plants. They really are excellent in terms of quality and variety. When I first started learning about plants in the Northeast, it was the labels on Jim's perennials and in his catalogue that taught me half of what I know: from native to deer proof to drought tolerant to shade to sun to fall to late summer).Anyhoo, I received an email from him today, saying that he had received an email, from someone who had read my Fall Flowers piece on Shelterpop, and the question was about the wisdom of fall planting - Is it OK? Yes, he answered, It most certainly is.
Klaus brought up the subject in a comment on the Plectranthus post, too.
So, a new crusade (you know I like them). Fall is an excellent time to plant. I will gather my wits and facts and post about it, soon.
Yee Haaaaaaa - I'm back on line.
ReplyDeleteHad problems. Now add those strawberries to my list of "wanted". How do we get those particular strawberries to me? They are gorgeous. Seed list must also include all those baby salad leaves - please ?
Nice piece about fall flowers on Shelterpop. The comments, though! Another of the many asters you might enjoy is Aster caroliniana. It's been renamed, but I discovered it as an aster, which is certainly what it looks like. It blooms really late - like mid-Oct into November -- and you can grow it as a climber or a lanky ground cover-y thing that weaves in and through other plants. Also, it has a sweet scent. The article in Fine Gardening in fall 06 that introduced it to me described the scent as freshly baked pound cake. I don't think I'd be that specific, but it was a treat, especially at that time of year. Despite conflicting zone info, it survived the winters in Carroll Gardens. I'm itching to have it again, but have to figure out where it could go. The current garden isn't as conducive to climbers. Speaking of fragrance, have you had any experience with zaluzianskya in this climate? That smells like pound cake to me, but I can't get it to survive the summer (in pots).
ReplyDeleteFrom the success you have had with these strawberries in a pot, I am thinking ground cover? Got an opinion about that in zone 7? thanks.
ReplyDeleteSkrophoender. Look for "Fern" online?
ReplyDeleteKlaus - that's a nice description of the aster, I don't know it at all - thank you. And, no, on the zaluzianskya, whose acquaintance I only made early this year in Lesotho!
webb, I think you're good with zone 7. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden is officially Zone 7, you know, and they have strawberries planted in the new potager. My plants have put out even more runners in the last week and I feel like I'm being taken over, so they might be a good idea for groundcover (free chipmunk food?), BUT, would need enough water.