Love Your Landscape by Adam Haynes, Artisan Landscapes
With summer winding-down, there’s something about the back-to-school season that’s filled with promise of new beginnings. This time of year offers-up fall colors in bloom, backyard garden harvests and lots of local farmers market finds!
You may have noticed the trend toward consumers becoming more interested in where their food comes from.
Imagine coming into the kitchen with bags of salad greens, veggies and berries… without having to go to the grocery store. This time of year provides the ultimate harvest for reaping the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor as well as those of local markets. Customers of farmers markets frequently pay lower prices and often buy in bulk, preserving the food for future use by pickling, canning, drying, or freezing. And home gardeners really benefit by growing and preserving their own food.
According to the National Gardening Association, nearly 19 million of us planned to grow our own vegetables in backyard gardens, and the seed companies continue to see sales growth. Some backyard growers even sell their excess vegetables at local markets, seeking to make a profit from their own gardens. It can be a unique part-time cash-flow infusion for an individual or family with an abundant harvest and an entrepreneurial spirit.
At this time, be sure to take advantage of Fall-blooming perennials in your landscape plans!
Helenium
One of a group of great native plants in the daisy family, helenium offers its blooms at the end of the season. It’s tough and easy-to-grow.
It’s fun to contrast warm autumnal shades. Russian sage does the trick with its airy blue flowers and silvery foliage…it’s a favorite, is tough as nails and its foliage and blooms smell great.
One of the quintessential autumn plants, sedum, bursts into bloom at summer’s end. This tough plant laughs off all summer’s heat and drought to look great in your garden at the end of the season.
Most gardeners are familiar with the spring-blooming crocuses but overlook the fall types. They’re perfect for the garden, too.
This Fall, we can all look forward to local farmers markets, the opportunity to carry our own food from garden to table and the unique variety of fall colors now in-bloom. For help planning all facets of your home landscape, including flower and vegetable beds, give me a call and let’s create something special!
Adam Haynes is the owner of Artisan Landscapes, Inc. Contact him at 541-292-3285, adam@artisanlandscapesinc.com, or visit his website at www.artisanlandscapesinc.com.
Posted November 5, 2013
Adam Haynes is a resident of Jacksonville and the owner of Artisan Landscapes. Contact him at 541-292-3285.