Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, SEpTEmbEr 19, 2025 Saugus Gardens in the Summer Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener E arlier this month a new Guinness world record for sunflower height was confirmed for a plant over 35 feet tall in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This plant got the name “Clover” from the family that grew it because the young son of the owner put four-leaf clovers on the leaves for luck — and apparently it worked! The grower’s name is Alex Babich. He immigrated from Ukraine in the 1990s. The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine. Babich grows many other plants competitively as well. Asters and mums were planted in the beds at the Library and Town Hall last week, in time to be admired by the crowds on Founders Day. Both of these are in the aster family (Asteraceae) and have composite flower heads. In both asters and mums, the disk florets in the center may be visible, as they are in daisies, or there may be multiple petals, so the center is hidden. We are more accustomed to seeing the double forms of chrysanthemums than we are of asters, so many people may think all the new plants in Saugus Center are mums, but you can quickly tell them apart by the leaves. The asters have small lance-shaped foliage, while the mums have lobed leaves. Saugus Garden Club had some beautiful plants for sale, grown by Huberman’s Greenhouses in Saugus, at their Founders Day booth. My front steps now have a few pumpkins, an ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant in a tiny copper toned pumpkin planter and a row of bright pink New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) and white wax begonias (Begonia semperflorens cultorum), the latter two bought from the Garden Club on Founders Day. While these plants will not tolerate frost, they can be expected to bloom continuously until we have a frost, which often does not happen until early November. Given enough weather warning to take the pots indoors, they can bloom for quite a while longer on a windowsill. Migrations of birds and butterflies are well underway. Visitors to our gardens have become more numerous in the last few weeks. While monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) seemed rather scarce most of the summer, as their numbers are declining, I am seeing some almost every day in my garden right now. Early this week there was a feeding frenzy on the butterfly ‘Frosty Fire’ is a drought-tolerant, fall-blooming perennial with white-edged leaves that provide interest over most of the growing season. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) bush (Buddleia davidii), with monarch butterflies, bumblebees and some other bees competing for the nectar of these fragrant flowers. Occasionally a bumblebee would get too close to a butterfly, and it would flutter its wings to shake it off! The monarchs can’t lay their eggs in anything other than milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), but they certainly appreciate the nectar needed to fuel their journey from many other flowers. One of the native trees whose fruits help fuel the migrations of birds is the flowering dogwood (Benthamidia florida, formerly Cornus florida). This tree produces many small oval fruits, red when ripe, which are favorites of many bird species. As the fruits ripen, the foliage begins to turn color as well, helping birds zoom in on potential food. ‘Frosted Fire’ stonecrop (HyPumpkins and fall decorations share the porch steps with some pink New Guinea impatiens and white wax begonias grown at Huberman’s Greenhouses and bought from the Saugus Garden Club on Founders Day. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) These sunflowers in Dee LeMay’s Saugus garden are a beautiful sunny color against the blue sky! (Photo courtesy of Dee LeMay) lotelephium ‘Frosted Fire’), also often called sedum for its former scientific genus, is a very drought-tolerant perennial that blooms in early September. Like the more familiar ‘Autumn Joy’ and ‘Autumn Fire’ stonecrop, which are found in many gardens, its foliage emerges early in spring but its blossoms don’t open until fall. However, the white edges on the leaves make this variety decorative long before the A migrating monarch butterfly and a bumblebee share a panicle of butterfly bush blossoms. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) flowers bloom. The bold texture of the foliage adds contrast to other plants that have fine textured foliage nearby. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking. Ripe berries on flowering dogwood at the Saugus Iron Works provide food for many migrating birds. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) Multi-petalled purple asters share the spotlight with recently planted chrysanthemums in front of the Library and Town Hall. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener)
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