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The Flowers of a Black Eyed Susan Vine, Thunbergia alata
The Flowers of a Black Eyed...
Plant of the day

Black Eyed Susan Vine Thunbergia alata

The Black-Eyed Susan Vine is an evergreen, twining vine, most often grown as a long blooming annual. Black-Eyed Susan Vines have dark green, arrowhead-shaped, 3" leaves. They produce a profusion of brightly colored, 1½" bell-shaped flowers from early summer, well into the fall. See Web Page

Term of the Day

Growing Season

The number of days between the average date of the last killing frost in spring and the first killing frost in fall. Vegetables and certain plants require a minimum number of days to reach maturity, so be sure your growing season is long enough.

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Gardening, Flowers and House Plant Care

There are 30 days and 7 hours left until Winter! What should you be doing in your garden right now? Check our November gardening guide here.

Autumn Gardening

Wild Willy the Garden Helper I hope that you have had a successful growing season and are enjoying a bountiful harvest from your vegetable garden.
If you produced more of certain types of fruits or vegetables than your family can consume, share the abundance with friends and neighbors, and please don't forget to share some with your local Food Bank orother organization!

Gardens in the Fall

As Summer winds down into Fall, and the current growing season is coming to end, there are still a multitude of gardening tasks and projects that will need to be taken care of in the garden. It is time to clean up the garden and plan for next Spring.

Remove spent annuals and compost them. Keep after the weeds and the slugs!

Mark your deciduous perennials with permanent tags or stakes, or create a map showing their locations
so you'll know where and what they are when they die back at the end of the season.
This will help you to avoid accidentally digging up something you intended to keep when you work
in the garden this fall and next spring.

Fall is the time to plant seeds of many different perennial plants and spring flowering bulbs. Perennial plants that have overgrown their space or have become crowded should be dug and divided or moved to a new area of the garden.

New and replacement perennials can also be planted as long as the soil is workable Depending on your growing zone, tender bulbs like Dahlias may need to be dug up and stored in a cool, dark area after first frost.

Protecting Plants from Frost

Frost on a Blackberry Plant
Frost on a Blackberry Plant
If you kept any of your house plants outdoors for the summer, be sure to bring them back indoors before temperatures drop below 50° or if any frost is predicted in your area!

Weather conditions can bring about a frost, even in supposedly frost free areas. It is important to heed the warning when your local forecaster announces 'a chance of frost', and take precautions to protect your garden. Often times it is possible to extend your growing season by several weeks if you are able to keep your plants alive through an early frost!

Gardening for Beginners

If you are a new or less experienced gardener who wants to start a new garden for the first time, I suggest that you begin here...



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