Ink & Penstemon

September can’t be over. It just can’t be. I’m not ready. I’ve been so preoccupied with putting up food in the kitchen that I’ve had to ignore the outside. I’ve been avoiding the perennial beds entirely. Despite the fall flowers, I’ll only see weeds that need immediate pulling and be reminded of plants I never got around to transplanting. Maybe in a week.

In the meantime, I can’t ignore the bindweed quickly forming a groundcover over the new ground north of the driveway. I’m so desperate to get it under control before the frost that I’ve been sending my husband out to deal with it and allowing him to use whatever methods he chooses, which means that he’s surely attacking it with glyphosate. Sometimes compromises must be made on the ecological high-ground. Now that I’ve admitted that, I should go out and point out what’s what so he doesn’t kill one of the two Pulsatilla praetensis var. nigricans seedlings that pulled through the summer. If you start Pulsatilla from seed, I would recommend starting them by sowing directly in fall. They do not transplant well as their roots are so fine and fibrous. Better to sow a small area with them and then dig them and transplant them after a year.

Given the late harvest, I’m glad that I had the presence of mind to do most of my transplanting in August. It was just in time, too, as September has brought me a new Acer grandidentatum and Abies lasiocarpa to take care of. The Acer is coming along excellently, the Abies is showing some signs of shock in yellowing needles on the lowermost branches. I will have faith in it, despite my more spectacular fir failures this year. 

The Acer went in where the Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ was. I remember considering putting A. grandidentatum there in the first place, and now wish I hadn’t wasted 4 years on the witch hazel. The maple looks excellent in its new place and will provide the screen I’ve been longing for—something to stop the halogen street lamp around the corner from blasting the backyard like a second sun at night. Part of my reservation in using “big-tooth” maple in first place is that it doesn’t get along with plants growing under its understory. Acer grandidentatum’s roots produce a toxin called juglone that inhibits growth and germination of neighboring plants. You think this is the sort of thing people would mention cautiously after they praise this sugar-maple’s relative to the skies with talk of its brilliant fall color, tolerance for alkaline soils, sugar production capacity, and drought-tolerance. I guess it isn’t a good selling point. My strategy for understory cover is planting it near a Juniperus squamata ‘Holger’ and Rhus tribolata ‘Gro-low’. Both are vigorous plants and are spreaders, so I’m hoping that they will only be marginally affected and slowly fill in the area under the maple’s skirt.

In the meantime, I’m now stuck with this witch hazel. It’s fall colors are brilliant, and its little flowers in late February are charming, so I don’t want to get rid of it. I just have no idea where to place it. It needs afternoon shade, that’s certain. Has anyone tried Hamamelis in a pot? It’s extremely slow growing for me, so I’m wondering if I could pull it off. If anything, it will give me more time to find it a permanent home. But not till next September.