‘Tis the time of year for cider, pumpkins, turkeys and, apparently, leaf blowing.  It never ceases to amaze me the number of obsessive leaf pickers/gatherers there are.  I was stunned and amazed the other day driving by a woman in the street picking up each leaf along the curb and dropping it in the pile next to the apron of her drive.  She apparently didn’t look at her neighbors’ yards, which were covered with leaves.  I assume she would do it all over again when the next big gust of wind came along.

I haven’t raked or bagged leaves in years and I do not understand this fall obsession of making big curb piles.  Why give all that nutritious material to the big city, leaf-sucking machine?  I have a mulcher mower that chops all of my leaves and to incorporate into the lawn.  Doing this gives the nutrients to the grass and back to the trees from which they came. My yard has lots of leaves from a silver maple and red oak – both 50+ in age — and some other new and old trees.  Adding to those are more from the neighbors and from the golf course behind me, plenty for the mower to greedily munch.  Why should the city pay (your tax dollars) to have leaves picked up that you could have benefit your property or compost rather than having a company compost them and sell them back to you?  And think about all the petroleum byproducts and plastic debris that are inadvertently picked up in it.  Do you really want to add that to your veggie garden?  And the environment suffers from the additional gas and fumes from all the equipment used to gather them up.  My mother actually rakes her neighbors’ leaves from their lawns and also takes those already in piles and grinds them up for garden compost. 

So if you are one of those leaf pilers out there, I would love to hear the explanation of why you do this; otherwise, think before you pile and just leaf it there for the mower.

Posted by Joe Mehalik

Bringing the Outside In

Many cultural celebrations center around natural cycles or events. Thanksgiving is no exception. Parents need to get their kids outside, and parents need to bring the outside indoors.

There are a number of ways to bring the outdoors in over the coming winter months. Here are a number of ideas: 

1.  Walk through the yard, neighborhood or nearby park, collecting whatever materials you find on the ground (you could do a litter hunt one day and a nature hunt another). Take the materials home and make fantastic creatures or Thanksgiving decorations. I like to ask kids to draw their creature first and then make with the materials what they just drew.

2.  You can find lots of other craft ideas on the internet.  

3.  Purchase different flowering spring bulbs and force them to bloom early, like, say, February.

4.  Purchase houseplants that can spend the summer outside in Ohio. When you return them to the indoor environment each fall they serve as a reminder of green summer days.

Posted by Josh Steffen

The American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) has a special place in the affections of people who like to harvest wild foods. The one-to-two-inch orange globes ripen late and remain on the trees into early winter, growing sweeter, until they finally soften enough to drop to the ground. Before ripening they are quite astringent, but at this soft stage they have a rich, aromatic flavor and texture all their own.

Native American people harvested the fruits to eat fresh or dry. There were also a number of medicinal uses for fruits and for bark. The word “persimmon” derives from the Algonquin name for this native fruit. European settlers quickly developed a fondness for it, and discovered dozens of new ways to enjoy it. I was fascinated to learn that people have made wine, beer, vinegar, and molasses from persimmons, in addition to the more predictable jams and baked goods. Persimmon pudding is a traditional holiday dessert in regions of the Southeast where persimmons are plentiful. I hope to try making persimmon leather if I manage to harvest any myself!

Persimmons belong to the same family as tropical Ebony trees. In fact, most of its relatives are tropical. The other widely known species of edible persimmon is Japanese (Diospyros kaki), which produces a larger fruit, but is less winter hardy. The American persimmon is hardy in zones 5-9, and can grow to 135 feet high in rich bottomland soil. It is more typically around 30 feet high, and can probably be controlled by pruning. Some plants in the wild may bear only male or only female flowers. Persimmon afficionados have developed a number of cultivars for larger, tastier and more reliable fruits, too.

The persimmon is just one of many beautiful and useful plants in the Western Reserve Herb Society’s Herb Garden. The photo depicts the small, very productive tree planted on the Herb Garden Terrace just outside of the big window of Clark Hall.

Other Garden Connections

Yes, Hershey Children’s Garden is closed for the season. This is true, but it does not mean the opportunities for family fun are over. Here are some things you can do while you are here, and some upcoming opportunities:

• Give your child a journal and encourage them to write or draw pictures of what they saw, heard, smelled or touched
• See if you can find fungus, rocks, leaves and branches of different colors, shapes and sizes; look at them with a magnifying glass
• Collect different types of fallen leaves and draw them in a journal or press them flat in a large book, the leaves can be arranged into different animals on seasonally appropriate greeting cards
• Attend our last Little Buds class for the season
• Come to one of our Nature Tales Story Time sessions
• Attend our America Recycles Day

There are endless opportunities to create lasting memories with your child no matter the season. Let us help you facilitate those moments.

I see a lot of corn stalks bundled and tied up around porch pillars and mail boxes this time of year. Have you considered using something like that in pots as fall arrangements? We are always looking for alternatives to cabbages and mums in the fall, and this year I tried out cut grasses. I didn’t cut the ornamental grasses I have growing in my landscape because they usually look great all winter long. I was lucky to have access to other grasses this year that I cut and bundled up tight. I then dug out the center of the pot and planted my cut grass bundles firmly so the wind won’t knock them over. 

I’ve dressed some of these containers with pumpkins, which I will replace with cut conifer branches by December. 

Posted by Bob Rensel

Like a refugee from Alice’s topsy-turvy world, the hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) seems to do everything backwards. The pale pink or white blooms appear in mid October before a fine crop of leaves that stay deep green all winter long. The plant virtually disappears in the summer, just when everything else is in full leaf and flower. It reappears to delight us every fall, in various spots around the Japanese Garden.

These delicate-seeming flowers are tough as nails. Their native range includes a large part of southern and eastern Europe, on into Turkey and Greece. They are related to the florist’s cyclamen that appear in shops in early winter, but they will actually thrive in Northeast Ohio gardens.  The fragrance is sweet and refined, a little like that of an heirloom rose. Of course it’s easier to catch a whiff when you are lying on the ground to photograph the flowers!

A reliable and long-lived perennial for shade gardens, their foremost requirement is a nice, dry summer season. Don’t forget their location when digging in the flower beds, either, because it is possible to accidentally damage the dormant plants. Cyclamen hederifolium are hardy to zone 4, and will gradually increase and spread by root and seed.

Posted by Ann McCulloh

Halloween, that most sinister of holidays, is upon us — and what better time to highlight a most sinister plant?  I’m talking about monkshood. Known scientifically as Aconitum, or sometimes referred to as wolfsbane, this is a very, very toxic plant and you should use caution when handling it for any reason. I planted several varieties of Aconitum carmichaelii this summer and I made certain that I always wore gloves. I didn’t want to take the chance that just touching these plants might produce numbness in my hands, as I have so often heard from many sources. However, even as poisonous as these plants are, they still show off vibrant blue and purple flowers that resemble little hoods and are a real standout in any garden. According to Amy Stewart’s excellent and enganging new book, "Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities." People who have the misfortune to ingest this plant may become seriously ill or even die.

Posted by Cynthia Drukenbrod

Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#10 in a series of 10)
Native Bird Food: Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the final plant in our series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.  

Fall in Hershey Children’s Garden is full of different colored leaves. Fall is also time for flowers that many people overlook. I am speaking, of course, of the perennial grass flowers or flower inflorescence.
There are many different perennial grasses in the children’s garden. Little Bluestem, one particular favorite, originates from the eastern tall grass prairies of North America.

Little bluestem is a native bunch grass with summer blue-green leaves and pretty inflorescence. The leaves change to an attractive multi-colored pattern as the temperature cools. Right now, it is a great plant to examine closely with your children. You can note the purples and reds. See how many different colors you can see.

I highly recommend Little bluestem for children’s gardens. The two to four feet in height makes a great scale for children. They can walk in a prairie of Little Bluestem and not feel overwhelmed amongst extremely tall grass. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil and moisture conditions as well. Also, it has many seasons of interest capped with great fall color.
 

Come see this little seasonal wonder on your next visit. Also, check out our self-guided tour of the children’s garden prairie on our activity cart. It is full of all kinds of information and things to do in the prairie.